He feels like a fifth-year senior, sometimes. And several times removed.
The Los Angeles D-Fenders take the bus to play Bakersfield. Otherwise they cram themselves into a commercial 737, next to the babies and the laptops and the people who stare and wonder how the weather is up there.
For Ryan Gomes, it’s fair and warm. He’s playing basketball, professionally, at age 33.
“We travel together, ride the bus together, and on the road I think of it as college,” Gomes said the other day at Toyota Sports Center, where the D-Fenders play their games on the same court where they practice.