In John Updike’s poem “Ex-Basketball Player,” Flick’s hands are fine and nervous on a lug wrench. A lug wrench is a tool commonly used by people who work on cars. Flick works at a gas station where, among his other duties, he has to help change flat tires. The lug wrench is mainly used to loosen and/or tighten the lug nuts on a car wheel.

The lug wrench could be considered Flick’s new basketball. Once upon a time, Flick’s hands might have been “fine and nervous” on a basketball. As Updike reveals, Flick used to play for his high-school basketball team. Their name was the Wizards. Flick wasn’t just an all-right basketball player, nor was he merely “good.” He was “the best” basketball player. During the 1946 season, Flick scored 390 points, which is a record that has yet to be broken.

The lug wrench line comes in the fourth stanza. It comes right after Updike tells the reader that Flick sometimes “dribbles an inner tube” as a joke. Maybe the inner tube, like the lug wrench, could be considered Flick’s new basketball.

Back to the lug wrench. The main idea behind the lug wrench seems to be that Flick’s hands are no longer primarily occupied by a basketball. What he holds in his hands isn’t so glorious or awe-inspiring. He’s not setting any records with a basketball anymore. Instead, he’s holding a lug wrench. He’s engaged in common, ordinary, everyday labor.