Thrown to the Wolves

Last night was the third annual faculty-student basketball game, held as a fund-raiser for charity by a local sorority. This year the threw us a team that included five players from the varsity, including the only 2,000-point scorer in school history. Needless to say, we didn’t win… It was sorta-kinda close for a while, until… Continue reading Thrown to the Wolves

Mount Noun-More

Since people have asked about the outcome of the Mike and Mike “Mount Sportsmore” thing that kicked off yesterday’s post about iconic scientists, I made it a point to catch their final list today: Muhammed Ali Babe Ruth Michael Jordan Wayne Gretzky They specifically put Jackie Robinson off in a special category of his own… Continue reading Mount Noun-More

Methadone Basketball

In a previous post, I dissed the NBA as being a haven for ugly pseudo-basketball. It does serve a purpose, though, as a sort of methadone program to ease the way down from the hoops-jukie high of March to the Great Sports Desert between the end of the NBA and the start of the NFL.… Continue reading Methadone Basketball

Sports in College

Kevin at No Se Nada has a post up about Nobel laureate Carl Wieman leaving Colorado, and how it relates to the role of college athletics at an educational institution. (Check his comments for a special bonus Carl Wieman anecdote.) Probably coincidentally, Timothy Burke at Swarthmore also has a post today about the role of… Continue reading Sports in College

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Half a Good Plan (Duke-UMD)

My Terrapins lost to the hated Dukies yesterday, 96-88. I’d be more down, but they actually played pretty well– they just aren’t that good a team this year, and Duke is better than they are. They gave a great effort, though, and might’ve had a chance if they’d had more than half of the right… Continue reading Half a Good Plan (Duke-UMD)

Bring Back Amateur Night

I’m a bad basketball fan. Duke played North Carolina last night, and I didn’t watch. The Blue Devils are the #2 ranked team in the nation, the Tar Heels are the defending national champions, it was a back-and-forth game that went down to the wire, and I didn’t watch any of it, other than a… Continue reading Bring Back Amateur Night

Super Bowl Recap

The Steelers won the super Bowl last night, in a game that didn’t hold any rooting interest for me. As a result, I spent most of it doing other things– making gourmet fried stuff (about which more later), marking a big stack of homework assignments, and writing today’s lecture (solutions of the time-independent Schroedinger equation!… Continue reading Super Bowl Recap

A Simple Game

Possibly the hardest thing to understand about the game of basketball is that it’s really a very simple game. You pass the ball, you catch the ball, you shoot the ball, you rebound, you play defense. If you watch too much of the NBA, or sloppy college teams, or “Street Ball” on ESPN2 in the… Continue reading A Simple Game