The Greatest Teams in All of Sports

Occasionally I am called upon to switch my affiliation away from, objectively, the best teams in professional sports: the Sacramento Kings and the San Francisco Giants.  Most often, I am asked to abandon the Kings in favor of Los Angeles’ favorite squad, the Lakers, in light of the facts that I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 11 years now, and the Kings have missed the playoffs now several years in a row.  Add to this that the city of Sacramento has now repeatedly failed to get a new arena deal done, due to ownership that seems questionable at best, making their residence there anything but permanent.  And then there’s the Kings’ star center, DeMarcus Cousins, who complains to the referees constantly and whose maturing process seems to be moving slower than the 405 freeway at rush hour.  In response to all of this, I think the answer is still very clear: the Sacramento Kings are, objectively, the best team in basketball.

Now comes the scandal surrounding the San Francisco Giants and Melky Cabrera, who was setting the world on fire with a .346 batting average prior to his suspension and subsequent admission of the use of testosterone as a steroid.  And, a report that someone known to Melky’s agent made a fake website designed to provide fake evidence to get the suspension overturned.  For Giants fans, it was shocking and slightly depressing.  Personally, I was kind of relieved when Barry Bonds retired a few years ago, since he was often difficult to root for with his prickly personality and inability to avoid steroid accusations.  Indeed, one of the cool things about 2010 World Series triumph was that the team was filled with guys who were easy to cheer for.  Did I mention that the San Francisco Giants won the 2010 World Series?  Ok, just wanted to make sure that I mentioned that they won the 2010 World Series.

Anyway, various folks, such as the Arizona Diamondbacks’ manager Kirk Gibson and catcher Miguel Montero, have seemed kind of angry about the whole Melky situation.  Assuming that the steroids were helping Melky out, then the Giants were cheating by putting him in the lineup every day, and so victories over the Diamondbacks or any other team this year are kind of questionable now.  For now, we have to assume that Giants management had no idea that Melky was doing this, since that is what they claim. Manager Bruce Bochy seems like such a cool guy that if he says he had no idea, then I’d like to believe him.

In fact, I was once put in a similar position as Bochy; the 2006 UCLA Club Tennis squad, under my direction, was disqualified halfway through the USTA National Campus Championships in Austin, Texas for having an ineligible player on its roster.  Indeed, one of our girls had played in a tournament for the UCLA varsity team earlier in the year, which you’re not allowed to do.  She had not told us, however, and we had no idea.  But we had already marched all the way to the national quarterfinals.  So the tournament director was stuck, because while he had to disqualify us, he couldn’t ask us to go back and replay those matches while we removed that player from the roster.  Meanwhile, we were sad, but made the best of it by spending the following day in San Antonio, which was pretty hot even though it was only April.

Anyway, back to my story about the greatest teams in all of sports.  If a team is absolutely terrible and has players with objectionable personalities that use steroids constantly, are they still worth rooting for?  Well, perhaps not.  Certainly the Sacramento Kings haven’t been much fun to cheer for in recent years, and I have struggled at times to gather enough interest to watch their games regularly.  On the other hand, the Giants remain fun to watch, despite Tim Lincecum doing his best impression of, well, Barry Zito this year.

Are we sad about Melky?  Yes, and I will be even less likely to dress up as a Melkman now as compared to before.  Personally, from there I looked to team management, Melky’s (former) teammates, and even the team’s announcers for guidance on how to proceed.  They seemed sad, bewildered and a little angry, but had no choice but to move on without him.  It struck me as kind of like what someone might do after they found out their significant other cheated on them.  In this case, you have to drop your loyalty to the individual who messed up, at least so far as he is not helping the team.  But your loyalty to the team very likely remains.

Sometimes I think it’s funny that we cheer for, and care so much about, teams composed of players that we don’t know, have never met, and who run around a field or court throwing stuff around and hitting other things over fences.  In the case of the Giants, they represent a city that I’ve never lived in, and pretty much only visit for the purposes of the watching the team itself.  But perhaps I shouldn’t question it any more for now, and just say… Goooo GIANTS!

P.S. The Sacramento Kings are going to win the 2013 NBA championship.  You watch!

A College Football Playoff

Ok, so everybody knows the college football BCS system is kind of silly.  Rather than allowing competitors for the national title to be determined on the field, we allow a computer to decide.  A classic over-application of statistical methods, I say.  But then again, I otherwise very much support the over-application of statistical methods.

So while we are at it, let’s just let the computer do the whole thing: set up a playoff (which we all want anyway, right?), determine the winner of each game, and ultimately the national champ.  For one thing, this would be much easier on those poor college football players.  They can just sit back comfortably on the couch, rather than banging their heads together on the field all the way through December and January.

But seriously, let’s set up a playoff for this year and see how it would play out.  We’ll start by copying the format of the NFL playoffs.  Take 12 teams; the top four get byes, and the other eight participate in a sort of “wild card” play-in weekend.  Take the top 10 bowl games (plus the national championship game), assign each one to a playoff game, and play it out on the field.  Or in this case, on a computer.

For team selection, let’s start with the champions of the six conferences that get automatic BCS bids (ACC: Clemson, Big Ten: Wisconsin, Pac-12: Oregon, SEC: LSU, Big 12: Oklahoma State, Big East: West Virginia).  Add the next five highest-ranked schools according the BCS rankings, for at-large bids: Alabama, Stanford, Arkansas, Boise State, and Kansas State.

This leaves one bid for my personal favorite, the FCS (Division I-AA) champ, which happened to be North Dakota State this year.  In real life, this would mean that the first game for NDSU would actually (including the FCS playoffs) be the fifth week in a row of playoff football for them.  If the school were to then miraculously run the table and win the FBS title too, that would mean a marathon 18-game season for them; but whatever, I think they deserve a shot.  Besides, the people of North Dakota might be thankful for the added entertainment in the middle of a long winter.

Anyway, let’s give the four highest-ranked conference champs (with apologies to Alabama and Stanford) the four byes, and the other two conference winners the best seeds for “wild card” weekend.  The schedule is now ready.  So then, how might we allow the computer to determine the winners?

Prior to bowl season, each team gets a BCS rating.  We’ll translate those to probabilities to simulate head-to head matchups.  For example, if Alabama plays Boise State, Alabama will have a 92% chance of winning.  If they play LSU, however, the Crimson Tide will only have a 35% chance of success.

Then I’ll generate (objectively of course) a random number between 0 and 100 for each game; if I generate a number less than 92 for the Alabama-Boise State matchup, for example, Alabama will win.  If I generate something between 92 and 100, however, then the Broncos will pull the upset.  The closer to 92 the number is, the closer the game; e.g., if I generate 91.7, then that means the teams must have battled through several overtimes before a winner was decided.

Throw in some average stats for each team on points for and against during the season, and we can even simulate the score.  As a last step, I’ll make an adjustment if the game is played within 1,000 or so miles of a school’s campus.  If LSU plays in New Orleans, for example, their chances of success should increase, right?  Ok, so here goes!

WILD CARD WEEKEND
Alamo Bowl (San Antonio)
Arkansas 47, Stanford 41 (3 OT)

Holiday Bowl (San Diego)
Alabama 49, Boise State 14

Gator Bowl (Jacksonville, FL)
Kansas State 29, West Virginia 24

Outback Bowl (Tampa)
Clemson 41, North Dakota State 14

Arkansas scored a mild upset in an overtime thriller, while everything else went according to form here.  (Clearly, North Dakota State was just tired.)

QUARTERFINALS
Capital One Bowl (Orlando)
Wisconsin 37, Clemson 21

Cotton Bowl (Arlington, TX)
Oregon 51, Kansas State 21

Orange Bowl (Miami)
Oklahoma State 35, Alabama 14

Sugar Bowl (New Orleans)
LSU 24, Arkansas 23

A lot of people wanted to know if Oklahoma State was better than Alabama this year.  Now the debate is settled, once and for all!  Meanwhile, LSU seems to be struggling.

SEMIFINALS
Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, AZ)
Oklahoma State 47, Oregon 17

Rose Bowl (Pasadena)
LSU 34, Wisconsin 11

Oklahoma State is on a ROLL!  Too bad I haven’t factored momentum into my formulas…

National Championship (New Orleans)
LSU 41, Oklahoma State 27

Well, I guess that settles that.  They might as well not even play the game tonight.  Just give the trophy to LSU.

Brian Sabean... oops.

Sport psychologists Shields and Bredemeier (1995) defined good sporting behavior as "a drive to succeed, tempered by a commitment to the spirit of play such that ethical standards take precedence over strategic gain when the two conflict."

On this note, Scott Cousins' home-plate hit on Buster Posey last week, ultimately resulting in both a Marlins' victory and a broken leg for Posey, has sparked considerable debate in the days since.  Immediately afterward, Posey's agent Jeff Berry called for baseball rule changes to protect catchers in these situations; before commenting further, Giants general manager Brian Sabean said, "We’re going to wait a couple days, so we can take the emotion out of it."

Okay, good.

Cousins felt bad, especially since he ironically grew up in San Francisco as a Giants fan, so he called Posey a couple times to apologize.  Posey didn't return the calls, but publicly stated that he didn't want to "vilify" Cousins.

Was Cousins' hit thoroughly unsportsmanlike?  No.  Slightly?  Yes.  Was Posey's decision to not return Cousins' phone call thoroughly unsportsmanlike?  No.  Slightly?  Perhaps.  So we're about even, and it probably should have ended there.

But in baseball, there is a certain code that calls for slightly unsportsmanlike things to be acknowledged, and returned with slightly unsportsmanlike acts of your own.  For example, in September of 2009, Milwaukee's Prince Fielder hit a game-winning home run against the Giants, and celebrated wildly with his teammates afterward.  The Giants took exception, and in March of the following year Barry Zito plunked Fielder with a pitch in spring training.  No harm done in the end.  Baseball etiquette, if you will.

Applied to the current situation, the Giants might plunk one of the Marlins (e.g., Cousins) with a pitch the next time they meet, which will likely be a highly publicized event in August.  No harm done, baseball etiquette.

This is what Sabean was referring to when he said yesterday in a now-infamous interview on KNBR radio, “we'll have a long memory. We've talked to [former catcher Mike] Matheny and how this game works. You can't be that out-and-out overly aggressive; let's put it that way. I'll put it as politically as I can state it. There is no love lost, and there shouldn't be."

A little harsh, yes, but we’ll call it baseball etiquette.  It probably shouldn’t have been brought to the media in this way, but we’ll temporarily cut Sabean some slack.  But if we scroll back to earlier in the interview, that’s when things got weird.

“I don’t blame (Cousins).  Why not be hard-nosed?”

Okay, good.

"If I never hear from Cousins again or he never plays another game in the big leagues, I think we'll all be happy."

Oops.

Now he’s crossed the line, and I can't find anyone to disagree with this.  Especially troubling is Sabean’s statement that “we’ll” all be happy, implying that his comments represent the greater Giants organization and/or its fans.

Meanwhile, it’s been reported that Cousins has received death threats since the incident occurred last week.  That means that any statement of ill will at this point that might be interpreted as going beyond baseball, or a simple baseball-related retaliation as I mentioned above, is clearly short-sighted and just looks really, really bad.

Oops.

So now I have to agree with Marlins outfielder Logan Morrison, who made this statement earlier this afternoon:

"(Cousins is) taking this very hard without the comments that (Sabean has) made. He's getting death threats from people. This is his hometown, San Francisco. He's worried about his family and his friends that are there. And now he's going to make comments like that? It's ignorant, it's inappropriate and he has no idea what the hell he's talking about."

Personally, Sabean is largely responsible for my favorite moment as a sports fan, when the Giants won last year’s World Series.  I’d like him to keep his job, so let’s hope he cleans up his act, or else he might not deserve it much longer.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy just spoke on this, so I'll let him have the last word for now.

"There's nobody more supportive and protective of his players than Brian. I'd compare (it) like a papa bear; when something happens to your kids, your fangs come out."

"It's a very emotional time. As we all know, Brian's very emotional. ... Sometimes he needs time to let his emotions settle down. He's not out to demonize any player. He's hurt for Buster and what's happened here. (I) certainly don't want the media or the fans to demonize Brian, either."

"I just think, let's put this behind us and let's try to use this incident to maybe help baseball."

Re: The truth about Kobe Bryant in crunch time

Ahhh ... Kobe Bryant.  The most popular athlete in Southern California, the athlete who has tormented the Sacramento Kings, in particular, for more than 10 years now.  The athlete who is so good in the clutch that, even though it may hurt deep inside, you have to respect for his guts and corresponding success.  Or so it seems.

Henry Abbott's ESPN blog this week calls into question Kobe's apparent status as the king of clutch for this generation.  The stats are quite interesting.  When trailing by one or two points in all games since 1996-97, Kobe has attempted 115 shots, more than anybody else; he has made more than anyone else in the process (36), but also missed more than anyone else (79).  (Kings fans, note that Mike Bibby and Chris Webber both shoot a higher percentage in these situations than Kobe.)

Abbott extends these findings to argue that Kobe's domination of the ball in the clutch hurts his team, since he takes (and misses) so many shots, even suggesting that in doing so he goes against the wishes of his coach, Phil Jackson.  I, however (for fear of making a Kobe-sympathetic argument) highly doubt this is the case.  I do seem to remember Jackson commenting publicly earlier this year that he asks the Lakers to run the offense more consistently through Kobe during parts the second half, and/or when the team is behind (if anyone remembers/can unearth his comments on this, let me know).

The Lakers have won several championships, after all, with Kobe as their crunch time leader.  It's hard to argue with that.  Stats are great (nobody knows this more than I do!) but wins and championships are always the ultimate measure of success.

More than this, doesn't it seem like all NBA teams pass the ball around less in clutch situations?  I'd love to see some stats on assist-to-turnover ratios at crunch time, or simply the number of assists per possession at the end of close games compared to possessions earlier in the game.  Having watched enough basketball over the years, I get the feeling that league coaches must meet during the off-season and agree to stop passing the ball during these crucial possessions.  In other words, it's not just Kobe; I'm betting that down by one with 20 seconds left, the Cavaliers are just as likely to have Mo Williams dribble around for 18 seconds and then launch a shot of his choice.

Is this a bad game plan?  (Well, if you're the Cavaliers, probably.)  But maybe Kobe is on to something: indeed, do turnovers per possession go up at the end of the game as well?  A possession that involves five passes is inherently more risky; everyone that touches the ball has to be mentally prepared for success in the clutch, whereas the Kobe game plan relies only on Kobe, and therefore may be safer.  Abbott's stats reveal that field goal percentages are certainly lower in the clutch (29.7% across the league, yikes!) than earlier in the game, so maybe turnovers are up as well.  Or, maybe excessive use of the Kobe game plan is at fault for such terrible shooting numbers around the league.  Further investigation is needed, for sure.

For now, I'm just happy Kobe and the Lakers let the Kings steal one for a change last night...

Top 5 clutch performances of 2010?

Alright, time for my bicentennial blog entry.  I'll write this one to address the five most "clutch" performers/performances of 2010, as I see them.

Many different perspectives seem to be popping up these days regarding who or what is "clutch" in sports, from Paul Sullivan, author of a book published this year called "Clutch", to an unknown blogger here, who seemed ready to crown South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-Na the greatest clutch athlete of all time after her gold medal-winning performance in figure skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.  Were I a fan of figure skating, Yu-Na might crack my list, too; in the end, everyone is biased in their own way.  As you will see, however, the list that follows is absolutely unbiased and objective in every way.

5. Tyreke Evans.

As I am writing this, the Sacramento Kings are 6-23, the worst record in all of the NBA.  That, however, makes what happened Wednesday night all the more unlikely.  Down by one point with 1.5 seconds left, DeMarcus Cousins inbounded to Evans, who launched a double-clutch, game-winning shot from behind halfcourt, by my account (and others) the longest buzzer-beater in the history of professional basketball in the United States.  Watch the madness and read some of the reaction here.

Was the shot clutch?  Well, it was certainly lucky, and supremely unusual, especially considering both Evans and the Kings have been horrendous in the clutch as of late.  Was Evans more likely to make the shot given that it was a game-winning attempt, rather than say, at practice?  I'll say yes.  It went in, didn't it?

4. Stanford women's basketball.

Last night, Stanford's women's basketball team defeated U. Conn., 71-59, ending the Huskies' record 90-game winning streak.  Did the Huskies choke, or was Stanford clutch?  Consider Stanford's Jeanette Pohlen, a senior from Brea, California.  Pohlen has been a good player, averaging 15.6 points per game this year prior to last night.  Against U. Conn., however, the #1 team in the land, Pohlen had a career-high 31.  She had a focused look in her eye throughout the night, a look that I recognized from other athletes who have been successful in the clutch lately (e.g., the Giants' Tim Lincecum)...

3. Landon Donovan.

Donovan's final-minute goal at the 2010 World Cup to beat Algeria and send the United States on to the elimination round was the highlight of the summer, in the U.S. anyway, and thus perhaps the most famous clutch performance of the year.  Donovan is good anyway; was this goal better than we should expect from him under ordinary circumstances?  Not necessarily.  But we can certainly agree that these were not ordinary circumstances.  The World Cup is widely regarded as the most-watched sporting event worldwide, and the goal advanced the U.S. further in the tournament than they had been since 1930.  Never mind that they promptly lost in the next round to Ghana.

2. Graeme McDowell.

Somewhat under the radar to the casual sports fan, McDowell, a 31-year-old golfer from Northern Ireland, may well have been the clutch performer of the year for 2010.  In June, McDowell won the U.S. Open, to capture the first major title of his career; in October, he beat Hunter Mahan to clinch the Ryder Cup trophy for Europe, later describing the pressure there as "bananas"; then earlier this month, he capped his year with a dramatic come-from-behind victory over a rejuvenated Tiger Woods at Tiger's tournament in Thousand Oaks, California.  McDowell's performance down the stretch to beat Tiger was some of the best clutch stuff I've seen in golf: watch here.

1. The San Francisco Giants.

As I told you, this list is completely unbiased.  Let me give you some numbers to back this one up, however.

In the regular season through August, the Giants were 74-62 (.544).  In September and the postseason, they were 29-12 (.707).  Through August, the Giants' pitching staff posted a 3.36 ERA.  In September and the postseason, it was 2.03.

Cody Ross has a career slugging percentage of .466.  For the Giants in the 2010 regular season, it was exactly that: .466.  In the 2010 postseason, it was: .686.

In 703 regular season at-bats with the Giants across 2009-10, Edgar Renteria had hit 8 home runs, or one every 88 at-bats.  Renteria hit two home runs in 35 plate appearances in the 2010 postseason for the Giants: that's one every 17.5 at-bats.  Renteria's three-run Game 5 series-clincher came off of the Rangers' Cliff Lee, who had previously pitched 27.1 innings in the World Series... without giving up a home run.

Did A-Rod really choke?

Dan Gilbert's New York Times piece last week and Sian Beilock's accompanying blog entry have inspired me, too, to address Alex Rodriguez's recent 46 at-bat drought prior to bashing his 600th career home run last Wednesday. Did he really ‘choke’ under the pressure?  Was this even real pressure that he faced? I’d like to present a slightly different angle here.

First, I want to clarify whether this was indeed an unusual home run drought for Rodriguez. In addition to the 46 at-bat delay, Gilbert mentioned that the 12-day stretch also included an 0-for-17 streak. Can this be a coincidence? Unlikely. Through Saturday, A-Rod has averaged one home run every 14.5 AB's throughout his career, though that stat has dropped to one every 23 AB's in 2010.

On the other side of that argument, a check of Rodriguez's 2010 game log reveals two homer-less streaks in 2010 that were even longer than his latest one; one of 49 at-bats from June 3-22, and one of 61 at-bats from April 20 to May 9. That is, of A-Rod's 16 between-homer periods in 2010, the latest was his third-longest. By his career standards, then, the stretch between 599 and 600 was likely significantly lengthy. By his 2010 standards, however, it appears it was not.

Then again, Rodriguez' 0-for-17 streak during his quest for 600 was his second-longest hitless streak of 2010, giving way only to a 19 at-bat drought between April 24 and April 30. So let's look into this a little further.

While I am as quick as the next guy to attribute sport performance (lack of) success to mental rather than physical skills, one possible alternative explanation to A-Rod's recent struggles jumps off the page at me. Partway through his 46 at-bat lull, I managed to catch MLB TV analyst Harold Reynolds breaking down how a recent injury was slowing down Rodriguez's swing, in particular his ability to turn on inside fastballs. Sure enough, on July 25, a mere 13 at-bats into his 46, A-Rod was hit on the forearm and left hand by a fastball from Kansas City reliever Blake Wood. Rodriguez had collected six hits in those 13 tries, in fact; after the injury, he proceeded to go 3 for his next 33.

Is the injury just an excuse?  Perhaps.  Or was it more mental, and he 'choked'?  Still quite possible. We can only speculate.

The theory that A-Rod 'choked' also assumes that he felt extra pressure during each one of those 46 at-bats. This, I would argue, is also a matter of speculation. Surely Rodriguez felt more pressure to hit 600 than he did to hit 599, but was he really 'frozen with fear' as Gilbert describes? If you ask the majority of major league players, or even one of those six guys before him to hit 600, I bet they would tell you that competing in the playoffs, or even trying to hit with the game on the line in the ninth inning of a regular season game, is greater pressure. Baseball is a team game, after all, whereas hitting your 600th home run is purely an individual achievement.

Then again, A-Rod has admitted to acting a bit selfish in the past, so maybe he was more nervous than I give him credit for. To speculate even further, Rodriguez is an admitted past steroid user; it is even possible that he felt a twinge of guilt breaking one of baseball's hallowed milestones, knowing that his name may go into the record books with a dreaded asterisk next to it!

Finally, and perhaps most important, Gilbert and Beilock have set A-Rod as an example of how a superstar might be expected to perform under pressure. The problem is, Rodriguez has been observed to perform poorly in these situations before, as Gilbert noted in the similar 28 at-bat drought he endured before his 500th career longball. Why is this a problem? Because, I would argue, not all superstars perform like A-Rod in the clutch. Think Michael Jordan, or Reggie Jackson, or Tiger Woods prior to this year.

Never mind, don't think about Tiger Woods right now.  Yikes.

I'll conclude with a check of baseball-reference.com, which reveals how many at-bats it took those other six guys in the 600 home run club to get from 599 to their milestones:

Babe Ruth: 1 (Aug 20-21, 1931)

Hank Aaron: 2 (April 25-27, 1971)

Barry Bonds: 8 (Aug. 6-9, 2002)

Sammy Sosa: 13 (June 15-20, 2007)

Ken Griffey Jr.: 17 (May 31-June 9, 2008)

Willie Mays: 21 (Sep. 15-22, 1969)

As Beilock says, it 'all comes down to the dangers of thinking too much'. It's possible A-Rod was thinking a lot more than those other guys were...

Thanks to @sianbeilock for becoming @ucdpaco's latest Twitter buddy. Or follower, or whatever you call it...

And thanks to Negin Ghavami for the inspiration.

Meeting Coach Wooden

As I walked off the court having just won a hard-fought tennis match over David Khan, Dr. Phil’s entertainment manager, at the Calabasas Open and NTRP championships two weeks ago, I heard the news.  John Wooden had passed away at the age of 99.  I wasn’t sure exactly how to feel, but the next day, having already read They Call Me Coach and studied so much Coach Wooden material, I purchased another gem, A Game Plan For Life, at Borders and spent the last couple of weeks leafing through it.  I highly recommend doing the same.

If you don’t know John Wooden, please get on Wikipedia immediately.  Widely regarded as the greatest coach in basketball history, everyone in sports and at UCLA has their favorite Wooden fact or statistic.  At the moment, mine is that he met his future wife, Nell, at age 16 in 1926.  They were married for 53 years, from 1932 until her death in 1985.  Coach still wrote her love letters regularly after her death, and would talk about how he was still in love with her.  Still in love with her in 2010, 84 years after they first met!

I met Coach in June of 2004, when I was 24 and he was 93.  I was a TA for Dr. Tara Scanlan’s sport psychology class at UCLA, and at the time Wooden made an annual guest-speaker visit to the class in the spring.  I was lucky enough to ride in the car with Dr. Michelle Magyar, who was a post-doc in Dr. Scanlan’s lab at the time, and a chosen student (Shantal Lamelas) to pick up Coach from his modest condo in Encino, and drive him back over the hill to Westwood.  I was instructed to call him ‘Coach’; it was what he preferred.

A few memories stand out from that day.  The first was when we were sitting at the stop light waiting to turn left onto Sunset Blvd. from Church Lane, to head into Westwood.  I was in the backseat with Shantal, Michelle was driving, and Coach was in the front passenger spot.  Coach was quietly reciting a poem, as he frequently did in conversation.  Shantal and I could barely hear him, and just as we were straining our ears to do so, a car went by on our right, laying on its horn for what must have been at least five seconds.  Surely Coach would be distracted; what bad timing and how rude of that driver, I thought!  But when the car was gone, Coach was not only free of distraction, but we realized he had continued reciting the poem the entire time.  By that point, I doubt even Michelle had any idea what he had said.

It didn’t fully sink in until later, but as it turned out, I had experienced one of Coach’s famous lessons firsthand: don’t let that rude driver bother you, just stay calm and keep doing your thing.  I remember that sometimes when I inevitably encounter a crazy driver on the LA streets.

A couple of minutes later, Michelle made a rough lane change on Sunset, cutting someone off as I recall.  Memory fails me on what exactly I said, but it was something along the lines of ‘good job driving, Michelle,’ to make fun of her.  I wasn’t sure if Coach had heard what I’d said or even understood what had happened, but I thought it was funny either way.  Little did I know, Coach Wooden’s own smart-aleck habits were well-documented by then.

After his guest appearance in Dr. Scanlan’s class, complete with the Bruin spirit squad and mascot Joe Bruin to introduce, it was my job to give Coach a ride two blocks from Franz Hall to the UCLA faculty center.  As he sat down next to me in my ’98 Ford Escort ZX2, he looked over at me and paused.  Again, memory fails me on exactly what was said, but it went something like this:

Wooden: Oh... (pause)... YOU are driving?
Me: (afraid for my life)... uh... yes?
Wooden: Are you sure you are going to do a good job?
Me: (gulp) uh... I think so...
Wooden: I’m just kidding.

He smiled, and patted me on the hand.  It was clearly a reference to what I had said to Michelle earlier, something which, at 93 years old, he had not only remembered, but also fully understood the irony of.  I had been made fun of by the greatest coach in basketball history.  It was awesome!

At the end of that day, my most immediate reaction was that Coach was just a normal, cool guy who would be fun to hang out with.  At 93 years old.  Wow.

Having pored over his books and his Pyramid of Success in the six years since our meeting, I would probably be even more intimidated to meet him now than I was then.  Alas, now I will never have that chance.  But it’s alright.  Coach Wooden talked in A Game Plan For Life about how he was mentored by Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa, despite never having spent time with them in person.  I was lucky enough to spend parts of one day with Coach, but his influence on me has reached far beyond that.

In a nutshell, if I have a moment of weakness in life, sometimes I will ask myself, what would Coach Wooden do?  Read one of his books, and then try it yourself.  Trust me, it works pretty well.

Songs of the decade

This time of year, people like to make lists.  News stories of the year.  Sports plays of the year.  Etc.  Data collector and analyst that I am, I have fallen victim to this temptation myself from time to time.  This year, lists have been especially popular in the media, with the turn of the decade.  Thus, I will indulge you with my own ‘songs of the decade’ top five.

I am no music critic, nor do I claim to know all that much about what makes a song ‘good’ musically.  I have, however, listened to an awful lot of radio between 2000 and 2009.  In my estimation, songs of the decade influence pop culture, other music that follows, and most of all, get played so much that they get stuck in our head and become ANNOYING.

I have a few friends who do not follow popular music at all.  I will concede to them missing a couple of these songs, but certainly not all.  To miss all five would be to live under a rock these last 10 years.

Finally, these should not be confused with MY favorite songs.  My top five would look much different.  To those students who have accused me of being a ‘fan’ of Lady GaGa or Flo Rida due to my occasional use of pop culture examples in my teaching, I say, ask me for MY list.  Those artists would not appear on there.  Very often.

• Low - Flo Rida (feat. T-Pain) (2007)

Apple bottom jeans.  Boots with the fur.  Lyrical genius indeed.

• Poker Face - Lady GaGa (2008)

I liked this song the first two or three times I heard it.  Then it was repeated so many times on the radio, it was kind of frightening.

• SexyBack - Justin Timberlake (feat. Timbaland) (2006)

Seriously, if you haven’t at least heard of this one, you have been living under a rock.

• Bye Bye Bye - ‘N Sync (2000)

Props to Laura Ratsch and Cindy Fierros for performing the world-famous dance to this one at the 2009 CSUN psychology department talent show.

• Umbrella - Rihanna (feat. Jay Z) (2007)

The first time I heard “umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh” I was like, seriously, that sounds really dumb.  Shows how much I know.

Turkeys on the freeway

An update today from beautiful Davis, California, which I spent 7 1/2 hours on the road trying to reach yesterday.  I also spent 20 of the first 22 years of my life here.  Normally the trip takes closer to six hours, if not for a bit of early holiday traffic yesterday, as well as a lunch with my cousin in my new favorite town, Calabasas, adding a little to my freeway time.

The truth is, though the last couple of hours are always a bit tiring, I enjoy getting out on the open road.  It also allows me a nice opportunity to observe the “turkeys” on the road in California.  I’ll give you two examples.

Turkey type #1. The bored driver.  I-5 (or as it’s called in Southern California, the 5) stretches endlessly from one end of California to the other.  Particularly boring (or shall we say, scenically consistent) is the portion from the “Grapevine” exit at the bottom of the Central Valley up to Sacramento.  I usually clock in at around 4 1/2 hours to complete this part.

The majority of the time here, the speed limit is 70.  Thus, a good number of drivers end up in the fast lane and hit the cruise control button going precisely that: 70.  The thing is, when the speed limit is 70, most of us can go at least 77-80 mph and still fall well within the flow of traffic.  But then we run into those turkeys going 70 in the fast lane, passing a truck in the slow lane that’s going 69, and soon a line of 10 “eager” drivers forms behind that one turkey who STILL has no idea that everyone is waiting for him/her to get out of the way.

And then even when the turkey passes the truck, they don’t move over to the slow lane, and so we all have to pass him/her on the right.  *sigh*

Turkey type #2.  The aggressive driver.  We see these in Southern California all the time.  They wreak havoc in traffic on the 405, and they also wreak havoc in the middle of nowhere on I-5 between Buttonwillow and Lost Hills.

Case in point: I am following a safe distance behind the 5th car in line behind a turkey who is taking three hours to pass a truck.  Call me crazy, but I don’t like to tailgate.  The aggressive driver does, though, and doesn’t understand or care about what I’m doing.  He/she proceeds to pass me along the right, and slide in directly in front of me at close range, WITHOUT USING HIS/HER BLINKER.  I of course flash my lights at him/her, in a feeble attempt to send a message, to no avail.

What the aggressive turkey doesn’t understand is that I want to go 80 mph just like he/she does, and that once the truck and the bored turkey get out of the way, there will be no need to pass me because we will (usually) be going about the same speed.  Thus, his/her act of aggression has no point, other than to annoy me.  *sigh*

If any of you reading this are students and want to help me study the psychology of driving, LET ME KNOW.  What does our driving behavior say about us as people, and vice versa?

Finally, after 7 1/2 hours on the road yesterday, have I joined anyone in not being able to get “Whatcha Say” by Jason Derulo out of my head?  No, just me?  Okay.

Happy Thanksgiving.

An update from the other coast

Greetings today from Starbucks at 86th and Columbus on the upper west side of Manhattan.  I think that’s where I am, at least.  I’ve been here since Sunday night, when I was greeted by a ridiculous pouring rain along my bus ride in from La Guardia between 1 and 2 a.m.  Despite the late hour, this particular bus was still jam-packed with people of all ages and ethnicities, so I knew from the start this town was a bit different.

By now I’ve had a chance to experience a bit of the New York attitude.  There was the cross-looking woman who scolded me for putting my suitcase in a bad spot on that bus.  Then there was the downright angry-looking woman who moved my backpack to a different chair while I watched her take the seat I thought I had saved, during my apparently unacceptably long three-minute wait in line for my Starbucks frappuccino.  Does this attitude not exist in “laid-back” Southern California?  Perhaps.  Just don’t try to merge onto the 405 at rush hour on a Tuesday.  Or, pretty much any hour on any day.

People are the same everywhere.  It’s just that people are smushed together a little more tightly here in Manhattan, so you can’t help but be all in each other’s business.

On a side note, as I prepare to attend the Mets-Giants game tomorrow night at Citi Field, I had the chance to catch a few innings of the Giants-Dodgers game online yesterday, thanks to the beauty of technology (and my MLB.tv subscription).  A few innings was enough to witness three obvious blown calls by umpire Gary Darling’s crew, all in the Dodgers’ favor.  Looking into it a bit further, I noticed...

Gary Darling crew incident #1: 8.12.09

Gary Darling crew incident #2: 8.10.09

Gary Darling crew incident #3: 4.29.08

Clearly, the same umpire throwing the same manager (Bruce Bochy) out of the game three times in two years is not a coincidence.  Does Darling seem to have an issue with Bochy and the Giants?  Yes.  Has this affected his ability to umpire objectively?  He’s human, so probably.  Does the fact that Darling grew up in Northern California already affect his ability to umpire a Giants-Dodgers series objectively?  Probably.

Major League Baseball, can we keep Gary Darling away from the Giants the rest of this year, at least??  Thanks.

Manhattan Beach Open

Hey, everyone.  I played in the Manhattan Beach Open tennis tournament this past weekend.  I won my first round match, and then lost my second one.  If you look closely at the draw, you’ll notice that the guy I lost to, David Maxwell, went on to score an impressive win over the tournament’s #2 seed, Trevor Dobson, in his next match later that same day.

Different people have different theories on whether I should have hoped for David to win that next match.  I could have either 1) cheered for him, to make my own results look better, or 2) cheered against him, as a sort of retribution for beating me.  I’ll go with door #1, since David was a decent guy, and benefit from a brief boost in my own self-esteem.