I re-read the Advanced Genius book which is hilarious and insightful at the same time. It’s a book that promotes finding ways to like something instead of looking for ways to hate it. This made me think about things that I truly enjoyed and this brought me back to my childhood which is when I demonstrated a feeling that was more natural than today. This is tougher to explain but I think as you get older it’s harder to “love” something. This brings me to this list of childhood joys.
Jim Fenerty – Head Coach of GA Basketball
Germantown Academy Basketball Camp
For 3 weeks in the Summer a private school hosted a basketball camp M-F. GA has a great basketball reputation and put on a premier camp. Coaches from local colleges would give demonstrations and their current players would act as the instructors. They even brought Kobe in one week but he had “car troubles”. Rasheed Wallace threw a basketball at my head.
There were 3 leagues depending on your age group and you’d spend the whole day going through drills and playing games. It’s possible now that I look back at it that this was the most fun time in my entire life. One key memory I had was when I played Bud in a 1v1 game for the best one on one player of the league which was determined in a tournament structure. I think my career record vs Bud is pristine which I’m sure he would remember better than me. There was also a scenario called a lightning game when the game would start with a tie score and there would be 2 minutes on the clock to play out. With 3 seconds left, down by 2, I got the ball and hoisted a shot from (in my memory) way beyond mid court and swished it. That got me camper of the day. Not only was this camp incredibly fun, but it made me a better basketball player which never left me.
ManHunt & Capture the Flag
This is kind of a weird one but I loved the game Manhunt and Capture the Flag. During summer nights a group of us would get together at Pishy’s house and use his yard and the Herman’s to play. The game entailed hiding and running which is about as basic as it gets but I think the element of out smarting the people trying to catch you was the allure. “They’ll never find me hiding 50 feet up in this tree.” No shit. The all time thrill was hiding in the actual base where prisoners were kept and tagging them out as they came in. Capture the flag was equally fun. I’m sure if I was slower these games wouldn’t be as satisfying.
Complex, best multiplayer level. No question.
Goldeneye
When I first played Goldeneye I was blown away by the multiplayer. You’re telling me that 4 people can play at the same time?!?! I went home and told JC that I had to get the new console and that’s exactly what I did. This was perhaps the best multiplayer game of all time in relation to when it was out. This was before killing was fragging and screen looking was a major factor. Once you mastered this game, you could have incredible multiplayer action. 2v2 was also a huge hit. Anyone who knows anything about this game knew that paintball mode, licensed to kill, with pistols was the best multiplayer set up. I could say without a doubt that I loved this game. “No OddJob”. I was always Mishkin. SOF would eventually replace this but I’ll get into that later.
Your career record against me in most athletic activities is in fact pristine.
1) I wasn’t a huge fan of GA, but that’s probably because I suck at basketball.
2) I was also a fan of these games.
3) If we played a 4 man FFA in any shooter on the same screen today, it would seem so stupid because of screenlooking. Also, I just looked at the 11 maps available for multiplayer, and don’t think we ever played anything other than Complex and Stack, occasionally Temple.