Why Are You Trying Out for the High School Team?

Not to criticize daily physical activity, nor playing for fun, nor a lifetime of good health. Not to demean those who shoot hoops in the school yard or play pick-up with friends, nor those who swim run, or play another sport to keep fit. Seeking instead to address those wishing to tryout for the next level (high school, Ontario Basketball, AAU, university or college) and excel. Anyone considering that step should ask themselves one question:

Why am I doing this? Anyone can see the fans at the game more clearly than the name on the jersey.  Anyone can play for individual glory. Anyone can take unlimited shots. Anyone can quit when it starts to hurt. But nobody should play at the next level if they can’t play:

• For the Name on the Front of the Jersey: To make four years in high school mean something more. To represent your teammates and your peers with pride. To play team defence. To create memories. To participate in something greater than oneself.
• For Teammates: To make friends for life. To be the first to pick a teammate up off the floor. To make a pass as the clock winds down because it was the right thing to do. To achieve something together that was impossible individually. To help defensively. To take charges. To set screens. To be positive.  To encourage.
• For Improvement: To set goals and accomplish them. To improve. To encounter obstacles and overcome them. To avenge earlier defeats in the playoffs. To practice hard daily. To acquire skills, both physical and mental, and use them on and off the court. To train.
• For Self-Actualization: To be the best. To think. To anticipate the next play. To focus. To stay calm under pressure. To challenge the opponent’s best player. To stop the ball. To be tough. To fight through screens. To rebound. To hit the floor.  To compete.

It is a privilege to play for any team. Canadians like Jermaine Anderson love to play for their country. Sometimes the twelfth man is the staunchest teammate. Players have dreamt for years about being on the court when it matters. Even those on the bench are essential to making any good team better.

It matters whenever any team plays, any collection of players selected because of their skill, strength, speed, and - most significantly - their soul. That team and those players are important. Anyone can be one-dimensional but elite teams and elite players are those who develop all aspects of the game.

Even if this is not the year that you are playing varsity or it is not the month when the season officially begins, it can still be the day to start training. The day to set personal standards. What will you accept from yourself? Everyday, student-athletes can make a difference. Anyone who can’t meet that challenge doesn’t belong on an elite team.
 
Michael Jordan was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame yesterday and chose David Thompson to introduce him. He didn’t chose Dean Smith, Scottie Pippen, Magic Johnson, or Phil Jackson but a player who inspired him when he was younger. Jordan saw Thompson succeed in college and as a professional but he also saw him fail. It was the manner than Thompson overcame his drug addiction and knee injuries that inspired Jordan to become so determined.

This entire entry may seem clichéd but the crux of the message is this: elite players separate themselves from the masses not because of athletic gifts or a single event but by the choices and habits they display on a daily basis.

Curling Faux-Pas

On Sunday evening, during the tenth end of the World Championship Final, Kevin Martin threw his first rock away. The match was tied 6-6 and Canada was lying one after David Murdoch’s first shot. Martin was worried about hitting the mess of rocks on the out-turn side of the house and wanted to maintain an in-turn draw for his last shot. Everyone knew Scotland was going to raise one of their rocks with their last shot. They did and Martin missed a double-takeout with his final stone.

Never hand the opponent anything; that’s what friendlies and pick-up games are for. In basketball, a point guard should never make an excessively risky play, such as a cross-court pass over three defenders, but they wouldn’t deliberately commit a shot-clock violation just to avoid taking a chance.

Martin should have guarded Scotland’s angle raise. Under pressure, he chose to through the game, and the championship away.

Last Sunday

When a Michigan State upsets a Louisville or a Tiger Woods tracks down a Sean O’Hair on Sunday, it often comes about because of one criteria: who forced the other to play their game? The Trojans made the Mid-West Regional Final a defensive halfcourt battle and Tiger Woods started erasing the five-stroke margin as soon as he took the course.

The winner of the battle of wills was decided during the months before. Who has the discipline to stick to their gameplan? Who has the desire to do the little things which are part of the program? Who has the pride to develop positive habits? Who has the motivation to set a tone as soon as the ball is tipped? Who has the determination to head into the corner for the puck?

Those answers determine whether Wildcats can shut down Blue Devils and whether Tigers from Missouri can outrun those from Memphis. Tom Izzo may be a master coach but a great deal rests inside each athlete, like Tiger Woods showed on the back nine Sunday.

The Wrestler

The Wrestler seems to be a series of compelling character studies instead of an amazing story. Mickey Rourke, possibly playing himself - either a washed-up actor or professional boxer - is the centerpiece of the film. Darren Aronofsky’s decision to use hand-held cameras and authentic locations add to the realism of the film but I would have strongly preferred for his screenplay to tie up a few more loose ends. Does Randy “the Ram” die in the ring? Does his daughter forgive him? What about Cassidy the stripper?

“The people who you pass on the way up are the same ones who you will meet on the way down.” Twenty years after main eventing national wrestling events, Randy “the Ram” Robinson finds himself starring in same-time local shows at the American Legion Hall. Randy has trouble finding his identity: he seems to value his action figure and video game persona more than his real self. A dismal failure away from the ring, he decides to focus on what he enjoys: the wrestling ring.

Health problems occur, he becomes closer to a stripper named Cassidy, and he tries to reconnect with his daughter. Randy experiences some success and some disappointment as he approaches a twenty year rematch with his arch-nemesis the Ayatollah. He can’t decide whether to go through with the match or whether to finally call it quits.

I thought that The Wrestler does an excellent job of portraying the wrestlers as real people, with real emotions. A bespectacled Necro Butcher doesn’t want to run the ropes because of his knees; yet in the ring he staples a dollar bill to his forehead. Tommy Rotten and Ron Killings are concerned about reaching the next level; Bob a.ka. the Ayatollah goes from a businessman who owns several used car dealerships to “the Beast from the Middle East” in a matter of moments.

The Killers ask in their new album, “Are we human or are we dancer?” The Wrestler doesn’t answer that question but it does impart the importance of living with yourself and being satisfied with your lifestyle.

Toronto Stories

Toronto Stories begins with a series of diverse people passing through customs and ends with a wide-angle shot of a homeless man crossing the street and entering the dense maze of downtown. The link between these two diverse scenes (the personalities of the travelers and the soulless nature of the city) is a mysterious boy of unknown origin who does not speak English. Alongside the tapestry of tales of people moving on and doing their best in their different lives, there is a thread that asks how the city would be perceived by a newcomer who knew nothing about Toronto or its citizens.

The myriad of stories is arranged chronologically: two adventurous pre-teens, two stories of young adults in their early and late 20s, and an older homeless man who has been on the ropes since his son died in a swimming accident. The characters showcase the many types of compassion in a large city like Toronto and personify alternate ways of coping with adversity, such as resistance, recovery, or a stubborn refusal to change. Early in the film, the two kids find a homeless person sleeping and think that he is a monster but as the audience gets to know Henry, who seems to be a recalcitrant drug-addict at first, we see that he is a complex person trying to cope with his own tragic.

The writing and performances are uneven, given that the four separate stories have different writers. I thought that the film could have used a fifth story explaining how the boy figured into the equation. At the end of the fourth story, he is able to communicate via an interpreter so it would have been interesting to see him try to settle in Toronto.

There were some loose ends in each story that were not tied up; more contact between the storylines could have created a sense of Six Degrees of Separation, or better displayed the drama occurring in each story. For example, in the first story, a man jumps from a bridge with no apparent explanation. Had the explanation appeared in another story, it would have created a neat relationship.

The film was enjoyable, but not excellent. For example, just off the top of my head: other superior films, such as A History of Violence or No Country for Old Men, feature average everyday characters going about their lives and trying to make a difference.

Doubt

Contradictions and contrasts abound throughout Doubt: good and evil, summer and winter, certainty and doubt. Largely due to the captivating performances of Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, the audience experiences similar opposite emotions. Who is in the right: Streep’s stern Sister Aloysius or Hoffman’s relaxed Father Flynn? As the seasons change, so does the apparent truth.

“What’s this? The wind is so … peripatetic this year,” comments Sister Aloysius early in the film. Later, as Father Flynn arrives in the parish with new ideas, the school principal fights back, criticizing the priest regarding matters ranging from his close relationship with students to his use of a ballpoint pen. Sister Aloysius claims she is certain that Father Flynn has been molesting children, despite the lack of concrete evidence.

The nun’s success in her crusade inspires deeper doubts: Aloysius was forced to lie to force Father Flynn out of the parish and despite his wrong doing (in her eyes), he was promoted in the church. Along with Sister James, Aloysius must confront doubts regarding her faith and purpose in life. It’s not that writer/director John Patrick Shanley encourages viewers to question their existence but his screenplay maintains an atmosphere where nobody is certain, even after the film is finished.

Direction is conservative, repeatedly battering audience members with traditional symbolism, like the weather representing post-Vatican II change in the church and a faulty overhead light signifying the seemingly all-knowing and all-seeing principal. Of course, a traditional film based on a play requires patient blocking and patient cinematography. The peaceful school setting in the middle of bustling New York City is very appropriate.

Doubt relies on a compelling screenplay and charismatic performances to stand out. Hoffman is shown in more widescreen shots, using body language and facial expressions to relate to others. Streep is filmed in tight shots, her body hidden by a traditional habit. She must rely on vocal inflections and her eyes to make a connection with the audience. As mentioned in many revues, she excels. If the rest of the filmed matched the performances of the three principal characters, Doubt would be the best film of 2008.

The Best and Brightest

“Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it,” according to George Santayana. According to David Halberstam’s book, The Best and the Brightest - which exposes how the Kennedy and Johnson cabinets of the 1960s handled Vietnam - it may not be so simple. John F. Kennedy’s administration had lofty goals: some of the most educated men in the country sought to redefine the role of the United States on the world stage. Some sought to curtail the arms race, others sought to establish a new, modern “Great Society” back home. Despite their best intentions and their amazingly bright minds, they failed miserably. Although the scholars had many good ideas, they lacked the aptitudes to implement them properly.

“The charts look good,” said Walt Rostow, National Security Advisor to Lyndon B. Johnson, in 1967. Yet despite that claim, the situation in Vietnam was worsening. Those making decisions didn’t have the proper statistics and consequently made incorrect choices. Many Far East experts had been purged from the State department and few individuals with experience in Southeast Asia remained to analyze the events.

Some information was false due to incompetence, other information ignored because decisions makers didn’t want to acknowledge what was happening. The United States viewed the war quantitively (believing their shear numbers advantage would win), rather than qualitively (and acknowledge that the Viet Cong was employing a different type of warfare). Some information was even falsified in order to avoid excessive media coverage. Ironically, when Johnson’s team lied about the true cost of the war, it wasn’t that the country couldn’t afford the higher figure but the fact that he had lie that helped bring him down.

“He’s my intellectual,” said Johnson about Rostow. Johnson was somewhat paranoid about Kennedy’s appointees and how they treated him. Advisors were hired based on the opinions, not their ability to understand a situation. Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense, was fired because he opposed an escalation of the bombing in North Vietnam. Aides were reluctant to bring their superiors information that might seem negative or pessimistic.

Throughout the administration, there was widespread refusal to admit wrong and accept weaknesses. Once the conflict escalated, the United States felt reluctant to withdraw because they didn’t want the world to think they were conceding defeat to a Communist country. There was also a reluctance to change and alter a course of action once it had been understand.

To me, a surprising fact was that many of the cabinet came from families that had advised the president a generation before (and some families continued to advise a generation later). Although they claimed not to be political, personal grudges and mistrust permeated the administration.

“The only difference between the Kennedy assassination and mine is that I am alive and it has been more tortuous,” complained Johnson during the 1968 primary season. Halberstam has written a detailed history of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. The book covers how people achieved their positions at the time and what happened after it all fell apart. It was not one decision that led to the disaster in Vietnam but many small choices, some made repeatedly.

“All men dream; but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds Awake to find that it was vanity; But the dreamers of day are dangerous men. That they may act their dreams with open eyes to make it possible,” recited T.E. Lawrence after World War I. The 660 page chronicle is incredibly fascinating and sometimes depressing. Any leader can learn from this text and improve themselves and their team. Any person could read this, or Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and wonder how the same mistakes are made over and over again, even today.

French Food

Back in Toronto, it is nice to return to typical Canadian food. The cafeteria in the Hameau-St. Michel residence frequently deep-fried meals and served potatoes to the point of boredom.

The first night in Tours, I ate at Au Lapin Qui Fume, a small bistro that served traditional French food, pairing meat and game from the area with regional produce. The smoked salmon appetizer was fine, though in retrospect salmon with dill is not unique to France. The rabbit stew was flavourful, although I know now that this country cuisine is not my favourite. The apricot tart served for dessert was locally made and perfectly good.

A return to the bistro towards the end of the trip was equally enjoyable. The rabbit terrine was savoury and the lamb was well-cooked. Again, I suppose that lamb and rosemary is not a combination unique to France but the dishes were locally prepared. The raspberry shortcake was a memorable conclusion to the meal.

Another night, I dined at Au Chien Jaune, which was near the Lapin in location but not in quality. They served a salmon mousse profiterole, which was an interesting juxtaposition of textures. The duck was cooked exactly to specifications but the dish was plain. The lonely duck was only accompanied by a salad and could have enjoyed the company of a sauce. The crème brulée was only partially “bruléed” and whoever did this task had done it long before I ordered the dessert.

At Chez Roy, I enjoyed a duck in a red wine sauce with potatoes. It was the dish that I envisioned the first time; the savory red wine sauce accentuated the taste of the duck admirably. The escargot appetizer was plentiful, highlighted by a delicious pesto and garlic combination. The crème caramel seemed to have been lying there for a while. During the meal, a loud argument caused delays in the kitchen. When my friends returned to the restaurant, the oven was broken. The restaurant could improve upon these inconsistencies.

In Blois, some of us ate at Le Rond de Serviette, which was a bit off of the beaten path. One of their pizzas was topped with escargots. The snails were effectively cooked but the pie was lacking; too much tomato sauce caused the toppings to slide around.

On another field trip in Bourges, the bouillabaisse at Le Jardin d’O (not a typo) was plentiful and reasonably priced. A moelleux au chocolate in a crème anglaise sauce seemed homemade.

The final field trip to Chartes involved lunch at the ironically named Café Serpente, across the street from the cathedral. Moules marinière were bountiful but a little too salty. The hap-hazard fries should have been excluded from the dish and replaced with bread. A friend ordered the oddly named “Texas Style” pork. I recommended against since it seemed unlikely that anyone in the kitchen was from Texas, Oklahoma, or Missouri. The ribs weren’t really barbecued and only came with a mild tomato side sauce.

Over the course of the sojourn, Au Bureau became average brasserie where one could watch events like the Wimbledon final and the Euro 2008 championship game. They served a “Vesuvio” pizza with a fried egg in the centre which was surrounded by smoked ham and onions. They also served an “American” burger which came with a fried egg. I don’t know anything about how pizzas were topped in Pompeii but I don’t know why a fried egg makes a hamburger “American.”

The last memorable meal that I had was at La Bouillon Racine, which was recommended in class. The service was attentive to the point of almost being instantaneous. I wanted to have more escargots so I ordered the appetizer, which was similar in taste and quality to the other restaurants (which was what I was hoping for).

While walking by the Botanical Gardens in Tours, I had seen some lambs, chickens, and pigs socializing in the petting zoo. Why single out the lamb and duck by only eating them? They all seemed equal, in an Orwellian way. So, to spread fate’s cruel judgments around, I ordered the chicken with risotto.

Based on how often it’s fouled up on Hell’s Kitchen, I thought that risotto was a difficult dish to make. This one could have been a little creamier but was mostly delicious. The dish treaded a fine line between a fancy restaurant dish and something made with Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup but the depth of the mushroom flavour heighten the quality of this dish. Plus, the chicken was notably tender.

The crème brulée was exactly what I expect in the dish: finished off after it was ordered and a nice sugar crust on top of a rich cream.

A friend alerted me to this article about the economic value of experiences. So rather than buy excessive souvenirs or whatever, I focused on the quality of my experience. Relatively speaking, the good restaurant that is diligently sought is not much pricier than food of average quality. All in all, I am satisfied with my choices.

Choices and the Usual

Choices and consequences are consistently highlighted yet the message - on many levels - often struggles to get through. Recently, athletes have showcased self-evident and senseless decision-making during championship competition.

During the Champions League final, Didier Drogba, one of Chelsea’s most skilled strikers, slapped Manchester’s Nemanja Vidić with minutes remaining in added time and metres in front of the referee and received a well-deserved red card. Drogba knew that penalties were imminent but he still chose to strike his opponent rather than the ball. Minus one of their top penalty takers, the Blues lost to United in sudden-death penalties. In fact, Chelsea had a chance to win during the first five kicks and perhaps Drogba would have converted when John Terry slipped.

During Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Pittsburgh forward Ryan Malone was assessed two goaltender interference penalties. Penguin coach Michel Therrien complained that Red Wing goalie Chris Osgood dove to draw the penalties but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Both teams knew that protecting goaltenders was a point of emphasis and but Malone still chose to enter the crease. Two minor penalties leading to a 3-0 Detroit victory were dominos likely to fall.

During Tuesday’s critical Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, San Antonio desperately needed a score. It appeared that Gregg Popovich diagramed a three-point shot for Brent Barry, an accomplished outside shooter who is known for inconsistent performances during clutch situations and a lack of aggression. Until that point - when the Spurs were down 93-91 to the Lakers with seconds left - Barry’s fundamentals and critical thinking had earned him 23 points.

Under pressure, the San Antonio guard got open, faked a shot and dribbled to the right. Then Los Angeles point guard Derrick Fisher landed on his check, altering the shot without drawing a foul. Had Barry gone straight up without a dribble or had the Spurs gone inside to Tim Duncan, the officials likely would have rewarded the aggression with a trip to the line and the 2007 Champions would still be playing but the team chose to take a twenty-five foot shot.

Don’t tempt fate. In school, work, life, or sport, it’s often easy to foresee outcomes and avoid them with diligence, planning, and thinking. Challenging the officials is a lose-lose proposition. Refs have to call the points of emphasis, especially when the action happens in front of them. Association refs have always rewarded superstars and aggressive play; they are liable to pass otherwise. People know this and have control over their choices, and their consequences.

Performance under Pressure, Part IV

A C.I.S. observer suggested that the premature defeat of the Carleton Ravens at the Final 8 Tournament was partially due to the absence of tight games on the Ravens’ schedule. I disagree, specifically and generally speaking.

Although Carleton did not execute well during the last possessions of both regulation and overtime, inexperience did not lead to this poor performance. The team was comprised of largely juniors and seniors who had played close games together throughout the previous seasons. During their run of five consecutive championships, the Ravens had defeated Brandon, U.P.E.I., Guelph, St. F.X., and Ottawa by five points or less. Forty percent of the starting line-up belonged to the Canadian National Team Roster, including Aaron Doornekamp who was named National Player of the Year. In 2007, the Ravens won the title with a poor seed and in 2008 without Doornekamp on the court.

The team knew what to do, having played more than enough basketball at the high school, university, and club levels (to say nothing of the pick-up and practice courts). Like the shooter seeing the defender cheating on the curl who flares or the point guard perceiving the hedge who rejects the screen, the Ravens should have recognized what was happening. Since the final shot was taken by a player who was shooting 4 for 23 instead of a teammate playing better at the time, perhaps it was the coaches whose recognition was out of practice.

Any coach cannot and should not rely on the breaks of the game to temper a team. Practices should account for the majority of competitive situations faced by players. Every drill should be a competition against a benchmark, previous personal best, or another squad. The clock is mounted in the gym for a reason. There will be times when the Blues must overcome adversity and beat the buzzer or when the Whites will run their opponents off the court. The majority of these drills, games, and scrimmages will be close enough and all players - not just the starters - will learn how to handle pressure.

Carleton was fortunate that intrinsic motivation enhanced a number of these situations during their practices; the Ravens are tremendously proud and uncompromising. However any coach can create a similar training, practice, and game environment with extrinsic motivation.

Bemoaning the trip back from Lennoxville and blaming the fact that teams only play at Bishop’s once per year is short-sighted and ignores choices and habits. Teams play thirty games per season, a small percentage of the total time players and coaches are together. Which is ourselves, n’est-ce pas?

Trades

Whether Dallas improves their current playoff hopes by trading Jason Kidd for Devin Harris, they may have sacrificed their long-term outlook. Within a couple of seasons, Harris would have supplanted Jason Terry as the Maverick’s primary point guard. As the formed Wisconsin guard reaches his prime, Kidd will be entering his decline.

Furthermore, Harris should have led a lineup featuring Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard, along with a shooter and formidable bigman, who would have been drafted with the ’08 and ’10 draft picks sent to New Jersey or signed with the cap room now consumed by Kidd. As Dallas bemoans a deal made under pressure, New Jersey will be thankful that they dismantled their overpriced backcourt in 2008. The consequence of each choice is that the Nets will likely return to the Finals before the Mavs (who blew their chance with this lineup in ’06). Like the 1999-2005 Sacramento Kings, Dallas could discover how Association glory is fleeting.

The Mavs needed a true point guard, in addition to a knowledgeable coach, a tough post defender, consistent inside scoring, and tenacious wing defence. This recent swap solved merely one of many problems, and only for the time being. The natural development of Harris would have achieved likewise, with patience. The team is third in their division, behind New Orleans and San Antonio. Chris Paul and David West are better than Jason Kidd and a mystery centre; the Spurs recently acquired Kurt Thomas to defend inside, ensuring they possess all the parts mentioned above.

When constructing a team, General Managers must correctly evaluate relative value. Trading for a top point guard to combine with a so-so back-up might be worth less than focusing on the development of Harris and a younger player like Brandon Bass, who could significantly contribute to the team’s chances next year. A superstar with a weak supporting cast may lose to a well-balanced rotation, like previous Maverick teams or the current Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz. After all, the San Antonio Spurs beat Jason Kidd’s New Jersey Nets during the 2003 Finals.

A lesson for all sport participants is to avoid the influence of pressure, whether double-teamed on the court or inundated by the media in the office. Thoughtful choices needn’t equate with the delay and indecisiveness some equate with taking too much time. In fact, careful consideration can still be achieved in a timely manner.

P.S.: Creativity (Sam Presti’s ability to create three first round draft picks, Francisco Elson, Brent Barry, and an eight million dollar trade exception simply by holding Kurt Thomas for half a season during a rebuilding year), timing (Atlanta’s decision to get Mike Bibby for next to nothing during the season when he would contribute the most towards making the playoffs), and resolve (Los Angeles’ stout refusal to give up Andrew Bynum in any trade offers) also help.

K.I.S.S.

Basketball is often overanalyzed, needlessly complicated searching for an elixir of life that will transform hardwood into championships. A slew of factors affect performance and their identification is paramount.

Changing tactics hastily, without justification, courts disaster. The play might flounder - despite its suitability for that particular moment - because players are not executing correctly. Use timeouts to seek room for improvement before obfuscating the issue with new sets. Don’t jump to conclusions and adopt a zone merely to feel better about doing something. Ensure the shift is required because there is no worse sensation than losing due to gratuitous coaching.

Basic cuts (like the Backdoor, Shuffle, and Hawk) are the most common because they are the most effective. Don’t forsake a fundamental option because it didn’t succeed once or twice. The cut may have been open but the ballhandler missed it, wasn’t skilled enough to get the ball there, or felt there was a higher percentage target elsewhere.

Good players read defences but imagining opponents or making decisions based on limited information doesn’t make one any smarter. Good players should rely on their skills first and foremost. If the game is still in doubt, basketball I.Q. may come into play but don’t make the sport harder than it needs to me.

Good coaches should apply their judgment most of all. Keep their toolbox fully stocked but only open it sparingly. Likewise, there’s no need to say anything just to fill the air. Positive body language is infinitely more valuable than idle instructions. Bad decisions bring a leader back to the back; discretion remains the better part of valour.

Practice Makes Perfect

Discussing a number of basketball topics at the corner of Yonge and Eglinton and in the Athletic Centre Fieldhouse led me to reflect about why coaches do certain things the way that they do.

For example, apparently the former coach at the University of Tennesse didn’t care for behind the back passes. Throw one on his watch and you were done for the rest of the practice. I disagree because although the behind the back passes are a low-percentage play on average, there are specific situations when it is the highest-percentage option.

If two defenders go to the ballhandler after a side screen and the screener rolls to the baseline, the best pass is one thrown behind the back. This bounce pass requires tremendous arm strength and precise technique. Players need to be taught how it should be executed and how it is not for everyone.

“There are three reasons we make mistakes: don’t know, don’t care, or not able (ignorance, apathy, ability).”
- Mike Davis

Coaches that avoid “flashy” plays are not teaching players necessary skills. Bob Cousy believed strongly in this point; he threw “fancy” passes on the fastbreak because he was skilled enough and knew it was the best play for that particular play. Furthermore, if players are forced to sit out after making a bounce pass in Knoxville, they are missing out on anything else taught during the remainder of the practice.

I think that it’s important to incorporate advanced skills into everyday practices. From a short-term perspective, these skills are a change of pace and break up the monotony of a long-season of practices. Considering the big picture: these teaching sessions allow players to better understand their limits and the strengths and weaknesses of their teammates. Even if it’s a fact as simple as “don’t throw this particular player a tough pass in transition” it’s information that players must know.

Teaching players to read on the court is easier said than done. Cousy’s thought process on the break included decisions like (i) where are my teammates? (ii) can I make this pass? (iii) can my teammate catch this pass? (iv) what pass leads to the best scoring chance?, all made and executed in less than a second. Repetition is required to build that type of quick recognition.

“Truth is knowing that your character is shaped by your everyday choices.”
- Vince Lombardi

Learning how to handle pressure is a critical skill for young basketball players. Relative to the high intensity level of intercollegiate competition, there is not much pressure in high school sport for the supremely talented prospect. Sometimes, it’s necessary to learn the hard way, by trial and error in practice.

I think that coaches must instruct players in this decision-making. It’s crisis management in a microcosm, the development of intrinsic motivation one step at a time, and self-actualization in the face of adversity. Coaches should use the game of basketball to build positive habits.

“We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey no one can take from us or for us.”
- Marcel Proust

Note: It’s true that some players are stubborn about their abilities and won’t listen despite repeated “lessons”. Others don’t realize that while the Association overflows with creativity and inspiration for everyone who follows the game, professional basketball is for entertainment purposes only and any skill should only be executed with due care in the proper context. Sometimes you have to put your foot down for the sake of the team. I dislike conflicts that get to this point and fundamentally believe that there is by and large a better way to get that message across.

Identity, Choices, and Perspective

“No man can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which one may be true.”
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Regrettably, I played on a summer league team that was absolutely blown out in the playoffs; fortunately, I was able to reflect on the outcome and develop some good rules for handling this situation in the future.

Establish and maintain a consistent identity: Once a coaching career is underway, every time one steps on the court they must determine beforehand whether they will play or coach that game. It is not possible to do both well and I don’t think it’s possible to have fun performing poorly, irrespective of the number of middling performances.

Select a role and define goals before beginning. Whether leader or part of the whole, execute responsibilities as best as possible.

Establish whether the team will be comprised of friends or players: It’s fun to run with friends just for laughs but it’s frustrating to play with teammates who hold different motivations. Once again, goals and responsibilities must be clearly defined and team objectives and obligations must be outlined collectively. The pursuit of glory and self-actualization can stress even the best relationships so prevent potential conflicts when choosing team members.

Establish a sense of perspective: Most of time, basketball is merely a game. Wishing for an entire guard rotation taller than 6-2 is vain because whilst that would be a boon when confronted by athletic teams, it’s not happening in a summer league.

It shouldn’t take an Ignmar Bergman film to understand that the hardwood is not paramount and that while the game is seductive, it should never wreak meaningful consequences, whether it is cross words among friends, clichéd aphorisms during the huddle, or stress after the game.

Comedian: “Aren’t there special rules for actors?”
Death: “No, not in this case.”
- The Seventh Seal

Decisions and Experiments

In the final minutes of a 24-22 loss at home to the B.C. Lions, the Toronto Argonauts ran an inside draw run on a crucial second down. Gaining merely negligible yards and the team faced a desperate third-and-ten situation that the Argos could not convert.

Creativity plays a role in sport but should be limited to the proper time and place. The best time to experiment is often earlier rather than later as the breaks of the game provide several second chances. Toronto gambled was a gamble against daunting odds and lost. Perhaps if video analysis had shown a hole in the Lions’ defence, an imaginative play call might have succeeded but that did not appear to be the case.

Coach Mike Clemons’ decision to start Damon Allen at quarterback is another example of how nothing is ever final. Michael Bishop entered at the beginning of the fourth quarter and almost led the team to a comeback victory. A decision is a sunk cost, not a sinking ship. Clemons managed the game too passively, erring by waiting too long to change a choice made in the past. Regardless of the situation, there is always an opportunity to stop, reflect, and make things better.

The Blind Side

Michael Lewis’ latest novel, The Blind Side, is part-sport, part-economics, part-psychology, and part-sociology. While writing an article about his high school baseball coach that was published as the novella Coach, he re-connected with teammate Sean Tuohy, who was adopting a 6-5, 350 pound offensive lineman who played left guard for the Briarcrest Christian School football team that Tuohy coached. That student-athlete, Michael Oher, became a living example of how sport and money have become intertwined while the rich and poor and black and white have grown apart.

At the beginning of the book, Oher is a marginal student and physical freak living on a friend’s couch, wishing to be the next Michael Jordan. Lewis describes show teachers, tutors, adoptive family members, teammates, and friends help Oher learn about school, sport, and life. It’s an uphill struggle but the moral of the story - for teachers and coaches - is that it is critical to consider the learning styles of each student-athlete to ensure that they are doing their best. Oher is motivated and works hard but he doesn’t reach his potential until others identify his strengths and weaknesses and adapt practices and class.

Ultimately, everyone can make their own choice: LeBron James can choose whether to be aggressive and crown Rasheed Wallace or pass to Donyell Marshall, Michael Oher can live on the streets of Hurt Village or apply himself to get an N.C.A.A. Scholarship. Obstacles appear in the form of an investigation by the House along with academic and social challenges but Oher persists and achieves his goals.

As he did in Moneyball, Lewis describes how the commercialism of sport has created an artificial world separate from regular day-to-day life. Increased demand for throwing and other skills possessed by quarterbacks led to record salaries for the position, which trickled down to the positions that protect the passer. Increased popularity of college football led to greater pressure on coaches to win, an outcome that required more and more recruiting to realize, which is why an African-American high school student with below-average marks received numerous benefits that his peers did not.

Nevertheless, Michael Oher and those who supported him still had a choice: whether or not to work hard to succeed. They did and The Blind Side has a happy ending for this particular case.

Of Mice and Men and Method Acting

John Steinbeck’s East of Eden retells the story of Cain and Abel, depicted by the Trask family as generations move from Connecticut to Salinas, California. East of Eden was also adapted to the screen, directed by Elia Kazan and featuring James Dean.

Although Steinbeck and Kazan have achieved the peak of their professions - the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Academy Award for Best Direction, respectively - Kazan clearly outshines his literary counterpart in bringing the oft-repeated story to life.

Two main differences: Steinbeck challenges the Bible for length whereas Paul Osborn’s screenplay focuses on the last third of the novel and the book loses realism by starkly depicting the characters in black and white extremes as opposed to the film which permits the characters to exist in shades of grey.

James Dean’s immense skill, combined with his untimely demise, has made him a Hollywood icon and he carries this picture. If it were solely up to Steinbeck, one wouldn’t care much about Caleb Trask but Dean’s performance demands the sympathy of the audience.

The book was a chore, the film a joy. Kazan didn’t do much relative to his potential but his use of CinemaScope to make Eden (Salinas, California) come to life and askew camera angles to illustrate the turmoil felt by Caleb, the film’s protagonist. As usual, I don’t see why Dean’s character is the out of control scoundrel that others accuse him of being and feel that he’s one of the most rational people in the film.

Obviously, the parallels to the Old Testament foreshadow the miserable conclusion but there remains a positive message that any Choice Theorist would approve of. The film excludes the character of Lee, the Chinese servant who is more literature than any of the Anglophones who employ him, and consequently loses a large part of Steinbeck’s philosophical contemplation.

In the novel, when confronted with dozens of examples of good and evil distributed along a timeline nearly a century in length, an interlocutor like Lee is valued for serving as a bit of a philosopher for dummies and for curtailing the reader’s urge to throw the book out by imparting interesting ideas largely lacking throughout the text.

Nevertheless, whether audiences experienced East of Eden on film or as part of Oprah’s Book Club, everyone can get the message. “Timshel”, Adam Trask’s last words to his son Cal, a Hebrew excerpt from the Bible meaning “Thou mayest” or “you have a choice”, are applicable to any athlete, student, or person. In the end, you’re responsible for yourself, nothing is pre-ordained, and there’s always a chance to make things better.

A remake of the film is scheduled for release 2009. This production serves as an example of how there is always a choice to pull the plug on a project like this and preserve a perfectly good legacy.