Maybe you play ball Wednesday nights down at the local rec center. Maybe it's Friday afternoons at the gym or Saturday mornings at church.
Wherever you play, good for you. Keep at it. Have fun.
But, please, don't mistake what you do for what THEY do. And by "they" I mean NBA players going through the grind of the regular season.
Now, before I go much farther, let me explain:
I know the vast majority of knowledgeable sports fans understand the difference between recreational athletics and pros. Most of you understand there's no comparison between the weekend warrior -- whatever the sport -- and the world-class athlete playing at the highest level.
Still, there are a few know-it-alls out there who might be confused, so let's just set the record straight. There's a huge difference between what they do and what you do -- even if you played a "a little college" ball 15 years ago and you're still the baddest dude in your rec league.
Take, for example, the Utah Jazz's recent three-games-in-three-nights road trip. The average sports fan (or sportswriter, for that matter) may think, "C'mon, what's the big deal? These are healthy, young, athletic guys playing a game, for crying out loud. And they're getting paid huge sums of money to do it, how hard can it be?"
Pretty hard, actually.
So far the 2011-12 season, which wedges 66 games in a little more than four months, has been a war of attrition, with every team in a league experiencing injuries. Some have been significant, but for the most part they're the nagging kinds of bumps and bruises players simply fight through.
Jazz players, who finish the first half of the season tonight at Minnesota, are no exception. Fortunately, they're looking at some much needed rest with five days off for the All-Star break.
They'll need every hour of it, of course, because once they get back the schedule calls for 16 games over a 25-day period.
Nine of those 16 will be played on the road.
Monday night, after they lost a hard battle with San Antonio, almost every player in the Jazz locker room had at least one ice bag stuck somewhere on his body.
Some had feet and ankles resting in buckets of ice, others had ice bags wrapped around each knee.
Seeing that sort of thing near the end of a regular 82-game schedule is one thing, but seeing it in the middle of February is unusual.
The Jazz have four players over the age of 30, including guard Raja Bell who probably won't play again until after the All-Star break.
Now, for some of us, anyone in his 30s is still pretty young. But it's all relative, I suppose, and it's interesting to note how those older players take care of themselves.
"Everyone's body is different, everybody has a different method for combating travel and games. A season like this is unique," said 32-year-old reserve point guard Earl Watson said. "For me, I just continue to do the best I can and work hard in practice; take as many vitamins as I can after practice."
Watson said it's important to eat right, get quality rest and drink as many fluids as possible. He also said he tries to maintain a physical routine, even on off days, because a body not getting stronger is getting weaker.
Other players, like Bell, 35, and Josh Howard, 31, said the same thing.
At 24, C.J. Miles isn't the youngest guy on the team, but nobody on the current roster has been a Jazzman longer.
Some of us remember Miles as an 18-year-old kid bouncing around the team's training facility.
Before a practice last week, he sounded like one of those wily veterans.
"I've taken a lot more ice baths this year than I ever have before, just to keep my legs going," he said. "(I eat) totally different than I used to. When I first got here I could eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, no matter the time of night."
Now, he said, he puts only the cleanest-burning fuel in his body and even then he's careful when he eats it.
"You want to be able to get the best out of your body," he said. "You get out of it what you put into it."
Now there's some good food for thought, even for the baddest dudes in the rec league.
Jim Burton is the Standard-Examiner's sports columnist. He also covers the Utah Jazz and the NBA. He can be reached at 801-625-4265 or at jburton@standard.net. He tweets at http://twitter.com/jmb247
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