In the interests of disclosure let me clarify; I’m not a Sports Psychologist. In fact, in the world of Sport Science I’m far more Physiology, Coaching or Strength and Conditioning involved.
I came back from a basketball game today. I scored 6 points in the first quarter, missing what should have been easy shots. I was substituted out, and sat as the rest of the team struggled to get into any offensive rhythm. At the half we were down by 8 points. In the second half we came back at them taking over the game down the stretch, and winning by 8 points. I came back into the game toward the end of the 3rd quarter, and in the final quarter I scored 12 points, including 3 of 4 free throws, finishing on a respectable 21 points. What was the difference? I was no quicker, no stronger, no more powerful, no greater agility; physiologically I was the same player. At half time we had talked about calming down, playing our game, not getting flustered, and so forth. It was all mental, literally. But we took control. A close friend and well respected Lecturer in Sport Psychology iterated to me some time ago;
“There are two fundamental rules in the psychology of sports:
1. Control the controllables
2. Play in that moment”
She’s absolutely right, and with my involvement at high level coaching this is something that we try to live by with all of our players. You can’t control your opponents shooting, but you can control your defence. You can’t control whether your shot rattles around the rim and rolls out, or whether it goes swish, but you can control the technique of your shot. And in the same sense you can’t change what’s been, and you don’t know what’s going to happen, so you live in that play at that moment. I say to players I coach that if they carry every mistake on their shoulders then it will weigh them down, and it’s absolutely true.
Another well respected coaching colleague and I wrote a series of mantras for our Women’s team at the Wheelchair World Championships last year in Birmingham (we’re both assistant coaches);
“If I make a mistake, I will forgive myself and my team will forgive me”
“I will not dwell on past mistakes or try to fix them by playing outside our system”
“I will re-focus on how I play and how we play”
We listed 4 team goals, three of which mentioned communication, aggression, focus, belief, and one of which was more physically orientated.
Our players identified personal goals for the same tournament, stating; aggression, confidence, calm, assertive, belief, commitment, communication, not over-thinking things. One of twelve players listed skill or physiological based goals, the other eleven were psychologically orientated.
I'm watching Manchester Utd beat Southampton Football Club in the fourth round draw of the FA cup (1-0 to Southampton at half time; 2-1 to Manchester Utd at present). But what was the real difference. Perhaps Man Utd came out complacent in the first half conceding that first goal. And perhaps they re-grouped with their belief, and confidence, and composure, playing their game, and knowing they were the better team. What about Southampton, maybe they started aggressive, confident, but even when leading 1-0 they knew that they were playing Manchester Utd, (sickeningly) one of the best teams, two leagues above Southampton. Imagine the complexities of what could have been going around the players brains.
With all this in mind; what’s the most important part of an athlete?
As a coach I always say that I would rather have an athlete with the right mental attitude and perhaps lacking physiological attributes than vice versa, especially in a team sport. I think most coaches would agree, and perhaps this is what makes the great players truly ‘great’. Not their ability, but fit within a team dynamic, or a team system. As a physiologist or strength and conditioning coach I might be able to improve their fitness, strength, endurance, agility, power, which in-turn might enhance their skill and ability, and at best might improve confidence. But what lies in the heart, or more importantly; in the head of an athlete might be even more important.
It’s been a long weekend, and I’ve just got in with some takeout and put the NFL on. I love the playoffs, NFL, NBA, and hmmmm......yeah: nope; that’s all, but I love it.
I spent the day coaching a couple of basketball games, and during playoff time I get to thinking about great players and great moments. I don’t know enough about the NFL. But basketball; well I have given 20 years of my life to basketball as a fan, player, coach, etc. This blog is MY top 10 greatest moments (accurate at the time of going to press).
I thought about this long and hard, and really there’s so much that could have gone in and didn’t; Reggie Miller versus the New York Knicks, Pat Riley’s suits, Tex Winter’s Triangle Offense, Ray Allen’s butter smooth jump shot, etc, etc. But I refined the list, I crossed things out, and finally I have my 10 greatest moments. This is a looooong blog for which I apologise but if you like basketball then you should like this. Here goes......
10. The New York Knicks.
I can hear the rage already, at perhaps the inclusion, or the fact that they rank only 10th, but let me explain. See the Knicks are a dynasty. Like it or not they are. See the Knicks are one of only two teams from the start of the NBA to remain in its original city, and they will NEVER move. Fans will go to Madison Square Garden to cheer or to boo, but they will always sell tickets. It’s not their rivalry with Miami, Chicago, Boston, or anybody else, or that they were the first team to sign a black player (Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton) in 1950. It’s everything: While they struggled through most of the 1960s (and pretty much ever since) in the 1969-1970 season something happened. They faced the Lakers in the playoff finals and their leader tore a muscle in his leg in a game 5 win. They would go on to lose game 6 and with the series tied 3-3, they started the 7th game with an injured Willis Reed. He limped onto court and scored New York’s first two baskets. He inspired the team to a 113-99 victory. A couple years later they won another Championship with Earl “The Pearl” Monroe. Since then there’s been Patrick Ewing, and John Starks and some hard-nosed defence, Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston, and more hard-nosed defence. They were so popular amongst so many of my basketball peers that they coined the phrase Knicks defence; fundamentally meaning that there was probably a foul on the play, but it isn’t gonna get called cause this is Knicks defence. It’s man’s basketball.
9. Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points.......in a single game.
Well now we’ve bigged up the Knicks, let’s bring them back down to size. Wilt once dropped 100 on you boys in a single game! True enough; on March 2nd, 1962 in Hershey, PA the Philadelphia Warriors beat the New York Knicks 169-147. He scored 36 of 63 field goal attempts, and hit 28 of 32 free throws (a miracle since he normally shot ~50% from the foul line. But the best part of the whole story is that legend has it he had been out all night the previous night in NYC partying, and got on a train at 8am on game day with a hangover. God bless the 1970’s.
8. The 2003 NBA Draft.
The 2003 draft might have produced some of the greatest superstars of the current generation, and perhaps of all time. I was living in Willoughby, OH, and the talk was Lebron James staying in Cleveland and going to the Cavaliers straight out of high school. He was/is a phenom. But that’s not the best part. Second in the draft went Darko Milicic to Detroit Pistons. Sorry, did you just say “who?” We’ll come back to it. 3rd went Carmelo Anthony to Denver Nuggets, 4th went Chris Bosh to Toronto Raptors, and 5th went Dwayne Wade to Miami Heat. Here are their career stat lines:
1.Lebron James 27.8 ppg7.0 rpg7.0 apg
2.Darko Milicic5.6 ppg4.1 rpg0.8 apg
3.Carmelo Anthony21.7 ppg6.2 rpg3.1 apg
4.Chris Bosh20.2 ppg9.4 rpg2.2 apg
5.Dwayne Wade25.4 ppg4.9 rpg6.6 apg
(ppg = points per game, rpg = rebounds per game, apg = assists per game)
So now we can say really, who is Darko Milicic? I think that’s what Detroit fans said on Draft night. I think that’s probably what Denver were saying as they smiled and drafted Anthony, and what Miami were saying as they watched Wade stay free and picked him up with open arms. But in all seriousness the Pistons didn’t even need that pick and interestingly had they picked someone who would have played a bunch of minutes it would have upset their system. Check the records; Detroit Pistons 2003-2004 NBA Champions (beating the Lakers 4-1).
[NB. The Lakers had Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Gary Payton, and Karl Malone, amongst others.]
[NB 2. Dwayne Wade is the only other of the 5 with a Championship ring.]
7.2006-2007 NBA Finals.
I sat up watching most of these games with a close friend. The Dallas Mavericks came out strong in the first game with Jason Terry scoring 32, and Dirk Nowitzki helping suggest that the Miami Heat would struggle. In Game 2, Nowitzki dropped 26pts and 16rbds, and won 99-86 taking control of the series. I didn’t smile. No-one expected Miami to do anything and I was only supporting them since I’d lived in Florida for a while, and been to a lot of their games (sitting a handful of rows behind the bench at pre-season games), and also because Shaq had come to South Beach, and I couldn’t support the Lakers if they would trade Shaq and keep Kobe. It didn’t look promising.
Then in Game 3 Dwayne Wade said “NO!” to a sweep; he scored 42pts with 13rbds, to Nowitzki’s 30pts. In Game 4 Wade scored 36pts and the team looked better, but really could they come back with an aging Shaquille O’Neal and Gary Payton, Antoine Walker, and a few role players?
Game 5 went to overtime, and the Heat stole it 101-100, Wade scoring 43 points and hitting 21 free throws. Game 6 settled it in front of my friend and I; a Miami win 95-92. Wade scored 36 points in that game, and averaged 34.7 pts for the series, winning finals MVP. There was so much hoopla around the team, calling themselves the “White-hot Heat” and handing out white t-shirts for home games so that the crowd were ALL in white. Apparently the players and coaching staff had what was essentially a paddling pool in the centre of the locker room, where they would bring in ‘reasons’ why winning was important, be it photos of their family, or their childhood, or their heroes, etc.
NB Don’t look beyond 2007, within two years the transformation to worst team in the league was complete; Wade was injured missing 31 games, and Shaq got traded. They only won 15 games.
6. Vince Dunks on France
If you’ve read this far you deserve a break.....enjoy
I don’t think I need to say anything. But I will; what makes this play more amazing isn’t that Freddy Weis is 7’2” and Vince Carter is 6’6”, or that it happened in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney or that directly after the play Vin Baker seems to move away like nothing happened while Kevin Garnett is whooping so much he looks like HE just did the dunk. But that the French newspapers called it “le dunk de la mort”.....”The dunk of death”
5. The 1984 draft.
I don’t want to labour the point with draft picks but check this out.....
Akeem Olajuwon went Number 1 in 1984 to Houston Rockets (he spelt it Akeem back then, and FYI Eddie Murphy modelled himself (or at least the name and accent) on Akeem in the movie ‘Coming to America’).
Michael Jordan went Number 3 to Chicago Bulls. I’m not going into details but they were smiling a lot because....
Sam Bowie went Number 2 to Portland Trailblazers. Sam Bowie was listed at 7’1”, and retired in 1995 with career stats of 10.9 points per game, 7.5 rebounds per game, and 1.78 blocks per game. He was apparently selected based on what they needed. Trust me they needed Michael. I hope someone got fired for that; the mother of all f*ck-ups!
4. Jordan/Nike Adverts
If you play or played you probably owned a pair. If you didn’t own a pair you had a favourite anyway, and you might still look at them or have bought the re-issued retro models. But the adverts, well now; the first ‘Air Jordan’ was red and black and the league banned it for the colours (I read somewhere that they were deemed satanic colours!?) fining Chicago every time Michael played in them. Nike ran a short advert; it showed the shoes and then it showed them being blacked out. It implied they were too good, unfair even. I don’t think anyone could have done anything better; when you ban something people want it more, they NEED it. My favourite was in SLAM magazine in the summer following the Chicago Bulls beating the Utah Jazz, for Jordan’s 6th title, hitting the game winner in the last game with seconds on the clock; it was a picture of the Air Jordan XIV shoe, and in small print underneath it said something like “Apologies for any distressing flashbacks caused to Utah fans”
For a few of the best Jordan commercials check out....
This is basketball sports rivalry. It dates back to before my inception, legends like Bill Russell (Celtics) against Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Wilt Chamberlain (Lakers) in 1969. Then Magic Johnson (and James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar: Lakers) and Larry Bird (and Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge: Celtics) in the 1980’s including 7 championships and a combined 13 NBA finals appearances through the 1980’s, including some of the greatest games of all time. Then in 2008 they faced off again in the Finals where Boston prevailed under Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen against Kobe & co. (I was watching the game in a motel room in Connecticut bouncing off the walls with no-one to celebrate with; having been in Boston in the previous days!) And again last year; when the Lakers won. (I was in Alabama, which I concede is neither in, nor close to either Los Angeles or Boston. In fact I only comment because it meant I could watch the game at a reasonable hour and not sit up until 4am or 5am.
2. The 1976 Playoffs
I’ll summarise; the Golden State Warriors were the best team and favourites to win the title. However, an incident in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals where a Phoneix Suns player set upon Rick Barry would change everything. At half time Barry (their star player) was showed footage of what happened and seeing that none of his team-mates jumped in to defend him, he refused to shoot the ball for most of the second half. (Jackass) And as such, the Warriors lost and the Suns went on to the NBA Finals. That’s not all.....
In Game 5 of the Finals with 7 seconds left in double overtime, the Celtics trailed by 1 point when John Havlicek hit a running bank shot. Fans rushed the Boston Garden and pandemonium erupted. But the officials ruled that there was 1 second left on the clock. A drunk fan assaulted a referee, and finally they attempted to restart the game. Phoenix, wanting to take the ball at half court, called a time-out that they didn’t have. This was a technical violation, and Boston hit the technical free-throw to lead by 2 points with 1 second left. The rules at the time allowed Phoenix to use a time-out and inbound the ball at half court, and after a huddle in which Boston fans were still on the floor and Phoenix players had to repeatedly push them away, Phoenix inbounded the ball and Gar Heard made an almost impossible turnaround jump-shot to force a third overtime.
Boston went on to win 128-126, and went to Phoenix 2 days later for Game 6 to win another NBA Championship.
[NB Pat Riley was sat on the bench for Phoenix but was not played.]
1. Michael Jordan
I don’t know what to say here. He is basketball. He changed it for everyone, he made it popular for non-basketball fans, he did things people hadn’t done before, and haven’t done since. He scored, he passed, he scored more, he rebounded, he made players around him better, and he scored even more, and he just has THE greatest list of highlight reels. He is a brand name, and a brand logo almost as identifiable as McDonalds or Coca-Cola. There are so many moments I could talk about, so many awards we could list. We could discuss him hitting three-pointers like they were free-throws against Portland and shrugging at the table as if to say “Go figure!?” or that he retired and came back to win 3 more championships, having evolved as a player, then retire again only to return and play for Washington Wizards. We could talk about the fact that he kept had a clause in his contract referred to as ‘The love of the game’ clause; you see most professional athletes were too valuable just to play in exhibition games or charity games, but he had this clause put in so he could go back and play at North Carolina in a charity game.
Finally, I could talk about the fact that in 2001 whilst living in Prescott, Arizona, when he came back to play for the Wizards; that I spent 45 minutes on the phone finally booking tickets to see them play in Detroit against the Pistons, I was going to see Michael Jordan.....only to receive the tickets and found they’d given me them for a day later when Detroit played Miami. I cried.
But instead of talking of any of those things, watch this video.
What an interesting 24 hours with regard to science....I’ll try to summarise and guide people to better sources than this blog. Forgive me for both the length of this, and also the abbreviation of it, trust me this is barely scratching the surface......but well worth a look.
Neuroscience – a thought on brain surgery!
I was sat eating dinner and watching TV last night and a friend of mine was focused on a show discussing brain surgery. What transpired was an excellent programme focused on neuropsychology. Most interestingly it discussed the case study of HM, a boy who in 1935, at 9 years old was in a cycle accident, and after this suffered from seizures. In 1953 he underwent what was both horrifying and yet scientifically prolific surgery; removing parts of both left and right medial temporal lobes, and fundamentally removing most of his hippocampus. The attending neurosurgeon was convinced that this was likely responsible for the seizures and in removal reported significant atrophy. It appears that the surgery was successful in the sense that it controlled his seizures, but a little less so in that he seemed incapable of committing new events to long term memory. From there he was a volunteer through 5 decades of research regarding motor skill learning, spatial memory, and memory consolidation amongst other things. The presenter commented that data collected has been reported in over 10,000 scientific journal articles. The show continued its discussion of neuroscience, including how HM’s brain has been finely cut with a razor into 2500+ slices so that they can continue to study all aspects, and also the splitting of the hemispheres of the brain by cutting the corpus callosum, and its effects.
Neurocardiology – knowing things ‘off-by-heart’
At this point my friend watching the show said something that awed me a little; that she believes that ‘heart cells can store memory’. Well in fact, cells obviously store some degree of memory, in that they know what to do. (I can’t help explain that, and so far as I can find, nor can science without reasonable doubt). However, this discussion was not simply the respective cell knowing what to do, but the memories of a person being stored at a cellular level in organs other than the brain. ‘Evidence’ comes in the form of case study examples of transplant recipients changing tastes and characteristics after surgery. Even to the extent of an 8 year-old girl receiving the heart of a 10 year-old girl who had been murdered, and then after extensive interviews with a psychiatrist; being able to identify the murderer down to the time, the weapon, the place, the clothes the murderer had worn, and what the little girl had said to the murderer. There are several other examples. Researchers within this field, known as Neurocardiology, have suggested that ‘the heart has its own intrinsic nervous system and that the complexity of this system is great enough to qualify it as a “little brain” in its own right’ (Dr. Andrew Armour, Dr. Candace Pert). Phenomenal.
Palaeolithic Diets, and the truth about sugar
Finally, over the past 24 hours or so, was another discussion regarding fat, carbohydrates and Palaeolithic diets. A few of my colleagues have become resident experts on this (in the sense that they have spent far more time reading the array of literature), for further information see the following links.....
Fundamentally a Palaeolithic diet advocates the consumption of meats, fishes, fruits, leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, etc. Notably reducing or diminishing carbohydrate intake. The argument being that Palaeolithic man didn’t suffer from the same malnutrition and famine than the Neolithic farming tribes that followed. Essentially it suggests that saturated fats are not bad for us, but that carbohydrates, which essentially are sugars, are the evil in our diet. When we consume sugar we produce insulin, which then stops the use of fat as an energy source by inhibiting the release of glucagon. When insulin is absent our body uses fat as the main energy substrate through the process of gluconeogenesis. You see as man has evolved we have adapted our use of grains, wheats, etc and developed a relatively carbohydrate dependent diet. Alas this at least in part due to Ancel Keys who’s appalling research in the 1950’s suggested that it was fat that was the primary cause of heart disease. He studied 22 different countries, and included the 7 where he found higher fat consumption and high records of heart disease. The other 15 did not, but he didn’t tell us that!
PLEASE watch the following link; it’s brilliant and it’s only 2m35s (thanks JS!)....
Essentially what we are getting towards is that our bodies have not evolved at the same rate as our diets.
A far more comprehensive discussion of this exists in the following seminar by Dr. Robert Lustig. Please be warned that this is approximately 1h 30m long, but I can absolutely guarantee you that watching this and taking note will almost certainly help in some way or another, if at least to educate your decisions, and at best to prolong your life, and that of those around you.
There is a plethora of Palaeolithic literature and links if you’re really interested, i’m sure a Google search will return you a lot of results. There are also a lot of spin-off variations of ‘modern’ Palaeolithic diets, or extremes in one direction or another with what you can and can’t eat. Personally I find it fascinating; not only that we have genuinely been misled by governments, nutritionists and dieticians alike but that this is what we put in our body. You don’t put mud in your car and expect it to perform, so why put things in our body that represent risks, or could diminish our health/physical performance.
Let me finish with a quote that as a scientist I promise you is true...
“What we know is infinitely less than there is to know”
I'm not much of a philosopher to be honest. Well, actually; perhaps I am, in that I think but am not necessarily academically educated on philosophy.
I'm currently reading Ayn Rand's'The Virtue of Selfishness'. A book which discusses and considersObjectivism; a philosophy that holds the belief that the moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness. As a side note; selfishness and objectivism should not be misinterpreted to suggest that because you are pursuing your own happiness you are trampling on the happiness of others.
However, I've also just finished Dan Millman's'Way of the Peaceful Warrior'. This is unquestionably a very good book, and I'm not going to labour the point over the themes, and content.
At various points there's a reference to 3 Simple Rules for life.....they are as follows.....
I. Paradox:Life is a mystery; don't waste time trying to figure it out.
II. Humor:Keep a sense of humour, especiallyabout yourself. It is a strength beyond all measure.
III. Change:Know that nothing stays the same.
I'm 32 years old, I know religious people, political people, and philosophers alike and I've seldom heard anything so simple and so true.
Have you seen it? The latest Renault Megane Sport advert? Oh dear.
The question they ask; "Can a car change a town?" What follows in the adverts is a pitiful representation of a UK town (village) where the French enthusiast suggests that Megane's increase fertility, happiness, and so forth.
The advert then shows 'farmer type' males commenting that the car has a sun-visor, and questioning whether it has a tow-bar. Finally, and in my opinion, most importantly of all, the French man asks 'How many girls you can have just thanks to this car?' The response; fantastic....
Apart from being a response that is almost identical to the sound effect of a colleague of mine, I think he aptly answers the question. Yes; if it's a town that the industrial revolution appears to have missed.
However, whilst on the subjects of adverts consider: a car probably can't change a town but can irritate a few people. A meerkat appears to be able to change a country! And if nothing else helped me change my car insurance! What a revolutionary piece of meerkatting.
Well the blog yesterday has caused a little bit of a stir. I quite deliberately omitted discussing John Mayer; one of my favourite all time singer/songwriters. Most directly because it stirs some very personal emotions to me, from the moment I was introduced to him, to the last time I saw him in concert, the person I was sat next to (and my other friends in the audience), and the person I think about whenever I hear him.
I guess I owe blog readers that degree of honesty. I was introduced to him many moons ago by someone who was incredibly close to me, and during our time I saw him in concert a couple of times. Amidst the darkness of our crumbling relationship I seemed to win him in the division of personal belongings. His lyrics seemed to carry me through, where she deserted him, and later commented that he’d sold out. I don’t think it was solely that comment but I’ve kept him close ever since. Her, not so much.
I could go on about his music, about his lyrics or serene tones. But instead for your reading pleasure:
A voice that quietly eases its way up against you like a comfortable lover or the warmth of a spring breeze
And a perhaps occasionally aleatoric notation rests against my soul
Harmony and melody like soft dried summer sand with a timbre fresh as the first toe to reach the cooling ocean sea
And an embraced charcoal, poplar body, and one piece maple neck With six steel-wound and perfectly gauged strings Contoured to my ears and spirit alike
A knowing smile reveals our final commonality Blended into a rhythm, replicating the moments of pace....and of peace within my life.
Still, I later introduced an array of music to a close friend and whilst she accepted Matchbox 20 into her life, she was reluctant to accept John. Some point later her ears, heart, mind, or a combination of the above conceded, and it is she who forwards his tweets or blog details. She might now be a bigger fan than me.
She’s continues to become one of the most sacred people in my life. My inspiration. We’ve shared many moments together listening to John, and seen him concert as well. And hopefully many more.
The song herein, originally by Tom Petty has been special to me since I was a child, and long before John Mayer covered it. But this concert was something a little bit special. Happy to say I was there.
Therefore; Ladies and Gentlemen, and of course Tory.....
..John Mayer. Manchester Apollo, UK. January 15th, 2010
I drove home from Aylesbury to Southampton this evening, listening to Jason Mraz, Sister Hazel, and Matt Nathanson. Pretty middle of the road music, but I have to confess I'm a sing-along kinda guy. I think most who know me know that, but when I drive I sing....loud. This isn't necessarily a problem except it means I drink quite a lot. This in turn means I can’t drive for more than about an hour without needing to stop and use a bathroom somewhere.
Still; to the point......I guess I started to think that perhaps music is the ultimate common ground. I mean it's almost a religion. With prophecy and philosophy in song lyrics. Something obvious or something hidden. A bassy pulse in the background, or unleashed guitar riff in the foreground. It unites people in concert or festival, and people make what is essentially a pilgrimage to the likes of Glastonbury. And of course feelings of love become immediately more accepted when voiced through song.
I saw on Yahoo news that Australia have banned radio play of the song 'Money for Nothing' by Dire Straits, written in 1986. Apparently it's repetitive use of the word fagg*t was more acceptable then, and too inappropriate now. I couldn't help but chuckle as I read it. And with no disrespect to anyone, kind of pity humanity a little.
I remember a DJ playing the unedited version of 'Killing in the name of' by Rage Against the Machine back in the 90's and being overwhelmed by it. And of course only a year or so back; the public, via facebook, making the decision that Simon Cowell and Pop Idol would not have another Christmas Number 1, by inviting and encouraging everyone to purchase it over again. Power to the people!
Then through my childhood there was Iron Maiden and The Beastie Boys, and my parents threw in a mix of The Beach Boys and John Denver whenever they drove us (I have 2 sisters) anywhere. I would love to say I hated it, but I know I didn't. Then there was the Smashing Pumpkins 'Tonight, Tonight' and Dodgy, then Oasis and Blur battling for Britpop supremacy. And of course Nirvana's 'Smells like Teen Spirit'. Sigh. The newspapers reading the day the music died as an epitaph to Kurt Cobain. My dad then re-introduced me to the song 'American Pie' by Don McLean about the death of Buddy Holly, and the real day the music died; the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson.
I guess we all have our favourite songs and our favourite lyrics as well. I’m particularly partial to the lyrics of Dylan:
“Yes to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands, with all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves, let me forget about today until tomorrow”
or Simon & Garfunkel:
“In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade, and he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down and cut him till he cried out in his anger and his shame ‘I am leaving, I am leaving’ though the fighter still remains”
Here’s a little something more poetic to summarise the blog. I’m afraid I don’t know who wrote it so I can’t credit it to anyone....
Music makes us bounce up and down on our beds like children. Music gives us goose-pimples. Music makes us feel good. Music defines a decade. Music changes our hairstyles and the clothes we wear. Music labels us. Music is our way of switching off. Music is our way of switching on. Music comforts us when things aren't so good. Music inspires us to ride faster than our talent would normally allow. Music has been to all our birthdays. Music touches all ages, creeds and colours. Music goes with us to wherever we go. Music is an industry. Music is all powerful. Music lifts our spirits or sells us a pair of jeans. Music can make a bad film better. Music is boom-boom. Music gives us energy. Music quickens the pulse. Music makes plants grow faster. Music moves us to silence. Music witnesses our most humbling moments. Music gets through to us in ways words just can't. Music reminds us of people and moments in time. Music is about those we love and those we miss with each breath we take. Music is singing at the top of your voice and not caring about what you are singing or who is listening. Music is the soundtrack to Life. Now playing.
Let me start by clarifying that this blog represents no opinions towards the legality or ownership of firearms, it simply highlights an observation of......
So I was thinking today about writing another blog and asked for ideas on facebook. Interestingly enough the issue came up that bloggers should think of their own ideas. I suggested that bloggers aren't necessarily to think of their own ideas just to discuss them. It later occurred to me that this simply meant "opinionated but not creative". Yeah, that made me feel better about the whole thing.
Anyway I came home and after eating and lounging in front of a bit of television decided to have a quick game of Call of Duty (Black Ops). Of course that lasted a couple of hours or so, rather than a "quick" game! Then it occurred to me.....
What is it about men and guns?
Seriously though? I'm betting most guys (and many girls) are nodding their heads already! I mean I have a pellet gun in the shape of a Beretta Pistol (which believe it or not I bought from Superdrug a couple of Christmas' back!). And maybe other guys own something similar or even something with a little more kick if you live in a country with more tolerant gun laws. But deny or not; guys have some innate relationship with guns. Whilst living in the states, and later visiting friends there, I fired most anything I could get my hands on (in VERY controlled conditions). But guys EVERYWHERE play Call of Duty, Medal of Honor or whatever else they can get their grubby little mitts on!! But it's not just 'Army' themed, it's why men automatically have a love for Godfather movies (apart from because the trilogy is AMAZING)....or The Deerhunter....or Rambo....or Commando....or (insert other movie with gun-wielding hero).
But why? Well, without wanting to be opinionated, and purely representing only a layman’s thoughts........it's primal. There's something inside us that makes us need to feel that warrior instinct. I'm sure most guys get over it with sports, but somewhere in there many guys need to feel that theme of war or battle in their head (not all; I don't want to generalise). I'd be interested to see if playing certain video games helped testosterone production, I genuinely think it is THAT primitive!! We play with them as toys as kids, whether it's soldiers or cowboys, we play the video games, and when we grow up we're not much better.
On a less philosphical note I once heard the joke "why is a gun better than a woman?....you can put a silencer on a gun." Well it made me laugh at least.
Anyway, thoughts on this one would be very much appreciated!!
Oh and to show I'm not the only one, PLEASE follow one of the links below.....I think Simon Pegg agrees with me....like he says..."an unspoken telepathy"....
This is a scene from season 2, episode 5 of the Channel 4 TV show 'Spaced'
Me, well I had a great lifting session on Friday evening, got a nice surf in on Saturday, and some basketball in on Sunday. Good times. Men and sports eh!?
Anyway, I don't have much to say. I was thinking of talking about heroes and villains and why players like Michael Vick are still popular outside of Philadelphia (even if just to me). After serving 21 months in prison for implications in a dog-fighting ring, and then claiming bankruptcy, only to be released from prison, be paid $1.5 million his first season back and then $5 million as a starter for the Philadelphia Eagles! I mean, why would I, or anyone, show this guy any respect!??
Then there's Shaquille O'neal. This guy is something of an idol to me. And yet back in the day he was a liability at the end of a close game because he was a terrible free-throw shooter. He was paid millions, and when offered by one of the legends of the game, Rick Barry, to be taught how to shoot a free throw underarm (a distinctly old school technique) he basically said that he would never do it cause it didn't look cool!! Then there's Kobe Bryant. I hate him. He can score a bunch of points, and I'll give the guy credit. But I really don't like him. Why? His rape accusation? No, when he was drafted they had a similar style of player called Eddie Jones and I liked him. They traded Eddie seeing that they didn't need them both. Later when Shaq and Kobe fell out they traded Shaq and kept Kobe. I loved the Lakers since Magic, Kareem and Worthy were there. But when Shaq left my loyality went with him...first Miami, then Cleveland, and now Boston.
But in all of this......why? Why be a Shaq fan or a Vick fan and hate Kobe. It's not me, or my morals, or my forgiving or not forgiving. Or maybe it is. I think it's men and sports. Lines blur when sports is involved, we seem to define and adopt a different set of laws.
So, back to the photo at the top, Franco probably had his share of fans and haters, and he probably had his share of good and bad publicity too. As for the Great Dane; I've no idea. Kinda makes you love dogs huh!?
I’m sat on the couch right now half-watching Sherlock Holmes on Sky, on my 42” Sony Trinitron TV, with my HP laptop in front of me, Blackberry next to me and my ipod touch gently sending the intimate tones of Counting Crows directly into my Sony Extra Bass Digital noise cancelling headphones. The irony of the lyrics....
“Gonna get back to basics, guess I’ll start it up again, I’m falling from the ceiling you’re falling from the sky now and then”
I remember in the 1980’s when someone used the term ‘walkman generation’; wow that seems a long time ago. I think we’ve moved on so fast I don’t even know where we’re at. I had a realisation in the past year that the little things I dreamt about as children have almost all come to fruition. Not the big things; the lottery win, or dating a supermodel, or playing in famous rock-band; but the playing a guitar, the riding of a motorbike....and a surfboard. I don’t know when all that happened. I mean I remember the moments, but the concept that I was once a child dreaming dreams and not living them seems somewhat implausible.
“Maybe you were shot down in pieces, maybe I slipped in between, but we were gonna be the wildest people they ever hoped to see. Just you and me”
Then there’s the hum-drum normality of my world. I took my car for an MOT test on Wednesday. It failed on a bulb and the bushing on the nearside, suspension/axel/something I don’t have the mechanical knowledge to explain. I took it somewhere different on Thursday and it passed. Somewhere something’s not right in all of that. I then paid out for car insurance today and after an exhausting workout (thanks JM) I meandered home and napped on the couch. Not the wildest of times.
The days continue, somewhere between the dream and the reality. But moments are going to pass whatever they might be, whatever we make of them, wherever we are, and whomever we are with. I’m somewhat tired from that workout now, and with plans to surf tomorrow the whisper from my bed has evolved into a full grown calling that now seems to drown out everything else. I’m going to lay my head down, and recover the stars. The satellites I’ll get to tomorrow. Hopefully.
“But we only stay in orbit for a moment of time, then you’re everybody’s satellite; I wish that you were mine”
So tumblrbot just asked me a question. It might be the easiest question I ever answer.
My earliest memory made some defining moments in my life. My father plays the guitar. Actually I haven’t seen him hold a guitar for years…(sad face)…but when I was a kid I used to be fascinated sitting on the bed watching him sit and play. At the time he played a 12 string, I remember him playing and singing “Puff the Magic Dragon” and I remember that I was so short I would look down and my feet wouldn’t touch the floor.
I wanted to play the guitar ever since that moment. When I was about 12 or 13 I finally made the effort. I learned on a classical (nylon string) and then took the 6 octave strings off his 12 string. Finally I got a Stratocaster copy for Christmas when I was 14.
One of the first songs I learned was "Puff the Magic Dragon".
I now own a 6 string electro-acoustic and 12 string jumbo acoustic, a telecaster copy, and that battered, scratched and faded old stratocaster copy.
This blog originates from (http://mylifeoutsideanutshell.tumblr.com/) where it was first posted by myself on January 5th, 2011. This blog site has since replaced the address above.....
I’m currently finishing “Juiced” by Jose Conseco, an ex- Major League Baseball (MLB) ‘star’ from the 90s. I’m not sure what people know about steroids in baseball but for a while the players association and the league seemed to avoid allowing any kind of testing for steroids, etc in MLB. Then people started breaking the home run record like crazy and players looked like they were better suited to bodybuilding or weightlifting and someone in the audience or media shouted “steroids”. [For the record Babe Ruth set the single season Home-Run record in 1927 with 60, then in 1961 Roger Maris hit 61. No-one then broke the 61 mark until 1998, since when it’s been broken 6 times by Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds]. Anyway, like I said someone shouted “steroids” and Jose Conseco, whose career was now virtually over answers the call with a biography……
He shouldn’t have bothered. Well I mean it probably pocketed him a few dollars but really, I’m disappointed. I read a book last year titled “Game of Shadows” about Barry Bonds and BALCO and the whole steroid scandal that saw Marion Jones give back gold medals and go to jail, and saw Dwayne Chambers get a ban. A good book, by the way. Whereas, “Juiced” is the tabloid of biographies, I mean I feel as if I’ve been reading a feature length “Heat” magazine or something!
I don’t know if he genuinely wrote it, or if anyone proof read it, but sentences like “None of us ever really never worried much about getting caught” should not get to print. I’m no literary genius but please. And before any of my British friends comment on Americans and the English language, don’t bother, even baseball players aren’t dumb enough for that to be acceptable. He quite literally labels himself the ‘Godfather’ of steroids (it’s the title of chapter 19), and he implies greater knowledge than ANYONE when it comes to how to use them, and then over how to train he infers that he is the smartest guy on the planet, and worse, most disappointingly he suggests that most of his success is down to steroid use. Sigh.
He continues that he was caught with a loaded gun, and had an infraction with his wife in a car and he’s pissed that he got labelled a wife beater, and got an arrest record for the firearm. Sigh, again. He argues that it wouldn’t have happened to white players (he’s of Cuban origin). Oh and that the owners are racist, the press are racist, the umpires are racist, but then; they are also biased. Sigh x 3.
Possibly the most intelligent part of the book is where he discusses the reasoning behind steroid use in sports. He comments about what sociologists refer to as the ‘medicalisation’ of society; e.g. that there is a pill for everything (wake you up, put you to sleep, headache, upset stomach, sore muscles, and of course vitamins, etc, etc). He’s not far off the truth, and to some extent I agree the point. He could intelligently have considered the point in far greater depth. And potentially also the health aspect. E.g. that since sports are legitimately un-healthy a pro athlete could come some way toward justifying that why not risk their health with steroids to be a greater success, lengthen their career, or make more money. (I’m not agreeing, or disagreeing; i’m just saying.)
Alas, there’s far more to say on the subject of steroids that I will not bore you with now (it’s a fascination; what can I do?). My point about the coffee part of the title is the ‘who’ he is part. This book is like being in a nightclub with the guy, seeing him get drunk and play out a role; he talks about dating Madonna for Gods sake! But it’s not him; underneath there’s hints of humanity, of insecurity. There’s someone interesting in there. But this book, I mean it’s someone telling you what they want to tell you, (I guess that’s what an autobiography is – silly me!) but it’s not you sitting down for a coffee with someone, it’s not you seeing what makes someone tick. I don’t believe that it’s him. I think it’s the hype, and the BS that sells tabloid books that read like a “Heat” magazine, it’s certainly that conversational. But reading, well; I guess I realised how much I love coffee, how much I love being with real people.
This is the second post from my original blog (http://mylifeoutsideanutshell.tumblr.com/), first posted on January 3rd, 2011. That blog site has now been replaced by this one.....
It’s a bizarre feeling to lie in bed at night and know that you have an outlet. To know that anything you want to say can be said. Not necessarily heard, but said. It’s a start, right?
New Years Eve I took the motorcycle out for an hour or so. It’s an 800 Cruiser, and it’s my heaven. You sit down low with your arms outstretched comfortably to the throttle and you pull back and let your body relax into every bump and curve in the road.
Last year I read “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert Pirsig; it’s a classic. And it’s fantastic. It’s something of a journey between father and son across America on the back of a motorcycle as well as exploring philosophy, the past and the future. It most directly considers simple concepts such as classicalism – seeing something for its underlying technology and function, or mechanical values; and romanticism – the judgement or appreciation of an item for its aesthetics, for its art. It’s kind of a beginner’s guide to philosophy to some extent. And yet is something that challenged me and my ideas and ideals. Fundamentally as a scientist I think I’m more classicalist; but somewhere in the depths there’s a romantic. There I said it. I’m an old romantic. But then I think that’s what surfing and riding a motorcycle is all about…..the romance.
Anyway, I digress. My point for this blog is that within the text of Zen the author makes analogies between riding a motorcycle and meditation. You kind of switch off from the world you’ve been in, and get into another one where the open road is a matter of inches from your heels. Where the wind on your face makes your eyes water a little (or a lot if it’s cold), and where you feel every mph against your body. On a cruiser at least. You switch to a world where shoulder checks are instinctively routine (because they might save your life), and every bend has something to offer as you feel the road open again and you pull back on the throttle. It’s like take a mind-clearing drug and it’s absolutely meditation. It’s the perfect description – kudos to you Mr. Pirsig.
For some reason I’ve often been compared or described as a bear (size and fur content being the most obvious similarities). I guess a big part of it came from time spent in Arizona where I became intrigued in Native American culture. For example:
“The bear embodies self observation, because every winter it retires to a cave to reflect on the events of the past year. It enters into the great silence, the big empty, to find the answers to all questions……The bear withdraws into a dream world every winter on the search for answers and is reborn every spring……The bear teaches how important it is to recognise the right time to take a step back from the noisy world around us and from our thoughts. For it is in silence that we hear the voice of the higher self.”
I guess this is me. Or I like to think so. It’s not the analysing of everything, it’s the letting the answers come to us, and I think it’s something that’s hard to do in our ‘noisy world’. Anyway, it works for me.
Go buy a motorcycle. Or just dim the lights and clear your mind.
Is it bad that unhappy with the initial start to a blog (actually more the realisation as I learned about blogging that there were better sites, with better tools) that I started a new one on another site. My previous blog "mylifeoutsideanutshell.tumblr.com" will likely soon be deleted so the first thing I'll be doing it re-posting the first two blogs on this site.
It seems early in the the year to be making a new start but hey;
"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start now and make a new ending"
