High Flying

While I appreciate history in all forms, I generally try to avoid nostalgia. But given the state of the Boston Celtics these days — good, but not good enough – seeing this video makes us fans pine for ye olde days ... like this:

Pretty much the definition of “shooting the lights out.” Even the Atlanta bench was falling all over themselves over some of the shots Larry Bird was sinking by the second half. And, to cap it all off, he even nails his shot at the buzzer to end the night. (I like how the compilers included a few awesome passes in with all the scoring highlights. That was such a big part of Bird's game, too.)

The Godfather King Soul Man

My younger daughter is about to finish third grade. Through the course of her brief academic career, I’ve become very familiar with acrostic poems. First-, second- and third-graders do a lot of them it seems.

In case you’ve forgotten (or – gasp! – didn’t know), an acrostic poem is one in which a designated letter in each line (usually the first letter), when read together in sequence vertically form a word or words. Typically, that means the acrostic poem, “Spring,” goes something like this:

Summer sun is yet to breach the horizon

Precipitation, the order of the day

Rainbows appear as the satisfying reward

I long for on these wet, windy, warming days

Nights begin to buzz, but can be quite damp and cold

Go on summer, seize the days, and take your hold!

OK, maybe a third-grader wouldn’t write that exactly, but I’m not going to wake mine up at this late hour just to get a more authentic example. You get the point.

Now we all know that boxing great Muhammad Ali was quite loquacious in his prime. In fact, his legacy maybe as far reaching in rap today as it is in the ring. The Champ fancied himself not only a fleet-footed, bantam-like basher with lightning quick fists, but also a taser-tongued talker – and, on certain occasions, something of a poet, too.

I recently came across this example of his early efforts (I believe it predates his later butterflies and bees work). The Godfather of Soul was a logical and worthy subject of inspiration to many back then and now (artistically at least) – even if “King James” did eventually devolve into a wild-haired, crack-addled, wife-abusing (yet still God-fearing!) convicted felon. So as evidenced below, like future generations, Ali's early poetical compositions employed the acrostic form:

Hallelujah, D.J. Gets into the Hall

Johnson flanked by fellow Celtic greats Bird and McHale

It was nice to see the late Boston Celtics point guard Dennis Johnson finally honored with election to the Basketball Hall of Fame. It’s too bad he’s no longer with us to enjoy it.

Besides being a stalwart defensive player in the tradition of the great Celtics players from the glory days of the 1960s onward, D.J. was also one of the best players ever when the game was on the line. Even if he was having an off night, you could still count on him to come through in the clutch: sinking a pull-up jumper near the top of the key, stealing the ball or driving to the hoop and getting to the line to sink crucial free throws.

The Big Three may have got all the attention, but they wouldn’t have accomplished all they did were it not for D.J.’s adeptness at dishing them the ball. Larry Bird didn’t hesitate to call D.J. the best player he had ever played with. That’s no faint praise from the Celtics legend.

Even though Johnson spent the first half of his career as a star for the Seattle Supersonics, he retired firmly entrenched in Boston sports lore. His number hangs revered right beside Bird’s in the Garden rafters. Despite his celebrity status locally during the 1980s, it wasn’t uncommon to see D.J. around town, often with his family in tow. I ran into him once at TGI Friday’s on Newbury Street (he gave me a friendly, if low-key hello when I nodded in his direction) and my wife ran into him in the grocery store in Lexington once or twice.

Veteran basketball columnist Bob Ryan has a nice tribute to Johnson in today’s Boston Globe. Worth checking out and recalling D.J.’s heart, grit and critical role on the Celtics’ championship teams of the mid ’80s.

Probability and Success in Sports

Guess I’d better work on my breaking ball ... and who knew soccer players were so smart?! Interesting article on game theory as it applies to sports in this recent Economist article.

Then again, if the sport at hand is Rock, Paper, Scissors, combining cheating and the laws of probability increases the likelihood of success as detailed in this Esquire article from a couple of years ago.