Exploiting Young Talent

    I read a book recently titled Play Their Hearts Out written by George Dohrmann. I would like to give you a brief background of the book and then explain why I think it is worth reading. It is a true story about a man named Joe Keller who has a goal of finding the next LeBron James. To do this he decides to start up a youth basketball team and recruit the most talented kids he could find to fill out the roster. He get a group of kids around 10 years old and has one who he sees as a stud. The young boys name is Demetrius Walker. Keller quickly tries to exploit Walker as much as he can. He takes Walker under his wing and treats him like his own son. However, even though from the outside it may seem that Kellers intentions are good the only thing really on his mind is getting rich off Walkers talent. This brief review doesn't nearly cover all of the terrible things that Keller does to exploit Walker. It is important to understand that this is definitely not a feel good sports story. Even though its about kids and basketball reading it will make you angry and grow to hate people like Joe Keller.
      That being said I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in basketball and who has ever been a part of any sort of AAU program. It shows the true motives of some of the coaches working in these programs and all the terrible things they do. It makes you aware of things you should possibly be looking out for when you have youth kids in sports someday. It helps you understand what is wrong with these programs and how many things need to be changed. I promise you if you start it you will fly through the book. I think the book relates to this class because it focuses on more of the darker side of sports and gaming that you don't always see.
      I could discuss this book all day. Every event in the book makes me want to go tell someone how much you hate the people in it. If anyone has any questions about the book leave a comment following this post and I will answer it as soon as I can.

Senior Athletes

     Last night I was in attendance for Michigan Basketballs senior night. It was a night to honor four basketball players who have devoted a tremendous amount of time and effort towards Michigan athletics. These players included Ben Cronin, Corey Person, Stu Douglass, and Zack Novak. It was a great night for fans to recognize the great careers these players especially Douglass and Novak in particular. These two players haven been fundamental in the recent turnaround of Michigan basketball after a series of sub par years. They will be given a lot of credit from fans for the turnaround of the program because they were there long enough to be easily identified with the team's success.      However, while I was witnessing this event I could not help to think how rare it has become for two seniors to be so important to a team. Nowadays players are fleeing for the NBA as soon as they get the chance. Many of these players are called "One-and-Dones" meaning they come in play one year of college basketball and enter the NBA draft. The only reason they attend college from one year is because NBA rules make them do this before entering the draft. The idea of players leaving college as soon as possible is very unfortunate for fans because it makes something incredibly clear to fans, many players are only play for the money. Many of the one year players who are included in the One-and-Done category show they aren't too concerned with the success of the university, the fans of the team, or their teammates. They are only in it for themselves and money. Where is the love for the game? College basketball gives players the opportunity to play in March Madness which is considered by many the most exciting playoff in all of sports. Playoff brackets are filled out by fans all over the country. Most college basketball fans watch as many of the games as they can. The tournament is filled with history of great plays, moments, and teams. Players become legends in the minds of fans by hitting a clutch shot or carrying their teams on an improbable run. It is unfortunate that many players look past this great opportunity in order to join an NBA team where they may make a lot of money. Players have forgotten the great moments they wont be taking part in. The same moments that as kids they dreamed about being a part of.
     For these reasons we should applaud all those seniors who stay and get the most out of their college experience especially those who had a realistic opportunity to be a high draft pick. Important senior nights have become more and more rare. Senior athletes who are important to their teams have become hard to come by and an exception much like the other "exceptions" we discussed last week in class.

Michigan vs. Rivals

I watch every Michigan Men's basketball game and I can't help but notice that the players seem to bring more intensity to some games over others. The games they seem to have the most energy leading up to game time is when they are going to play Ohio State and Michigan State. There are many reasons why the intensity for these games is higher than against other opponents. Many of them were discussed when Stephen Garcia was our guest lecturer. In case you forgot Garcia talked about how people react to different competitors and why. For example he said that players will be more excited for a game when their opponents rankings are higher. Well this year Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State have all been ranked for almost the entire season. Ohio State has been in the top ten, Michigan State worked their way up into the top ten and Michigan has been somewhere between 11 and 22. These are all all very high rankings considering there are over 300 teams in NCAA college basketball. So each time these teams have matched up there has been a high intensity between them. Another topic he discussed was that the more two opponents are alike the more they will want to beat each other. This is especially the case for the times Michigan plays Michigan State. Not only are they close together geographically, but they constantly compete for recruits and fans throughout the state. Another thing that these teams have in common is all season they have been in competition for the BIG10 championship. To show an example of how the intensity for different games varies I included some links to pictures below. One was taken moments after the wolverines beat Purdue. The players on the court look happy that they won but they do not seem to be to intense. Another is to a picture taken right after Michigan beat Michigan State in this picture we see the players are ecstatic that they have just won.

Picture after win against Purdue: http://www.umhoops.com/2012/01/24/photo-gallery-michigan-66-purdue-64/michigan-at-purdue-30/
Picture after win against Michigan State: http://www.umhoops.com/2012/01/17/photo-gallery-michigan-60-michigan-state-59/michigan-state-at-michigan-31/
Both pictures were taken by Dustin Johnston and posted on umhoops.com

Lack of Flow: Difficulties in Beginning my Major Quest

When we first began talking about flow, I immediately thought of the classic examples in my own life of how deliberate practice leads to flow: playing sports I've been playing since I was little, driving a car etc. However, after starting my major quest, I began to remember how difficult it is to get to a point in a new activity where you can be in a state of flow, and how frustrating it is to get there through deliberate practice. For my major quest, I am learning how to knit, and will end up in some sort of knitting competition with a fellow guild member. Knitting may seem like a task that is easy to learn, but it is surprisingly frustrating. A few days ago, I asked someone to give me my first knitting lesson on a scarf that they had already started. I immediately noticed how awkward the knitting needles felt in my hands. I had to say the steps to a stitch outloud everytime and do them very slowly. In my first half an hour of trying, I got very frustrated; I messed up almost every stitch and had to get the person teaching me to undo the tangled bundle I had created and start over. I had to watch her knit and be retaught multiple times before I could even get the hang of doing the stitches correctly. As I struggled, I watched my teacher knit, which made me even more impatient. She was studying while knitting, not even looking at her stitches, as if she did not have to think about it. Her mind seemed at ease as she enjoyed her task; she was in a complete state of flow. I, being a person who gets frustrated easily, do not particularly enjoy learning a new task that I am not immediately good at; I do not want to have to go through all the steps of deliberate practice. I could not help but wonder how long it would take me to be able to knit leisurely, without a significant amount of concentration. I guess I'll have to stick it out and find out if I can become even close to reaching a state of flow.

A Counterexample to the N-effect

According to the reading about the N-effect, people actually feel less competitive when they are competing against more people. The reading quiz for this got me thinking when it asked how we could motivate students to be more competitive, which according to the reading, would be to reduce class sizes. After this reading, I started to reflect back on how competitive I felt in all of my classes, and  then compared the competitiveness and class sizes. I came to the realization that I, personally, actually experience the opposite of the N-effect. In my large lecture classes, I actually feel more competitive and am more motivated to study because I am competing and comparing myself against more people; I feel a stronger need to push myself to do well because there are more people that can outcompete me and I therefore need to get an even higher score on an exam or a paper in order to be closer to the top of the class. In my smaller seminar classes, I actually felt less competitive because the number of students that I am competing against to do well is smaller, so there is actually less motivation for me to compete because I need to do less work in order to stand out and do well; there are less people who can outcompete me. can, however, see how the N-effect can be prevalent in these classes. In large lectures students who are not incredibily smart may feel that they will just end up in the middle of the pack anyway. In smaller classes, competition can be increased because just as it is easier to stand out at the top in a smaller class, it is also easier to stand out at the bottom, and most people do not want to be seen as one of the worst students in his or her class. In my situation, however, I find that when comparing smaller and larger classes, I feel more competitive in the larger ones. I am not significantly less motivated to compete in smaller classes, but the difference is noticable.

Is Technology Ruining Movies?

                            V.S.








Over the past decade technology has improved dramatically. 3D movies have become more and more common, and numerous directors have attempted to create the "next best 3D movie." While some of the attempts have led to great success, such as Avatar, many have failed greatly. Directors have put the story line in the backseat, and spent the majority of their time and money on the visual aspect of the film. I am all for mesmerizing affects, but there comes a point when the plot needs to be in the forefront. Movies are meant to make the audience think, and create personal connections to real life events. If you take a look at a list of the greatest movies of all time you often see movies such as The Godfather, Citizen Kane, and Casablanca. All three of these movies have incredible, complex story lines and lack any advanced technology. It is not a coincidence that most movie critics consider movies with these qualities to be the best of all time. Directors need to take a long look at where they are spending their resources, and resort back to what has made movies great in the past. Stop trying to make every story into a 3D fantasy-world, and start proving us with good old-fashion realistic plots.

What is a game?

Before starting this class in my mind games only consisted of the things that I saw as "typical" games. These consisted of Wii, Nintendo 64, iPhone Apps, etc, now I can see that games can be anything where a person is engaged in any other setting that is other than reality. I have realized that things such as art, and even working out can be seen as a game if there is some type of competition or recording. For example in class when we were given our Major Quests, from this I have learned any goal can be turned into something fun by making it into a game.