Hola amigo,
Happy Three Point Thursday!
This week’s edition features the coolest basketball shoes I’ve ever had—the Under Armour Curry 12 Pisces pictured below—and, as always, some enlightening and encouraging ideas.
Getting buckets is endlessly fun.
Morning basketball games have become a central pillar to my lifestyle once more, and I couldn’t be more happy about it. After a long hiatus of not hooping, I almost felt guilty when I returned to this game I love so dearly. As if the sport was a child I had abandoned. It will never happen again. Where I grew up, there is a saying that carries more weight than anything Aristotle or Jesus or Confucius could have ever said, and that saying is, “ball is life.” This is the hoopers mantra. And never forget, there is a difference between a basketball player and a hooper.
Be a romantic and a realist.
I’m convinced that if you want an adventurous and meaningful experience of life, you must be both a romantic and a realist.
On one hand, to be too much of a realist is to have no spirit. The extreme realist lives like someone walking through the Vatican museum with their head down. They miss out on so much magic. They miss out on so much fun in life because you really do experience more joy through romanticizing.
It’s like, you’re not in boring small talk with a stranger, you’re sharing a sliver of time with another bizarre creature you might never see again. You’re not on a run, you’re Rocky Balboa streaking down the streets of Philadelphia. You’re not laying in bed looking at a piece of paper, you’re in conversation with a genius.
That may sound silly. But what is life without this drama? He often gets made fun of, that famous character Don Quixote. But I think he was right when he said, “perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!” At the very least he had a point.
But of course, excessive romanticizing like that is counterproductive, even paralyzing.
My point is that it is important to know that being a romantic and a realist are not mutually exclusive.
But then the question naturally arises, what is the proper balance? I don’t know. It’s up to you. I can’t give an answer with confidence. What I can say with confidence is that there is power in both perspectives. In finding beauty and recognizing harsh realities. In enjoying the spiritual and carrying out the practical.
This is it.
“Go for broke. Always try and do too much. Dispense with safety nets. Take a deep breath before you begin talking. Aim for the stars. Keep grinning. Be bloody-minded. Argue with the world. And never forget that writing is as close as we get to keeping a hold on the thousand and one things—childhood, certainties, cities, doubts, dreams, instants, phrases, parents, loves—that go on slipping, like sand, through our fingers.”
― Salman Rushdie
Keep shooting,
Jeff
THANK YOU JEFF. I REMEMBER AN IRISH FARMER TELLING ME '' IT IS GOOD TO BE WISE BUT NOT TOO WISE.YOU MISS A LOT''. ORALE! JAIMITO.