One of the most inspiring things to me is watching a person love what they do so much that they study the task relentlessly and practice it, hour after hour, year after year, until it becomes an art form all their own. I love that Jiro Dreams of Sushi.
What’s even more fun is watching that person experience genuine joy in practicing their art. I grew up with Magic Johnson’s exuberance – I’ll never forget him grinning and hugging a much more reserved Kareem Abdul Jabbar as the Lakers won the NBA championship in his rookie year. As a consultant, educator, and friend, I’ve been around lots of people who are good at what they do, but they also get frustrated easily when things don’t go well, and they sometimes forget to celebrate success. (Full disclosure: I tend to be one of these people. I’m better at driving than enjoying the view.)
I remember practicing my jump shot in the driveway when I was a kid. Thousands of times, ball until my body knew exactly what to do without me thinking about it. My mind played out the same pressure-packed scenario: down one, clock running out, “3, 2, 1…!” Who in their right mind practices by visualizing being a hero in the third minute of the first quarter?!
All of this brings me to Shohei Ohtani. I don’t often watch sports on television, but this last week I couldn’t wait to see highlights of Ohtani becoming the first Major League Baseball player in history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in one season. It wasn’t just what he did, it was the way he did it – Ohtani went 6 for 6 at the plate with three home runs, two doubles, a single, and two stolen bases. He drove in 10 runs and scored 4. And just in case anyone forgot, this guy is a PITCHER RECOVERING FROM SURGERY. Not to mention the fact he’s playing on the world’s greatest stage, in the world’s best league, for a team that paid him the world’s richest contract. But pressure? Apparently… Nah.
From ESPN: "‘It's more than just speed,’ (Dodgers first base coach Clayton) McCullough said. ‘He puts a lot of work into the preparation aspect of it.’
“Before each series, McCullough pores through video of the opponents' relievers and scheduled starters from the stretch position in hopes of picking up patterns for his baserunners to exploit. He'll often find that Ohtani has done his own studying and will notice tells he did not pick up on. Ohtani's experience as a pitcher, McCullough believes, has provided a major advantage in that realm.”
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Here is a taste of what I’m reading, watching, and thinking about.
I Knew It –
According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, brain damage is correlated with increased religious fundamentalism: "It's sobering, but one of the takeaway findings is the shared neuroanatomy between religious fundamentalism, confabulations, and criminal behavior," said corresponding author Michael Ferguson, an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School and director of Neurospirituality Research at the Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics. "It refocuses important questions about how and why these aspects of human behavior may be observed to relate to each other."
What I’m Reading (Into Things) –
Reading anything reminds me of everything. And reading A Mysterious School for the Network Crowd is Now In Session reminded me of Sun Tzu: “In chaos there is opportunity.” The fact that there is no clear environmental, economic, academic, or cultural path forward means has created a murky marketplace where it’s easier for charlatans to set up shop, like this self-styled “tech Zionist.” From Wired: “While Srinivasan has still not publicly disclosed the Network School’s location, he’s been more clear about its values, to which he says students should conform. According to his Substack post introducing the Network School, these requirements include an admiration of “Western values,” seeing Bitcoin as the successor to the US Federal Reserve, and trusting AI over human courts and judges.” When is something a school, a learning community, an institution, an incubator, a network, or a cult?
What I’m Listening To –
Young Taiko drummers in Nagasaki. Turn it up.
What I’m Watching –
I admit that Vince Vaughan isn’t for everyone – I think Vince Vaughan would be the first to agree with me – but then again, neither is Florida, and both are working out pretty well in Apple TV’s adaptation of Carl Hiassen’s Bad Monkey. From the LA Times: “What makes “Bad Monkey” special is that there is nothing special about it. It’s a little wayward at times, what with its huge cast of characters and myriad plot lines, some of which are, strictly speaking, unnecessary, but it gets the job done in a good old-fashioned colorful way. Where many streaming mysteries make a fetish of style, depth, sociopolitical relevance and formal novelty, aiming to become conversation starters, the conversation around “Bad Monkey” might run simply like this:
“Seen that show ‘Bad Monkey’?”
“Yeah, it’s good.”
“Cool.”
“Cool.”
Quotes I’m pondering —
Baseball is like church. Many attend, but few understand.
– Leo Durocher
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Header image: From the New York Public Library's Spalding Collection, a series of over 500 photographs, prints, drawings, caricatures, and printed illustrations donated in 1921 by early baseball player and sporting-goods tycoon A. G. Spalding, via publicdomainreview.org.
David Preston
Educator & Author
Latest book: ACADEMY OF ONE
