Shootin' Some Serious Hoop

I wouldn’t consider myself to be a basketball expert, but I’ve spent many hours developing a very respectable jump shot. I had previously played a casual game of H.O.R.S.E. with my friend Jenna, and decided I could help her learn a little bit more about shooting some hoop.

The jump shot is critical to a basketball player’s skillset. Much argument can be had about what is a “proper” jump shot. Practically since Dr. Naismith invented the game in 1891 there have emerged instructional videos, camps run by people like Jimmer, and even instructional books dedicated to teaching this art. I learned in a way more consistent with folk knowledge. My dad taught me as I shot baskets in the driveway nearly every evening before dinner.

Qu'ils mangent de la brioche- ou du gateaux!

For those of you who don't know, the first part of my title is the expression from which we've derived the English "Let them eat cake." Brioche, however, is not the typical "cake" that we think of: sufficeth to say it's more kind of like sweet bread. "Gateaux" is the cake we would think about. If you're interested in the origin of the expression (it wasn't said by Marie Antoinette!) you can look here or here.

So when deciding what skill I want to teach someone (the learning portion of the project can be found here), the cake idea stuck the moment I thought of it for two reasons. Monday night, my FHE family came over to our apartment. As each group of roommates arrived, they all asked if something was burning. Why did my apartment smell this way? One of my roommates, Daniel, had tried to bake cookies- you know, those ones you literally place on the pan and put in the oven- and the apartment smelt like ashes once he was done. The other reason, of course, is that I would get to eat cake. An afterthought was that I could add in some cake-humor into my blog, cake humor having become popular in nerdy video games, so hopefully someone will get the references.

The Cake is not a Lie!