Basketti and Bballs

Yum goes the net when our shots are all wet,
"It's been days and nights since I been fed right."
We hustle and hoop to get that ball through that loop,
Knowing how it is when your stomach acids fizz
And there's nothing to slurp, just empty, hungry burps.

My friend Tony and I have known one another for 10 years this year, ever since the seventh grade. We only went to middle school together, but he's good at keeping in touch and even though we didn't go to the same high school or college, he's one of my closest friends. It's a good thing he's been the driving force behind our long-lasting friendship 'cause I'm horrible at keeping in touch. It's something I'm trying to work on so I can be a better person.

We hunger too, our famished egos know no surrender to
the taller, beefier, more practiced players, and we
feast on the succulent tissue of our opponents'
apple turnovers, forced oyster shots, and bricks of cheese.
We breeze by, pour on a little seasoning, bring out
the fine dishes, and cut -
cut into the fat, the garnishes, all the meaningless
bullshit, and get right to the main course.

Basketball is one of the activities that brings us together. There used to be skateboarding, but I messed up my ankle playing basketball. There used to movies, but the economy ain't doing so hot to be spending money at the cinema. There still sort of is computer and car stuff, but I'm more into the computer stuff and he's more into the car stuff. We sorta just keep up with the other's interest to be agreeable.

Our bones beg to be rested, our muscles burn like lactic acid
barbecue sauce bathing on a rack of juicy pork ribs on a hot
Southern California day. We sweat like we've got a fever for
even more of these gargantuan phở bowls that
make us perspire, funkily inspiring us to finish
our meals, at least gobbling up all the meat, just like
our mommas told us. And this weariness, this languor that
threatens our moment, is overcome knowing we can't
leave food uneaten, can't stop struggling for the
win, even when we've already
won. The fatigue instincts are chewed
up by our thirst for change. We are telling the
world: no matter how emaciated we look, or how ravenous our
appetites were when we began, we are here to
dine and to finish this. We will gobble while you wobble,
We will ingest with no rest, our voracity will unlock
as your ass is rocked, by us.

So we play basketball because it's fun, it's cheap, and it's healthy - healthy for our bodies, healthy for our friendship. And then sometimes, we'll go eat afterward and talk about things like, you guessed it, basketball. Not always healthy food, usually Yoshinoya, sometimes Del Taco or Rallies or a drink from 7-11. I relish it 'cause I know it's not going to last much longer. We've gotta grow up, gotta settle down, have kids, and be honest, hardworking people. Everything in its seasoning.