Beebeard wrote:Bill Laimbeer. I ended up growing no bigger than an NBA shooting guard, but like many people, I was forced to play center in high school and even a bit in college. Used to play with and against a number of former NBA players at the high school and collegiate levels, many of whom clocked in at 6'8" tall at 14 years old, for example, and were still growing, and who were twice the physical specimens I was.
I'm telling you all this so you won't rush to judgment. You see, when you're asked to guard a monster of a man who can dunk right over you after a catch, you're forced to use whatever physical tools you have to stop them. In my case, it involved grabbing jerseys, deliberately stepping on feet so opposing players couldn't grab rebounds, and elbowing the living crap out of people.
After I lost a lot of my own athleticism to injuries, it only made me even dirtier. In fact, as a younger guy in inner city Houston, I once had a knife pulled on me in a park game after blocking a guy's shot with one hand while pulling him down with my off arm. Nothing came of it, but it's a great example of how little tolerance most people have for physical play.
To this day, you'd probably want to wear a mouth guard if you played a pickup game with me, as my elbows will be drawn to your teeth as through some mystical force.
Dude, there's a difference between physical play and just being plain dirty.
