A Lesson From Coach K

     As Mike Krzyzewski looks to surpass Bob Knight in becoming the all-time winningest coach in NCAA history, I'll be watching along with most every other college basketball fan in the country.

     I'm certainly not the only basketball coach who has devoured just about anything and everything having the name "Coach K" on it:  biographies, articles, his own books and videotapes.  I still have Duke playbook manuals having a Smith-Corona font and picture illustrations of a rail-thin Johnny Dawkins and Jay Bilas with a full head of thick hair, both wearing those classic short shorts of the '80s.  When I watch Coach K's teams play, I always have my notebook at arm's length in case I need to jot something down I haven't seen Duke do over the last two decades.  I mean, it doesn't take a genius IQ to figure out that the soon-to-be 903 win coach probably has a pretty good grasp on the game of basketball.  Especially when said coach has learned a thing or two from his own college coach, a guy with a mere 902 wins.  A guy named Knight.
     

     If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then theft is shameless adulation.  I've stolen Krzyzewski's principles on denial defense, his modified motion offense, a number of baseline out-of-bounds plays, and countless other basketball ideas.  I've even found myself personalizing his own sideline posture from time to time-- the way he sits, the way he gestures.  But of all the things I've learned about the game from observing one of the best at his craft, what I've learned from Coach K that has been most important to me is something having nothing to do with basketball.

Sneakers, September, and Springsteen

     Before every young basketball player wanted to be like Mike, I wanted to be like Dan.  Back in the '70's when Nike and Converse were the popular sneakers of choice for most basketball players around town, Danny Trant was the only one I could see who was wearing adidas.  And if the best basketball player around was going to buck the popular trend, then so was I.  To this day, adidas remains my sneaker of choice.  And to this day, each time I pick up a new pair of adidas, images of Danny tearing up the court in those white sneakers with the three red stripes flood my mind.

     
     September has always been one of those defining months of the calender year.  It lets us know that the summer days are coming to an end and our vacationing days are over for awhile.  September tells us that school is back in session and trips to the beach are long gone until next year.  Whether it's you as a teenager or as a parent, early mornings bring with it the traffic of school buses and cooler temperatures.  And at the risk of exposing myself as someone who has watched a "chick-flick" or two over the years, I can't help but feel similar to Tom Hanks' character in You've Got Mail when he says that still, as an adult, "the fall makes me want to go out and buy school supplies."

A Bronx Slap Shot

       
     After a recent lacrosse game, I was chided by teammates Ben McCarthy and Andy Liptak when I admitted that I had never seen the movie Slap Shot. At least not from start to finish, and only in a version edited for television.
     The reaction from my two friends ranged from disbelief to palpable indignation.
      "Are you kidding me? What's wrong with You?!" Ben says.
      "What are you, some kind of fascist, sacrilegious, anti-American, troglodyte (or words to that effect)?" Lippy asks.
     The topic came up during discussions on everyday things, like nuclear physics and the role of cultural differences upon modern global ethics. 

    
     "I've got a lot of talent" Ben says to me. "And I'm not talking about lacrosse, either. You have no idea the talents I possess." I nodded in a "I don't doubt it" fashion, and asked if he had ever seen the movie A Bronx Tale. Both he and Lippy said no, and now I'm the one making accusations of fascism and sacrilege. I explain how Ben's comments reminded me of the theme behind this classic movie's repeated mantra, Robert Deniro claiming "The saddest thing in life is wasted talent".

What the F*#@!?

      I believe that there is an inverse correlation between the use of profanity and level of intelligence.  The more frequent someone curses while speaking, chances are that the lower their I.Q. is.  Of course I have zero empirical evidence to support my hypothesis on this claim, other than only a few decades worth of personal observation.  Nonetheless, my experience and keen Seinfeld-like sociological perception says that all signs point to yes.

    It's been said that "profanity is the common crutch of the conversational cripple", and I tend to agree.  There are few things more vexatious to me than overhearing a conversation between two or more people who have trouble conjugating the verb to be, but have no trouble liberally using the F-word as a noun, verb, adjective, and dangling participle.  This style of dialogue and the use of what I call "conversational profanity", is about as revealing about the participants as admiring the Kardashian sisters or cast members of The Jersey Shore.  There's no rational or intelligent justification for it, and it more than likely proves that the subject at hand prefers reading People magazine over Time or Newsweek.

There's No "I" In Nowitzki

A funny thing happened on the way to the NBA championship title.  The less athletic and less talented team walked away with the Larry O'Brien Trophy.  Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki and a supporting cast of past-their-prime players outplayed, outcompeted, and outclassed the overhyped and overconfident Lebron James and the Miami Heat.

     The win for the Mavs epitomized the adage that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and that disciplined play, teamwork, and fundamentals will usually outlast showtime and showboating.  Or in this case, the self-proclaimed "King" James and "The Big Three".

     Beyond the on-court differences in strategy and personel between the two teams, what I found quite interesting was the post game press conferences afterward.  A few sample quotes:

     Nowitzki: "This is a win for team basketball.  This is a win for playing as a team on both ends of the floor.  For sharing and passing the ball.  We worked so hard and for so long.  The team had an unbelievable ride.  No one can take this away from us."

     James: "I was able to do things the last two series.  I won two more games than I did in '07.  And hopefully next time I get here I'll win two more games than I did in '11."