Ray Allen put on a show.

This was a good weekend. I had some karaoke and Japanese food on Friday. Saturday there drinks and Japanese food, then drinks in the Haight. Today I watched my favorite team tie up the series and head back home to take games three, four and five. When I look back I exhale and smile. Usually I just stay home. I know there is plenty to do in this city but it escapes me sometimes. I am even looking forward to this week and next weekend. For a while I thought that basketball and sports in general were just a phase for me. But now I have learned that sports, watching and playing, will be with me the rest of my life. The game is perfect in its simplicity. Put a ball into a hoop that is high above you, or try to make sure the other team doesn't put the small ball in a different hoop. But then you watch great teams and they first make it look impossible, then so easy. I don't like those who look down on sports as brutish and unsophisticated. It's true, you sweat, you push, shove, you get hurt, you gloat, you get angry, you are good one moment, then horrible the next. But you also learn a lot about yourself. Can you handle pressure? Are you a team player? Do you know how to exploit you strengths and abolish your weaknesses? Do you have a good work ethic? Are you coordinated? Can you see things others can't? Are you strong physically and mentally? It is a constant test. Most people can see the benefits of a team sport. But some see it as grown or overgrown men and women fighting over leather holding in air. To those people, I say you might be smarter than me in certain respects but let's put it on the court. Also, recognize that I said MAY.

Dustin