Skip to main content

Owen L. Johnson: Clutch shooter

By
Owen is becoming somewhat of an athletic phenom. I honestly don't know where he gets it. When I was growing up we had a basketball hoop that my dad installed in our driveway. However, during the summers I'd spend my days playing with Legos in my room while the neighborhood kids would play 4-on-4 outside my window. They'd knock on the door, ask my dad if they could play, and see if I'd like to come join them. I always declined and I'm sure a little piece of my father's hopes would die each time :)

Owen on the other hand begs me to play "down-set-hike" every day in the yard. If it's not running post routes in the front yard, he wants to shoot hoops in the back yard with the volleyball and recycling bin. Every Saturday he plays soccer, and the coach gazes on with tears in his eyes as Owen out-sprints the other kids, slide tackles with abandon, and "sells out" for every loose ball.

Our latest bonding activity is going to the Caltech gym and shooting hoops on the "real basketball hoop." I use a regulation ball and Owen uses a volleyball. He can make about 1 out of every 3 shots these days. Here's a video of his second day on the court. His first day out, he was barely able to shoot the ball half way to the hoop. About an hour in he was reliably hitting the bottom of the net. By the time we left, he had sunk 8 shots in 30 minutes.

What's especially amazing to me about Owen is his persistence. His dedication to practice is something I didn't learn until I was in college. But he'll practice shooting hoops for an hour and a half, stopping only to catch his breath and grab some water from the fountain. Who's kid is this?!

Labels:

Comments

Amy P said…
He's got more b-ball skills than Auntie Amy does!!
June 19, 2010 at 9:30 PM
Anonymous said…
Fantastic!! :) I love how he runs up and gives the ball a bounce before launching it into the air.
June 19, 2010 at 11:42 PM
Anonymous said…
Awesome! Take that kid down to the Y and sign him up for youth basketball! :)
June 21, 2010 at 8:11 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A view from your shut down

By
The Daily Dish has been posting reader emails reporting on their " view from the shutdown ." If you think this doesn't affect you, or if you know all too well how bad this is, take a look at the growing collection of poignant stories. No one is in this alone except for the nutjobs in the House. I decided to email Andrew with my own view. I plan to send a similar letter to my congressperson. Dear Andrew, I am a professor of astronomy at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). The CfA houses one of the largest, if not the largest collection of PhD astronomers in the United States, with over 300 professional astronomers and roughly 100 doctoral and predoctoral students on a small campus a few blocks west of Harvard Yard. Under the umbrella of the CfA are about 20 Harvard astronomy professors, and 50 tenure-track Smithsonian researchers. A large fraction of the latter are civil servants currently on furlough and unable to come to work. In total, 147 FTEs
Post a Comment
Read more

The Long Con

By
Hiding in Plain Sight ESPN has a series of sports documentaries called 30 For 30. One of my favorites is called Broke  which is about how professional athletes often make tens of millions of dollars in their careers yet retire with nothing. One of the major "leaks" turns out to be con artists, who lure athletes into elaborate real estate schemes or business ventures. This naturally raises the question: In a tightly-knit social structure that is a sports team, how can con artists operate so effectively and extensively? The answer is quite simple: very few people taken in by con artists ever tell anyone what happened. Thus, con artists can operate out in the open with little fear of consequences because they are shielded by the collective silence of their victims. I can empathize with this. I've lost money in two different con schemes. One was when I was in college, and I received a phone call that I had won an all-expenses-paid trip to the Bahamas. All I needed to d
8 comments
Read more

back-talk begins

By
me: "owen, come here. it's time to get a new diaper" him, sprinting down the hall with no pants on: "forget about it!" he's quoting benny the rabbit, a short-lived sesame street character who happens to be in his favorite "count with me" video. i'm turning my head, trying not to let him see me laugh, because his use and tone with the phrase are so spot-on.
4 comments
Read more