Operation Dunk Actually Making Progress Again

With a rejuvenated commitment to health and fitness, Operation Dunk is making strides once again. In addition to cutting out Chinese Food, sodas, donuts, and espresso, I have been making a conscious effort to hit up the gym more frequently and/or play more basketball. Here is a breakdown of this past week's activities and how I am feeling as a result:

Saturday - 4.5 hours of tennis combined with 100 pushups over the course of the day

Sunday - 1.5 hours at Sports Club LA with 25 minutes of biking, lunges, more pushups, bosu/medicine ball lifts, and 20 minutes of shooting. For my shooting sessions now, I like to pull out the rack (10+ basketballs) and shoot 10 of them in a row from the three-point line. My best score for one 10 ball session: 7-out-of-10. Not bad.

Monday - 15 minutes on the bike and 2 hours of basketball followed by 15 minutes of shooting and 10 minutes of stretching.

While my legs are particularly sore (a likely result of the lunges), they still feel strong. I was easily touching the rim during the pickups game and hitting most of my outside shots without getting tired. Most importantly, I felt as though I could run for the entire game without really getting tired. This will be key for our 40-minute game on Wednesday since we only have 5 players. Our team is playing another 3-6 team in our division with the 7th place seed on the line (I know, we suck). It's still fun to write about though...

As Operation Dunk Regresses, Slamfest falls to (3-6)

I wish I had better news for everyone still following my blog, but I have to be honest. Part of trying to maintain a blog such as this is reporting the good along with the bad. In terms of dunking, there is nothing new to report. I still have not dunked, and my hops have only continued to decrease as other areas of my life become busier and busier.

Unfortunately, our intramural basketball team has also fallen into a bit of a slide, going from a record of 3-3 to 3-6. And it's not just that our team has been losing... we have been getting DOMINATED. Our last three losses have been by at least 20 points, with tonight's loss ending up being something like 133-99. It felt like a Warriors game out there. At this rate, we might just end up with the same record as them...

However, all is not lost. Realizing that my goal is slowly falling further and further out of reach, I have resolved to restart my fitness regime once again. No more diet coke, no more espressos, no more cookies, and definitely more exercise. I have also started doing a daily amount of 60 pushups or more to try and improve my strength for the postseason. At least the top 8 teams in our league make the playoffs. There is still hope for our team and hope for Operation Dunk.

On a side note, Operation Dunk's March Madness champion pick... Kentucky. I know, big leap there...

Slamfest Update (3-3), as well as the latest OD Setback: 9 Stitches From Hops' Elbow

I know, this is somewhat disgusting. It's nothing compared to how my face looked before the stitches though, so just be happy that I did not post a picture of the actual injury. The worst part about this injury (besides the pending expense) was that our team ended up losing the game after I got hurt. I am not sure whether it was due to me being out of the game or everyone being distracted from my injury, but we lost a game that we should have won.

The game I am referring to is the penultimate game we played against a team that was 3-1 going into the game. We were 2-2. We started out the game in a 3-2 zone and managed to jump out to a 14-0 lead. Hops, J, the Shark, and I were playing the best defense of our lives and the zone was working perfectly. It continued to work throughout the first half as we sustained a 10+ points lead going into the second half. Then, about 4 minutes into the second half, I had the misfortune of running straight into Hops' left elbow. It was a fluke situation, as I was running super low to the ground to try to get into position to rebound and got knocked hard by one of the other team's players right into Hops as he was on his way down from a fadeaway jumper. Right away, I knew that it was a bad collision.

The funny thing is that this exact same injury happened to me during the first two weeks of my first year of law school (about 5 years ago). And the even funnier part is that it happened in exactly the same place on my face, in the exact same way, as a result of the exact same person's same elbow. And that person is Hops, my current roommate. Guess he really has it out for me. At least the first time it happened I was guarding him and not on the same team.

Anyway, we were still up by 10 with around 9 minutes to play in the second half when I went down with an injury. I tried to stick around and watch the rest of the game, but the league's administrator told me I should go to get stitches right away. I later found out that we ended up losing by three as the other team hit a few lucky three-pointers down the stretch. That was the saddest part of all for me. The 9 stitches and trip to the ER was nothing new, but the loss hurt. Our team dropped to 2-3 as a result.

Fortunately, we managed to win last week week against an average team. I put a bandage over my place and played with the stiches, but limited my game to mainly outside shooting and passing. With the win, our team improved to 3-3 going into a little over the 1/3 mark of the season. Our defense is improving, and we are learning to play together. We could very easily be 5-1 if we had played a little better in two of our games, so we are optimistic for the rest of the season. Since the top 8 or so teams make the playoffs, we are hoping to finish in the top 5 and get a decent seed.

As for my dunk training, I have been refocusing on my fitness. This past week I skied on saturday, played basketball on Monday night, and went rock climbing on Tuesday. The skiing and rock climbing were really good for my calf/leg muscles, and I think cross-training is a good way to go to confuse the muscles. I am currently working on my two-step jump, because my friends have told me that this is the easiest way to dunk. In the past, I have always tried to jump off one leg, which I have been informed is not the best way to maximize one's leaping ability.

More updates to come soon as the training increases. Hops and I have also been running liners on select nights at Alice Marble up the street from my house. This has been very helpful for in-game conditioning. I have been staying as far away from his elbow as possible...

Slamfest loses a tight one 81-88 (2-2)

Last week's game was definitely the most exciting one of the season. Three players were out with either injury, sickness, or flakiness, leaving only 6 of us to battle the other 2-1 team in our division for the right to second place. Hops, J, Shark, Alon "JR" Rotem, and Christian "the Beast" Hague, and I made it out to our 9 pm game on Wednesday night against the Eastern Promises - a team of Russian dudes with a penchant for talking shit.

Our team started out in a man-to-man set that saw too many of the other team's small quick guys burning our taller (yet much slower) team. We started to find our groove mid-way through the first half, but it was too late to get any serious momentum. Hops was a machine down low for us in the first half, scoring on the other team's smaller players with ease.

Operation Dunk did manage to have one cool play right before the half. Down by 9 with 5 seconds to go, the Beast threw a "Peyton-Manning-Style" (PMS) pass to me at the half court. Left with only one man to burn, I had to make a quick decision how best to score. Rather than drive to the hole, I faked a drive, stepped back and nailed a tear drop jump shot as the buzzer expired right in the guy's face. The best part was hearing the guy's teammates chastise him for his "poor defense" on the play... After that play, we went into the second half down by 7.

At halftime, we decided it would be wise for us to switch to a 3-2 zone. This defense puts more players at the top of the key to prevent shooters from bombing threes all day (which seems to be every team to which we have lost). Though it was not immediately effective, it eventually began to work. It also helped that J started doing his thing, dropping three-bombs in people's eyes like it was nobody's business. I also started raining some threes of my own, including a big one with 3 minutes left to put our team down by 2, 72-70. The other team had to take a timeout to discuss why their lead had evaporated so quickly.

Unfortunately, victory was not meant to be ours. The other team's outside shooting got hot again and one of their crappy players managed to get off a late three-point play that caused him to yell something unintelligible in Russian. The last 3 minutes saw a lot of shit-talking from both sides, and it started to get somewhat heated down the stretch. However, I can't lie. This is the kind of basketball I enjoy playing the most. Both teams clearly cared about winning this game, and it came down to the wire. Though we ultimately lost by 7 (there were some garbage points at the end), we played a solid game. Everyone had good games - particularly J - and our defense got better at the end.

One of the main observations from last week's game is that our team plays much better defense in a zone. Though certain players on our team prefer man-to-man defense, that is not our strength. I am going to propose implementing the zone defense from here on out.

As for my own dunking, I am still letting my foot heal from two weeks ago. As a result, I have not actively been working on my jumping ability. Hops and I have been running liners up at Alice Marble, which I plan to intensify this week. I will leave all of you with a google search linking to Dwight Howard's sick alley oop dunk from last night's Allstar game: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=dwigh+howards+sick+dunk+from+the+all+star+game&aq=f&aqi=&oq=

If you haven't seen it, do a favor and check it out. The guy has some serious dunking skills...

Latest Operation Dunk Setback: Slamfest Game #3 (2-1)

Though Slamfest had a "bye" this past week, we did have a game the prior week. It ended up being our easiest victory of the season, culminating in a 76-50 victory. Normally this would excited me. However, the team we played against only had 4 players, so we played 5 on 4 for most of the game. I kinda hoped we would drop 100 points, but it was not meant to be. We did manage to play a little better as a team, particularly on defense, so the game was definitely a positive step for us. This week's game is against the other 2-1 team in our division in a battle for second place a spot behind the really good team that schlacked us. Game time: 9 pm... WTF?

The one bad thing about last week's game is that I ended up hurting my heel/ankle on a breakaway layup. Even though I was wide open and clearly not going to miss my layup, an oaf on the other team decided to tackle me as I was going up. Sure enough, I made the layup easily and then landed awkwardly on my left leg with all of the oaf's weight on me. A few minutes later, my heel began to hurt and I quickly subbed out of the game. Though the injury has not bothered me too much, it still aches whenever I put weight on it. My solution for this has been to ice the injured area and rest it for a while.

Last weekend my Operation Dunk training consisted of three more days of surfing in Los Angeles. My buddy Nick "Stork" Holt and I went on a surf bender, surfing at County Line, Pytas, and Topanga in L.A. During the Pytas session, I caught a couple of waves that were the longest rides of my life (1 minute plus). By the end of the session, my legs felt like they had gone through an entire day of skiing. Needless to say, good Operation Dunk training.

My basketball training begins again tomorrow with a couple of games of pickup basketball (to test out the foot), followed by some light lifting. Full report on this week's game to follow our 9 pm game on Wednesday.

Slamfest goes down (1-1), but Operation Dunk dunks a rubber ball

Last week Slamfest suffered its first defeat of the season, a crushing 89-63 loss at the hands of a team called Clayton Bigsby. We were initially able to stay with their team, but they had one guy who singlehandedly destroyed us. No one on our team could guard him and he shot his way to 48 points, over half of his team's total of 89. Though our team played better than the prior week, we added two new players to the team (for a total of 9) and have yet to hit our groove. We are now 1-1 in our division with another game this week. Operation Dunk had a decent game, but I could not seem to get any calls. Despite being hammered all game, I did not get to to shoot a single free throw. I even had one of my shots goaltended. The ref was so surprised that a recreational player could goaltend a shot that he missed the call. Weak!

Last Friday I met with a trainer at SCLA who gave me some more dunk-related lifts to help with my hops. Perhaps his greatest contribution was the introduction of what he calls a "Dynamic Warmup Routine." I told him that my typical warmup for bball games and/or lifting involves 10-15 minutes on the bike with some mild stretching. He told me that this is not the best way to warm up for exercise or lifting. Instead, he showed me a serious of active stretches that are geared towards warming up the muscles in my legs and core. This is apparently the best way to prepare for vigorous activity. The exercises he recommended are as follows:

• Hip Crossovers: Lie on back, put both legs in the air with knees bent. Stretch out arms at a 90 degree angle. Lower knees to the left side all the way to the ground while looking to the right with your upper body. Do this for a couple of seconds and then swing your knees to the right side while looking to the left. Repeat for a total of 10-20 reps.
• Hamstring Band Stetch: Lie on back and raised one leg in the air. Wrap a stretchy band around raised leg and extend leg for 2 seconds, then rest. Do this 4-5 times while increasing how far back leg is stretched each time and ultimately, stretching leg as straight as possible for 10-15 seconds on the last one. Repeat with other leg.
• Bridges: This one was oddly sexual. Lie on back and raise butt in the air with both feet and back on the ground. Repeat for a total of 10-15 reps.
• Planks: Also known as "Bos and Toes". Balance your entire body in the air on your elbows and toes for 1 minute. Then, lay on right side and balance on right arm and toes for 30 secs. Follow this up by laying on left side and balancing on left arm and toes for 30 seconds.
• Knee Hugs: Walk normally but hug your knee to your chest each time you take a step. Repeat for a total of 10-20 steps.
• Track Star: This one was hard. Lunge forward with right leg and straighten left leg all the way back. Bring right elbow slightly below right knee to the left of knee and twist body up to the left. Fully extend left arm all the way up in the air while leaving right elbow near right knee. Return to lunge pose and then fully extend right leg as much as possible. Raise right toes in the air while heel stays on the ground and stretch right leg. Lunge forward with the left leg and repeat with the other side.

After doing all of these stretches for a total of 10-15 minutes, I had alread broken a sweat and my entire body felt loose and ready to run. We then proceeded to lift for 20-30 minutes. The most important lift the trainer taught me during this session was how to do a clean. He broke down the clean into three different lifts for me: (1) Lift bar to chest while doing a mini-jump (more like a hop); (2) Lift bar from chest to shoulders while switching grip on the bar; and (3) pushing bar straight up while extending both legs for support. My legs and back were really sore the next day after doing this lift, but I definitely noticed an increase in my jumping ability last weekend.

On Sunday, Operation Dunk headed to the East Bay for some bball at UC Berkeley for KB's birthday. We had some awesome games and there were a ton of people out. One important event that occurred was my dunking of a rubber ball. For some reason, there was a green slightly deflated ball chilling on the sidelines (see here for visual: http://www.robbinssports.com/sporting-goods-store/images/color-my-class-p-g-sofs.jpg) at the gym. I decided to try and see if I could dunk it. Though it took me a few tries, I finally managed to slam it down a few times with everyone watching. Hops looked proud... Next step: Dunking a volleyball after tonight's game.

Debut of Slamfest (1-0)

This past week saw lots of Operation Dunk in action, beginning with Slamfest's first game of the season at Sports Club LA on Wednesday night. For those of you not in the know, Slamfest is a team comprised of some of my SF friends who play basketball. Our games are every Wednesday night at SCLA. They are comprised of two 20-minute halves. Games typically last about an hour unless the score is tied. If the score is tied, a 3-minute overtime follows to determine the winner. Each week we play against one of the other 9 teams that are also in the League. Members of the team include Hops, the Shark, Ketul "J" Patel, Tim "the Illini" Ulen, Jyri ("Bruiser"), and Alon "Lame" Rotem (who missed the first game).

Our first game was against a team of short guys, with their tallest player being 6'0". Our average height is 6'2-6'3" - clearly, speed is not our strength. Due to the clear disparity in height between our tema and theirs, I figured the game was in the bag. As Chris Berman says, "That's why they play the game!"

Our team came out of the gates sloppy and never quite got it going. We missed a number of easy looks on the inside and had a plethora of turnovers. Our defense was also slightly off, mainly due to our tall team's inability to keep up with their smaller and quicker guys. That being said, we were up pretty much the entire first half with our biggest lead being 10 points. I had a pretty good half and frequently got to the line. Good thing Hops and I have been practicing our free throws. I shot 6-for-7 on the night and hit some big ones down the stretch.

We finished the first half up by three points with the momentum in our favor. Little did we know that our the game would ultimately come down to the wire. The score was tight throughout the entire second half until the other team took a 2-point lead on us with around 12 seconds to go. We brought the ball down right away and I took it in for a drive. I got fouled hard and barely missed the layup. That left me at the line, down by 2, with 6 seconds left. The kid who fouled me got in my face right before I was about to shoot the free throws and whispered, "You don't want these." I responded, "You're right. I wanted that layup." I then knocked down both free throws to tie the game. After a decent look after the inbound, the other team missed their last shot and regulation ended in a tie.

In overtime, we managed to stay ahead a couple of points until the very end when the other team finally caught up and tied us. We got the ball with 10 seconds left, called a timeout, and ran a play inside to Hops. Hops was fouled and sent to the line with the game tied and 6 seconds left. He made his first free throw to put us up by one and then missed his second one. That is when Operation Dunk went into action. I was on the left block and decided to fake middle but go inside instead. This move paid off big as Hops' shot ricocheted to the right off the back of the rim. I ran under the rim and jumped in front of one of their guys to grab the rebound. After a few seconds of errant dribbling, the other team was forced to foul me and send me to the line. I hit both free throws to put us up by 3 and seal the game. The other team didn't even get off a shot to tie it.

Though it was a ugly, the game culminated in a victory for Slamfest and a 1-0 start to the season. Everyone competed hard and we ultimately were able to put it together just enough. Big games for the Bruiser and myself, which justified all the free throw practices I've had this week. We have a game against a really tough team next week, so it will be a good test for our team.

For Operation Dunk this week, I lifted weights on Thursday at Club One and then played 5 hours straight of basketball on Saturday at Rossi Park (12:30-5:30 pm). My body is hurting, but I have noticed that my hops have increased since returning from Hawaii. Today I dunked one tennis ball, almost got my entire hand above the rim, and then ultimately dunked two tennis balls using both hands. My legs are getting stronger the more that I play and I have been losing weight to put me in the 205-210 pounds range. At this point, I feel like dunking is imminent. I just need to overcome the mental hurdle of that first one...