SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
At last, a sport that you and I can relate to - which brings us to a story we have coming up, right?
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: (Laughter) Boy, can we relate to this one.
This is a pickup game of basketball, tough in its own right. In fact, Scott, it's a game I once played in and dominated, if you will.
SIMON: (Laughter).
GOLDMAN: Although your old producer pal Peter Breslow might dispute that. Peter started this pickup game, now in its 33rd season. And, Scott, even though now Peter is a bit vertically challenged, shall we say, he still plays a mean horizontal game. And he's helping keep the NPR hardwood traditional alive. Here he is with a play-by-play.
PETER BRESLOW, BYLINE: Thanks, Tom. And by the way, Tom had a very sweet shot from the corner. Over the years, he was one of an array of NPR staffers who were part of the game. And yes, that's right. It's been going on since 1982, when I washed up on NPR's doorstep looking for a job. That makes me too old to still be playing, and yet somehow, I still am.
Everyone Wednesday night over the decades, a group of guys has come together to run fullcourt in a rented gym. We've had journalists, carpenters, doctors, locksmiths, IT guys, military guys, lawyers and at least one top White House staffer. This is DC, after all. Often, we know little about each other's personal lives and would never recognize each other with long pants on.
BERNARD OHANIAN: You know, when it's really clicking, it's like a jazz symphony. And most of the time, it's like a bad garage band.
BRESLOW: That's Bernard Ohanian. He's one of the almost-originals and among the few graybeards left in our group. He says the game endures because everyone's friendly, plays hard and...
OHANIAN: There's no jerks in the game. I mean, anybody's who's ever played pickup basketball knows that that's not always the case. And, you know, the friendships and the relationships that you build up over a number of years, it just feels right. It feels like part of my life, you know, so...
BRESLOW: NPR economics correspondent John Ydstie, an all-state player in high school, has been part of my on-court life for a long, long time.
JOHN YDSTIE: So I know every move you've got.
BRESLOW: You know that I can't go left.
YDSTIE: I know you can't go left. I know when you go right, you go hard, and you can make that hook shot - that little running hook shot at the basket.
BRESLOW: Occasionally. But John is a consistent threat from the outside and along the baseline. And it's those moves that keep him in the game.
YDSTIE: Every now and then, I do something that feels like it felt when I was 20 years old, and it just feels so great. And you realize you were once really good at this thing, and I'm not very good at it anymore, I mean. But it's still fun. It's just great fun.
BRESLOW: For Bernard Ohanian, long-running games run in the family. His dad played with a group of friends from the time they were 15 until well into their golden years. And there was this one guy named Bob who had been fouling everyone since World War II, but he'd never admit it. Well, during one game in the mid-1980s, he hacked his buddy Joe one time too many.
OHANIAN: And Joe says foul. And Bob just looks incredulous. And he looks at him, says Joe, I didn't foul you. And you can see this stuff simmering in Joe like he'd been holding it in all these years, right? And he slams the ball down on the floor and he says, damn it, Bob. It was a foul in 1945, and it's a foul today.
BRESLOW: When we started, almost everyone was in their early 30s. But over the years, the original cast of characters dwindled down. Some left town. Some were felled by torn ligament. Others were pulled away by marriage and kids. Some just got too old and creaky, and most often, young guys took their place.
So what year were you born?
DAN BLANK: 1983.
BRESLOW: Yes, Dan Blank was born the year after this game started. I'm pretty sure I'm older than his parents.
BLANK: A lot of guys out here have some very sneaky speed. Every now and then, I think I can just jog back down and keep pace and then they zoom right past me, so it's kept me on my toes.
BRESLOW: So some old guy might surprise you here and again.
BLANK: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I don't take anything for granted the way I did the first game.
BRESLOW: He's just being nice. But that's kind of a hallmark of this intergenerational game. Again, Bernard Ohanian.
OHANIAN: When any of us, like, really older guys, you know, dives for a ball and we're on the ground or we fall, I mean, the guys are, like, standing over us - you all right, you all right, you all right? I think they're afraid we're going to die on the court.
BRESLOW: At least he died doing what he loved. For John Ydstie, retirement is not an option - not yet.
YDSTIE: You know, I keep thinking, I suppose there's a time will come (laughter) when we'll have to hang it up, but it's not next week. And I don't think it's next year. Yeah, I don't know. Just keep going till I can't go anymore. Oh, I think I have to go. I'm in.
BRESLOW: All right. Good luck.
Over the years, I've broken my nose, cracked my ribs, torn muscles and sprained ankles. My jump shot percentage is approaching that of low-fat milk. And my reflexes have gone from catlike to semi-catatonic. And yet, I keep playing because the game I've practiced since I was 9 years old keeps toying with me. Just when it seems like I can't raise the embarrassment bar any higher, I'll have a great night - or at least a great game. I'll hit most of my shots, maybe even a game-winner. And then I know I'll be back next Wednesday night.
Peter Breslow, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THAT'S HOW I BEAT SHAQ")
AARON CARTER: (Singing) It's like boom, boom. I put in the hoop like slam, slam. I heard the crowd screaming out jam, jam. I swear that I'm telling you the facts 'cause that's how I beat Shaq.
Boom, boom - I put it in the hoop like slam, slam. I heard the crowd screaming out jam, jam. I swear that I'm telling you the facts 'cause that's how I beat Shaq.
So check it out. I thought I had the lead, but then he started scoring mad points on me. I was throwing bricks. Was he hitting all the shots? I knew there was a way that I could make it stop.
I had a plan. I could change the pace...
SIMON: Aaron Carter. You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.