Good Hands

Not sure why I would I would focus on this area of any athlete. Maybe it was the pot induced stupor that had me looking at my hands as if they were something magical.
(No Mom, I don't need the drugs are bad for you talk.)

But to each athlete the "hands" are on integral part of their success.

Being an amateur/semi professional athlete myself (little league and high school sports) Thank you very much. I quickly notice that I may have a tough time is some sports. Let's start with basketball, my favorite. I dreamed of being Dr.J palming the ball,dunking it through the hoop all day long. Damn you tiny hands! Now I opt for the special girls smaller basketball when I need my Dr.J fix.

Volleyball- Karch Kiraly had the best hands on the beach I have ever seen.
I dug that dudes digging. Say that ten times fast.
He could serve the ball 100mph, me 18.
Not sure how he didn't break his fingers. Must have been the suntan lotion.


Hockey wrist shot- I am constantly amazed at the dexterity that hockey player have when attempting this type of shot. They can flip the pick just over some one or scorch it a 75 mph. Coolest part of the shot is every once in a while, it will shatter the glass. Always a crowd pleaser.


Tennis =You try hitting back a serve at 140mph. Mother of god! How many times can my racket fall out of my hands?
I thought myself a pretty good tennis player, yeah until I grew up.
My favorite shot on the court is the touch volley. At the net, feeling like a target. You can almost catch the ball on your racket and just place it just over the net.
My greatest shot was produced as I rushed the net behind my slicing 2nd serve, as I hit the service line the return shot was hit to my backhand side and down the line. Instincts and lots of TV tennis told me to stretch out..no lunge for the ball. Amazingly my eyes never left the ball, fully extended I hit a low cross court volley just above the net, landing in the corner of the opposing service box.
At any time,I can close my eyes and see that shot. I am sure Dick Enberg would have called it a miraculous shot.



Baseball- what I remember most about playing baseball when I was younger was the stinging of the bat when you hit one off the label of the bat. Nothing else in life make you pay so dearly. Hitting your funny bone doesn't even come close. Now remember it was 40 degrees out to boot. Worse yet, I hit a freaking foul ball. Now you got to hit again. Squeezing the bat with pins and needles ...man....memories.
Throwing a new ball was truly awesome. It smelled good, the whitest of whites, the 216 bright red stitches (I could throw the nastiest curve with a new ball)
Throwing a wet baseball, just gross. Leather Face would like it, me not so much. Slimey with no grip and spits at you when you catch it.
I loved to play cather flies up. I could stay out all day and just field.
Game saving catch at the wall was my play.
I would try to turn a routine catch into a circus catch. Hey, I was a kid!


Why does NFL QB Trent Dilfer have abnormally large hands - Dude has hands that can palm my head. Sort of like huge mittens. No wonder he can throw a spiral.
Me, famous for the wobbly end over end beauties. Never saw one of my special throws on the NFL Films in slow motion? You should. They would have to play the classical "Duck Walking on Hot Tar" overture when showing it.
Catching the pigskin was my thing or so I think it is. We played alot in the streets and the park near the house. Can't remember how many 5 touchdown games I had. I do remember some of the tougher catches made by my friends, Frankie running into a car, still held on. Nice. Jimbo with a one handed Staue of Liberty catch, never seen someone so surprised and happy at one time. All of us have the hands road rash from diving onto the street. I jumped backward one time to catch a bomb thrown by Mario and I swear on my mother I thought I broke my tail bone.
Friends laughing... Ray dying....memories.


Just a few more than I gotta go

Hand is quicker than than the eye- I once knocked a glass off a display counter about eye level with my right hand and caught it at my ankles with my left hand.
Crazy right?

Ladies ice skating - Thanks you Jimmy MacElroy for the peacock routine.

Ladies Gymanstics- why don't they just make the uneven parallel bars out of chalk?

Flo-Jo's finger nails scared the crap out of me.

Michael Jackson-glove you dude

manicure- should be called ladycure. Dudes should never get these.


I'm one of the good hand people.
That's what make me a sports freak.