Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Why basketball?

    "Why did you choose to coach basketball over football or baseball?

    "I thought basketball was the one sport played where the whole could almost always be greater than the sum of the individual parts." Leaning back in his chair, he relaxed and his speech became freer, the tension visibly passing out of his body. "I wasn't sure about that in baseball where you had to have pitching. I wasn't sure about that in football because aspects like size and speed are so important.
    "In basketball, Id seen five small guys come together and play big and I'd seen five slow guys outplay quick guys just by being smart. Overall, I had seen a lot more variables that could be used to offset disadvantages in basketball. I just gravitated toward basketball because I felt like I might be able to make more of a difference."

(from A Season with Coach Dick Bennett, by Eric Ferris)

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