The empty Poland Spring water bottle is spinning in the air. It bounces off the Gatorade vending machine, hits the edge of the recycling bin. And I get the roll. It bounces to the other side of the bin and then finally falls safely into place.

My favorite part of the gym has nothing to do with weights or my iPod. It's the two basketball shots at the end of each session. One involves shooting the empty Poland Spring bottle into the recycling bin. The other is shooting my used towel from across the locker room into the towel bin.

Why not just walk up to these repositories and calmly place the items in them? For the same reason that, to the dismay of my sixth grade teacher, I used to toss paper into the wastebasket from 30 feet away as if to imitate Larry Bird--it's more fun.

One time I threw an airball. Some guy next to me asked, "Do you play for the Knicks?"