Every time I play basketball these days, I seem to end up bruised. The last time I was in the Friday game frequented by folks in the English Department, I collided with someone setting a screen and popped something in the hollow right above my hip bone. My entire side morphed into an Expressionist sunset that has only recently faded from view. Today a player who prefers to set picks headfirst ran right into my left cheek. My immediate response was to walk off the court and kick an idle basketball very hard. Then I regrouped and continued playing, but with a strange buzzing in my left ear. I guess that's why they call it getting your bell rung. This time I may not show the trauma on the surface, since it wasn't a spot that bruises easily. But if you see me looking like a defeated pugilist in the days ahead, you'll know why.
