June 14th, 1998. Around 4:00am. I'm glued to the TV and I'm going to witness history in the making, but I am not yet aware of this. He steals the ball from Malone. He slowly and patiently crosses the mid-court line. The game is down the stretch, in the clutch, but he's not in a … Continue reading No Space for Emotions in Sports Any More?
There’s a New Kid in Town
Maybe all is not lost for true basketball lovers. A 19 year-old kid from Slovenia is showing the world that old school basketball is still alive. And it can be successful, too. Drafted in June 2018, Luka Dončić is proving to everyone that you can play the old way and yet be effective. This is … Continue reading There’s a New Kid in Town
AI Don’t Lie
Most basketball fans remember the famous sentence that Rasheed Wallace often repeated during the games: "ball don't lie." This post's title should be a reminder of that sentence. As a matter of fact, this article talks about the role Artifical Intelligence (AI) can play in basketball. Even though I never wrote an article on AI … Continue reading AI Don’t Lie
Apathy
A couple of months ago, my teammates and I organized a friendly basketball game between my amateur team and a team composed of players who were born around the year 2000 (technically speaking, they compete in the U20 local tournament). As usual, I was excited about the idea of playing against players that young. Although I … Continue reading Apathy
You Play to Win, Don’t You?
At first sight, this question sounds rhetorical to the majority of people living in the western world. We should not take for granted the answer, however. Some weeks ago I wrote a post on victory. Right after writing it, coincidentally I had the chance to discuss on another blog a different topic related to victory … Continue reading You Play to Win, Don’t You?
An Obsession for Victory
I have always been fascinated by top athletes who spend their entire lives aiming at one goal: winning. Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, and Roger Federer are examples of this elite group of people. Anyone who has ever practiced a sport knows well that an extremely rare combination of factors is required to reach—and to keep—such … Continue reading An Obsession for Victory
Please, Don’t Call It Basketball Anymore
On several occasions, I said what I think about current basketball (for instance, see the following posts: Basketball 1.0, True basketball, and Pristine basketball). After watching some games of the 2018 NCAA tournament, I have to admit that my beloved college basketball has been corrupted as well. It is not as unwatchable as the NBA … Continue reading Please, Don’t Call It Basketball Anymore
Pristine basketball
Thanks to some days off work, last November I had the chance to read the book "Coach Wooden and me", written by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. As stated in the title, the book primarily talks about how the friendship between coach John Wooden and the author developed throughout the decades, despite the fact that he played for … Continue reading Pristine basketball
The communication as a form of power
Being an engineer, I have several friends who fill similar technical positions in the companies they work for. Quite often, we have the opportunity to talk about our jobs. One of the questions that rises more frequently is: in general, why do the sales guys earn more money than the technical people? Obviously, the thought … Continue reading The communication as a form of power
Teamwork and communication
In 2016 I attended a course about the communication strategies in politics. Although it dealt with some specific techniques used in this context, the basic mechanisms it illustrated are valid for the communication in general. The course was held by a mental coach who has specialized to work with politicians and work/sports teams. Therefore, I took … Continue reading Teamwork and communication
