Two posts and an article linked below, both related to basketball and trying to understand the game a little better through the human element. I’m not going to lead into either too much as I’m fighting a cold and my mind is all jammed up, but happy March Madness everyone:
My Life on the Court, by Stanley Fish
When Losing Leads to Winning, by Justin Wolfers
The No-Stats All-Star, by Michael Lewis
March. Winter’s last moan. The tease of Spring. Thawing. Rebirth. And the sound of birds.
March gives us many things, but to me… it’s the month that gives me college basketball at its best. The culmination of another season boils down to the greatest climax any American sport has to offer: the field of 64 (cough, 65). Having lived in places like Boston and even New York, I’ve been surrounded by people who don’t care, who don’t hang on every shot on a typical March Thursday around 12noon when the first tournament game tips off. Having also lived in Kentucky, and knowing how life stops when the Wildcats, Cardinals, Hilltoppers, Racers, or Colonels play… I carry that with me, and this year when I nestle up to a near empty Brooklyn bar to catch those early games on that Thursday afternoon, bracket in hand, I’ll be a kid in a car headed to the toy store. The anticipation is the best part: every team and every fan holding the belief that this might be the year to win six games in a row. And the moment Kentucky’s hopes are dashed, that car to the toy store will swerve violently off a bridge leaving me — and my mom — remorseful, a bit angry, envious of team’s still alive, but like the Spring — as our 08-09 team passes, the anticipation for next year blooms nearly after the last shot falls. I’ll continue to watch the tournament and enjoy watching my bracket of predictions fall apart. But all the while, I’ll be thinking about UK recruits and returning players and wondering if this will be us marching to the holy land known as the Final Four…
Finally, a quick tip for those prognosticators filling out the bracket for the office pool: never underestimate the importance of a good point guard and how far this player can carry a team in March. You’ll do well if you pinpoint these players and their teams and pencil them deep into the tourney. Soon I’ll repost a piece I wrote about game design and the office pool.
