Found on facebook as a status message in one of my friends status:-
Once a gal asked a boy... Why do we have units to measure weight, height, force, speed, distance etc...but nothing to measure love, trust, friendship??..... Boy thought for a while....took her in his arms...looked deeply into her eyes n said....''Dekho baigan ke baatan nakko karo.... Meku pehlich physics ka backlog hai''.... ;)
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Movies I would love to watch!
List of movies I would love to watch.
Telugu
1. Shankarabharanam
2. Swathi Muthyam
3. Shubha Sankalpam
4. Swarna Kamalam
5. Siri Vennela
6. Sagara Sangamam
7. Seetha Ramayyagari Manavaralu
8. Aha na pellanta
9. Bommarillu
English
1. The pursuit of happiness
2. Shawshank Redemption
3. Godfather Series
4. Fifty first dates
5. Scent of a women
6. Pulp Fiction
7. Invictus
8. Troy
9. The bucket list
10. Borne Series
11. Hitch
12. Johnny Bosco
13. The Dark Knight
14. Forrest Gump
15. Evan Almighty
16. Cast Away
17. Apocalypto
18. Extra Terrestrial
19. Enemy at the gates
20. The Fighter
21. The King's Speech
Hindi
1. Hera Pheri
2. Phir Herapheri
3. Three Idiots
4. Dil Chahta Hai
5. Range De Basanti
6. Hungama
7. Roja
8. Dil to Pagal Hai
9. Maine Pyar Kiya
10. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
Other languages:-
1. Life is beautiful --- Love of a father toward's his child.
2. Divided we fall --- A Czech republic movie from World War II.
Telugu
1. Shankarabharanam
2. Swathi Muthyam
3. Shubha Sankalpam
4. Swarna Kamalam
5. Siri Vennela
6. Sagara Sangamam
7. Seetha Ramayyagari Manavaralu
8. Aha na pellanta
9. Bommarillu
English
1. The pursuit of happiness
2. Shawshank Redemption
3. Godfather Series
4. Fifty first dates
5. Scent of a women
6. Pulp Fiction
7. Invictus
8. Troy
9. The bucket list
10. Borne Series
11. Hitch
12. Johnny Bosco
13. The Dark Knight
14. Forrest Gump
15. Evan Almighty
16. Cast Away
17. Apocalypto
18. Extra Terrestrial
19. Enemy at the gates
20. The Fighter
21. The King's Speech
Hindi
1. Hera Pheri
2. Phir Herapheri
3. Three Idiots
4. Dil Chahta Hai
5. Range De Basanti
6. Hungama
7. Roja
8. Dil to Pagal Hai
9. Maine Pyar Kiya
10. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
Other languages:-
1. Life is beautiful --- Love of a father toward's his child.
2. Divided we fall --- A Czech republic movie from World War II.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Indians Explained
And here goes the explanation about some of the attitudes of Indians as explained by one of my colleagues. Based on his explanation the previous night at the dinner table I tried to draw parallels by drawing an example of famous personalities from different parts of the country and from the current day politicians and cricketers.
(a) Indians from eastern part of the country :- The people from this part of the country are usually the most intellectual people and are more inclined to the literary and scholarly skills. As this is evident from the world famous scholars India has produced from this region like Ravindranath Tagore the Nobel prize winning poet who penned our national anthem 'Janganamana' , Bankim Chandra Chatopadhya who is the author of our national song 'Vandemataram' the slogan that still keeps resonating in India from the days of freedom struggle. It is no surprise to find that the brave hearts like Subhash Chandra Bose the founder of Azad Hind Fouz (Indian Army) gave our country the war cry of 'Jai Hind' which even today brings the patriotism in each and every Indian from nook and corner of the country.
To emphasize this theory is the evidence of Amartya Sen the Nobel prize winning economist from University of Cambridge. Pranab Mukherjee the modern day trouble shooter of the current UPA government could also fit into the intellectuals the region has produced. The prince of Kolkata, Sourav Ganguly, who built the strong Indian Cricket team of young and bold Indian cricketers who went on to scale the pinnacles of Cricket in all the formats of game. Challenging the world dominance in the game that is more than a religion and binds the country that is divided by so many religions, cultures, languages etc.
(b) North Indians :- The region is political power center of the country, the people from this region are usually are hungry for power not surprising for a region that has been the capital city of the country from centuries before our independence. The people from this region are expressive, great leaders who attract the masses in leading the country. These are extrovert and are dominating in nature as these are the qualities that are primal to powerful personality.
The ancient history is also evidence of this fact, that the famous Hindu Upanishad 'Mahabharat' has its capital city of Hastinapur in northern India. The emperor Chandragupta Mourya hails from north eastern part of the country Patliputra modern day Patna who had the political guru in the form Chanakya. The Moguls had Delhi / Agra as their capital city for centuries before Indian Independence. The modern day examples of the leaders of the most political parties in the north who always have an eye on 7 Race Course Road unlike their counterparts from rest of the country.
The cricketing example of the personalities can be drawn from the attitudes of Virendra Sehwag who has little patience to dominate from the first ball in any format of the game. Kapil Dev the leader of the famous 1983 world cup winning team who took on the mighty West Indians.
(c) Indians from western part of the country :- This region excels itself in being the epicenter of the merchants of the country, the region has the rich history of business people and families who have the keen intelligence and knack of running the business. The region famous all over the world for diamond merchants, oil and petroleum companies, retail merchants and entrepreneurs who can start and run a successful business in any part of the world leave aside India.
This could be a little surprise that we have our financial capital Mumbai in the western part of the country and the modern day business families like Tata's, Birla's and Ambani's are from this part of the country. In addition being the financial hub of the country the city of Mumbai also has the world famous Bollywood film industry that draws parallel's to Hollywood in presenting a lucrative and magical dreams to the people from all the parts of the country. Mumbai in a true perspective is a conglomeration of the financial world of New York City and the Hollywood glamour of LosAngeles, this should sum up the discussion that Mumbai is the city that is not only the financial capital of the country but also draws crowds from all the corners of the country.
May I also take the liberty to highlight the richest cricket board of the world BCCI is headquartered in Mumbai.. And the place of my idol Sachin Tendulkar the modern day diety of Cricket in India, the person who is the crowd puller and highest paid cricket of 90's and most part of the last decade.
(d) South Indians :- The people from this region are not dominating but are very accommodating and hence very good team players rather followers than leaders. The people from this part of the country are good at academics, more diplomatic, normally shy and introverts. The demography of this region is usually very good at the academics in topics like mathematics, science and technology.
This should be no surprise that this region has produced world renowned mathematicians like Ramanujan, academicians like Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and famous scientists like Sir CV Raman the scientist who explained Raman effect. The modern day examples of the scientists could be APJ Abdul Kalam the missile man and the former president of the country, who is a classic example of his science and technology mastery and shy / introvert nature with his easily distinguishable hair style. The famous chess world champions that hail from the region like Vishwanathan Anand.
To explain the diplomatic skills of the famous people from this region how could one ignore the silent political heads of 90's prime minister PV Narsimha Rao who with his then finance and present day prime minister Manmohan Singh carried India out of turbulent economic times. Not to forget that the present day Chandra babu Naidu's, Chidambaram's, Karunanidhi's who through diplomatic skills still continue to play crucial role in the diplomatic back channels of running the country.
To emphasize the facts that the region is home to more number of academic demography can be found from the number of information technology companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Mahindra Satyam have originated with Bangalore and Hyderabad as their headquarters.
It is so appropriate to summarize with the examples of famous cricketers like Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. These players from southern part of the country are rated high for their skill and stylish cricketing talent, down to earth nature, diplomatic statements and never trying to dominate the opponents by their attitude but by their cricketing skills.
(e) Indians from central part of the country :- Considering that the rich and royal Indian background of being the home to many royal families of India this part of the country is rich in it's Indian traditions and culture. The region had produced the brave hearts like Jhansi ki Rani the brave leaders who fought during the Indian Independence. This region is rich in the forests, mines and rich natural resources of the country and the tribal culture and people.
The kind of explanation that had been offered in the comparatively backward state of the central part of the Indian has particularly grabbed my attention and I agree with the rational behind it.
When you move from east to west of the country, the intellectual skill set is takes a downward route. May I say the merchandising and business knack of the people follows a upward trend.
When you move from west to east of the country, the business knack and entrepreneurship skills take a downward trend. Or put it in a positive note the intellectual skill set of the person increases.
When you move from north to south of the country, the dominating and extrovert nature of the people is reduced. To put it otherwise the diplomatic skills of people increase.
When you move from south to north of the country, the academic accommodating and diplomatic nature of the people is reduced. To take an optimistic view the extrovert and dominating attitude takes precedence.
Now that I brought an example of the cricketing fraternity to stress the nature of the people in the region, let me complete this loop with another cricketer. Well of course I am going to refer to Dhoni the current Indian Captain who has won all the major world championships in all the formats of the game with a bunch of young and experienced cricketers by carrying the baton from Sourav, Dravid and Anil.
(a) Indians from eastern part of the country :- The people from this part of the country are usually the most intellectual people and are more inclined to the literary and scholarly skills. As this is evident from the world famous scholars India has produced from this region like Ravindranath Tagore the Nobel prize winning poet who penned our national anthem 'Janganamana' , Bankim Chandra Chatopadhya who is the author of our national song 'Vandemataram' the slogan that still keeps resonating in India from the days of freedom struggle. It is no surprise to find that the brave hearts like Subhash Chandra Bose the founder of Azad Hind Fouz (Indian Army) gave our country the war cry of 'Jai Hind' which even today brings the patriotism in each and every Indian from nook and corner of the country.
To emphasize this theory is the evidence of Amartya Sen the Nobel prize winning economist from University of Cambridge. Pranab Mukherjee the modern day trouble shooter of the current UPA government could also fit into the intellectuals the region has produced. The prince of Kolkata, Sourav Ganguly, who built the strong Indian Cricket team of young and bold Indian cricketers who went on to scale the pinnacles of Cricket in all the formats of game. Challenging the world dominance in the game that is more than a religion and binds the country that is divided by so many religions, cultures, languages etc.
(b) North Indians :- The region is political power center of the country, the people from this region are usually are hungry for power not surprising for a region that has been the capital city of the country from centuries before our independence. The people from this region are expressive, great leaders who attract the masses in leading the country. These are extrovert and are dominating in nature as these are the qualities that are primal to powerful personality.
The ancient history is also evidence of this fact, that the famous Hindu Upanishad 'Mahabharat' has its capital city of Hastinapur in northern India. The emperor Chandragupta Mourya hails from north eastern part of the country Patliputra modern day Patna who had the political guru in the form Chanakya. The Moguls had Delhi / Agra as their capital city for centuries before Indian Independence. The modern day examples of the leaders of the most political parties in the north who always have an eye on 7 Race Course Road unlike their counterparts from rest of the country.
The cricketing example of the personalities can be drawn from the attitudes of Virendra Sehwag who has little patience to dominate from the first ball in any format of the game. Kapil Dev the leader of the famous 1983 world cup winning team who took on the mighty West Indians.
(c) Indians from western part of the country :- This region excels itself in being the epicenter of the merchants of the country, the region has the rich history of business people and families who have the keen intelligence and knack of running the business. The region famous all over the world for diamond merchants, oil and petroleum companies, retail merchants and entrepreneurs who can start and run a successful business in any part of the world leave aside India.
This could be a little surprise that we have our financial capital Mumbai in the western part of the country and the modern day business families like Tata's, Birla's and Ambani's are from this part of the country. In addition being the financial hub of the country the city of Mumbai also has the world famous Bollywood film industry that draws parallel's to Hollywood in presenting a lucrative and magical dreams to the people from all the parts of the country. Mumbai in a true perspective is a conglomeration of the financial world of New York City and the Hollywood glamour of LosAngeles, this should sum up the discussion that Mumbai is the city that is not only the financial capital of the country but also draws crowds from all the corners of the country.
May I also take the liberty to highlight the richest cricket board of the world BCCI is headquartered in Mumbai.. And the place of my idol Sachin Tendulkar the modern day diety of Cricket in India, the person who is the crowd puller and highest paid cricket of 90's and most part of the last decade.
(d) South Indians :- The people from this region are not dominating but are very accommodating and hence very good team players rather followers than leaders. The people from this part of the country are good at academics, more diplomatic, normally shy and introverts. The demography of this region is usually very good at the academics in topics like mathematics, science and technology.
This should be no surprise that this region has produced world renowned mathematicians like Ramanujan, academicians like Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and famous scientists like Sir CV Raman the scientist who explained Raman effect. The modern day examples of the scientists could be APJ Abdul Kalam the missile man and the former president of the country, who is a classic example of his science and technology mastery and shy / introvert nature with his easily distinguishable hair style. The famous chess world champions that hail from the region like Vishwanathan Anand.
To explain the diplomatic skills of the famous people from this region how could one ignore the silent political heads of 90's prime minister PV Narsimha Rao who with his then finance and present day prime minister Manmohan Singh carried India out of turbulent economic times. Not to forget that the present day Chandra babu Naidu's, Chidambaram's, Karunanidhi's who through diplomatic skills still continue to play crucial role in the diplomatic back channels of running the country.
To emphasize the facts that the region is home to more number of academic demography can be found from the number of information technology companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Mahindra Satyam have originated with Bangalore and Hyderabad as their headquarters.
It is so appropriate to summarize with the examples of famous cricketers like Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. These players from southern part of the country are rated high for their skill and stylish cricketing talent, down to earth nature, diplomatic statements and never trying to dominate the opponents by their attitude but by their cricketing skills.
(e) Indians from central part of the country :- Considering that the rich and royal Indian background of being the home to many royal families of India this part of the country is rich in it's Indian traditions and culture. The region had produced the brave hearts like Jhansi ki Rani the brave leaders who fought during the Indian Independence. This region is rich in the forests, mines and rich natural resources of the country and the tribal culture and people.
The kind of explanation that had been offered in the comparatively backward state of the central part of the Indian has particularly grabbed my attention and I agree with the rational behind it.
When you move from east to west of the country, the intellectual skill set is takes a downward route. May I say the merchandising and business knack of the people follows a upward trend.
When you move from west to east of the country, the business knack and entrepreneurship skills take a downward trend. Or put it in a positive note the intellectual skill set of the person increases.
When you move from north to south of the country, the dominating and extrovert nature of the people is reduced. To put it otherwise the diplomatic skills of people increase.
When you move from south to north of the country, the academic accommodating and diplomatic nature of the people is reduced. To take an optimistic view the extrovert and dominating attitude takes precedence.
Now that I brought an example of the cricketing fraternity to stress the nature of the people in the region, let me complete this loop with another cricketer. Well of course I am going to refer to Dhoni the current Indian Captain who has won all the major world championships in all the formats of the game with a bunch of young and experienced cricketers by carrying the baton from Sourav, Dravid and Anil.
However good can be an explanation of all the regions and personalities of people from different parts of the country, we are still one, Indians!
Travel, Beer, Indian Standard Time and Wiki
The past four years of travelling outside the subcontinent to the new continent and now to the oldest continent of the world has given me one of the wonderful experiences of touring the world over. Of all the positive or negative aspects being a consultant, the one I really admire and love is this opportunity to explore the world, experience different cultures and traditions.
A group of consultants when travelling to Germany were invited by our common acquaintance to a glass of beer on a Friday evening dinner. One of the striking cultural differences between India and rest of the western world is consumption of alcohol. In India we consider this habit as a social taboo and I believe it's mainly because of the way people consume alcohol and carry themselves, where as in the western world meeting someone over a glass of beer or wine is one of the most common bonding experiences. And from the little experience I have in this area, I assume it's one of the easiest way to make friends, who doesn't want to have a glass of beer.
On this particular Friday evening true to our roots of working late evenings at office we turned up at the brewery, the place of our dinner, per Indian Standard Times. And to our great surprise and relief we were happy to find our friend still waiting for us at the dinner table 2 hours after the scheduled dinner time. As the evening passed we treated ourselves to some of the world famous German beers and I must say I never was a beer person but it has been a treat to have a glass of world famous spicy beer and Half-a-Wei-zen one of the famous German beers. I recommend these to any one who loves sipping beer.
Our German friend has made it a point to read the Wikipedia pages on India and it's history. We on our part and as part of our consulting profession make a point to read the wiki on the cities where we live and the habits of the people. This provided us with a common ground to discuss and express ourselves without being foreign to other person's views. However I must say the experience of knowing about other country from that country man could be more enlightening than reading 100 pages of Wikipedia. Of the many topics we discussed that night, like the different geographies of India, the different flora and fauna and of-course Bollywood, the one topic that compelled me to key-down this blog post is the explanation offered by one of my colleagues at the dinner table about Indians. And I must say this is the best explanation that I had ever heard about my country, it's people and would strongly believe no-one could have put it better. Well in the best of interest of keeping the blog shorter the explanation is in the next blog post.
Friday, June 17, 2011
What is talent in sports?
This is an extract from espncricinfo.com where one of my favorite commentators Harsha Bhogle brings in an interesting insight into talent.
Here is the link where you can find this interesting and thought provoking article.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/519265.html
If you would like to read the article here by Harsha Bhogle:
Another interesting read which in a way adds to the above article, from a different sport, NBA - One of the toughest leagues in the world of sports.
http://www.nba.com/india/news/talent_redefined_2011_06_15.html
If you wold like to read the article here by By Karan Madhok:
At the top of the basketball pinnacle, seconds after holding the NBA Championship trophy, Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle ‘complimented’ his winning team with these words: “This is a true team. We don’t run fast or jump high. These guys have each other’s back. This is a phenomenal group.”
Wait a second – something about what Carlisle just said sounds terribly, terribly wrong, doesn’t it? No, not the part about the Mavs being a ‘true team’, or being a group of guys having ‘each other’s back’. No I mean these specific words: “We don’t run fast or jump high.”
The Mavericks are the 2011 NBA Champions, the kings of the toughest league in the sport of basketball, and their coach, the person behind their growth into victors, admits that his side isn’t particularly good that the two things that form some of the basic building-blocks of success in basketball: speed and athletic ability.
Now, of course Carlisle’s words have to be taken in a relative sense – Of course, the Mavs are fast and athletic, but compared to their more high-profile competitors, the Miami Heat, whom the Mavs defeated in the Finals, Carlisle’s squad is indeed slower, older, and less athletic. Carlisle’s statement was almost a last parting shot at the Heat, who feature two of the NBA’s most athletic superstars, two players who have made a successful career out of their ability to jump the highest and runs the fastest down the basketball courts. In Dywane Wade and LeBron James, the Heat had two players whose speed and athleticism made them near-unstoppable.
Near-unstoppable, I repeat, because obviously, the “slow running” and “low jumping” Mavs somehow figured out a way to win the series.
Everyone kept saying that in Wade and James, the Heat had the two most “talented” players in the Finals. The most outrageous statements of them all came via Scottie Pippen, formerly the running-buddy of basketball’s near-unanimous “greatest-ever”, Michael Jordan. After the Heat took care of Pippen’s Bulls and dominated MVP Derrick Rose, Pippen went on a radio show and claimed: “Michael Jordan is probably the greatest scorer to play the game, but I may go as far as to say LeBron James may be the greatest player to ever play the game.”
“Best all-round talent”; “Greatest player”; “Chosen One”: The superlatives kept coming for James; Meanwhile, his counterpart on the Mavs, Dirk Nowitzki, despite getting appreciated for his talents, never received the same type of adulation, and the reason behind that was that Nowitzki succeeded via a more old-school skill-set, sharp-shooting and his savvy, whereas James succeeded on his strength, his speed and his ability to jump really, really high.
We all know now what happened in the Finals. Nowitizki put up an MVP performance, averaging 27 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, hitting countless clutch shots and especially showing up heroically on a fever-ridden night. On the other hand, James shrank away, averaging much lower than his season average in the Finals, and shrinking spectacularly in the crunch time moments. James TOTALLED 18 points in the six fourth quarters of the series, averaging just three points in the fourth quarter per game. He was passive, he didn’t get to the free throw line, and he was a defensive liability during several key moments.
Is that who we call the ‘most talented’? Is that who someone with great basketball perspective – Scottie Pippen – called the ‘greatest player ever’?
I think the Finals offer us an opportunity to redefine what we describe as ‘talent’. If Carlisle’s Mavs, led by Dirk, could do it without jumping particularly high or running particularly fast, then ‘talent’ is something else. ‘Talent’ is not just to be a good athlete but to know exactly when to use the full potential of your talents. ‘Talent’ is the ability to figure out a way to win, no matter what the situation. ‘Talent’ is playing as a team, and being there for your teammates.
The Miami Heat have players who can run fast and jump high. The Dallas Mavericks have talent.
Though both the above articles are related to talent in sports, there should is no doubt in my mind that this is a universal truth and applies to all the walks of life.
Here is the link where you can find this interesting and thought provoking article.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/519265.html
If you would like to read the article here by Harsha Bhogle:
My father believed - as was the norm with respectable middle-class families in the years gone by - it was important that his children were good at mathematics. If your child was good at mathematics, you had imparted the right education and fulfilled one of your primary duties as a parent.
He often quoted to us what his friend, a respected professor of the subject, used to say: "There should be no problem that you encounter in an examination for the first time." It meant you had to work so hard that you had, conceivably, attempted and vanquished every situation that could find its way into an exam paper. It begs the question: if you did achieve 150 out of 150 in an exam (which my wife very nearly did once, much to my awe), was it because you were extraordinarily intuitive or because you had worked harder than the others, so that you didn't "encounter any problem in an exam" for the first time?
In other words, is getting a "centum" (a peculiarlyTam Bram expression) a matter of genius or a matter of perseverance? It is an issue that many intelligent authors around the world have been debating for a while, and one that is at the heart of sport. Would anybody who solved a certain number of sums get full marks? Would two people, each of whom put in 10,000 hours (Malcolm Gladwell's threshold for achievement) produce identical results? Or are some people innately gifted, allowing them to cross that threshold sooner?
We pose that question a great deal in cricket when we argue about talent. Players who play certain shots - the perfectly balanced on-drive for example - are labelled "talented" and put into a separate category. They acquire a halo, and in a near-equal situation they tend to get picked first. "Talent" becomes this key they flash to gain entry. And yet it is worth asking what talent really is.
Is it the ability to play the on-drive or, more critically, the ability to play that on-drive consistently? It is a critical difference. Consistency brings in an element of perseverance that you do not normally bracket with talent.
Let me explain. I have often, while watching Rohit Sharma bat, said "wow" out loud. I probably said it because I saw him play a shot I did not expect him to. Or maybe it was a shot very few players were able to play. Just as often, I find myself going "ugh" with frustration at him. It is probably because, having had the opportunity to go "wow", I now expected him to play the same shot again. And so, without explicitly stating it, I am invoking the assumption of consistency to assess talent. The old professor of mathematics would have said, "Play the shot so often that it is no longer a new shot when you play it."
It is while I was debating this in my mind that I became aware of why Sachin Tendulkar paid such high compliments to Gary Kirsten for throwing him balls. Tendulkar wanted to perfect a shot and needed someone to throw him enough balls to attain that perfection, so that when he attempted it in a match he wasn't doing it for the first time. And in a recent conversation he said he was at his best when he was in the "subconscious", not distracted by the "conscious", and able to play by instinct - which he had perfected through practice.
Now we often call Tendulkar a genius, and yet, as we see, the talent that we believe comes dazzling through is, in essence, the product of many hours of perseverance. Is Tendulkar, then, the supreme example of my father's friend's theory of doing well at maths? And assuming for a moment that is true, shouldn't we be honouring perseverance because that is what it seems "talent" really is?
And so it follows that when we complain that all talented players don't get to where they should, we are in effect saying that they didn't practise hard enough to be consistent. Maybe it means we should all use the word "talent" more sparingly; not bestow it on a player until ability has been married to hard work long enough to achieve consistency.
This is also the starting premise of a new book I hope to continue reading - Bounce by the former table tennis champion Mathew Syed. I am delighted by its opening pages, one of which said "talent is overrated". It is something I have long believed.
Another interesting read which in a way adds to the above article, from a different sport, NBA - One of the toughest leagues in the world of sports.
http://www.nba.com/india/news/talent_redefined_2011_06_15.html
If you wold like to read the article here by By Karan Madhok:
At the top of the basketball pinnacle, seconds after holding the NBA Championship trophy, Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle ‘complimented’ his winning team with these words: “This is a true team. We don’t run fast or jump high. These guys have each other’s back. This is a phenomenal group.”
Wait a second – something about what Carlisle just said sounds terribly, terribly wrong, doesn’t it? No, not the part about the Mavs being a ‘true team’, or being a group of guys having ‘each other’s back’. No I mean these specific words: “We don’t run fast or jump high.”
The Mavericks are the 2011 NBA Champions, the kings of the toughest league in the sport of basketball, and their coach, the person behind their growth into victors, admits that his side isn’t particularly good that the two things that form some of the basic building-blocks of success in basketball: speed and athletic ability.
Near-unstoppable, I repeat, because obviously, the “slow running” and “low jumping” Mavs somehow figured out a way to win the series.
Everyone kept saying that in Wade and James, the Heat had the two most “talented” players in the Finals. The most outrageous statements of them all came via Scottie Pippen, formerly the running-buddy of basketball’s near-unanimous “greatest-ever”, Michael Jordan. After the Heat took care of Pippen’s Bulls and dominated MVP Derrick Rose, Pippen went on a radio show and claimed: “Michael Jordan is probably the greatest scorer to play the game, but I may go as far as to say LeBron James may be the greatest player to ever play the game.”
“Best all-round talent”; “Greatest player”; “Chosen One”: The superlatives kept coming for James; Meanwhile, his counterpart on the Mavs, Dirk Nowitzki, despite getting appreciated for his talents, never received the same type of adulation, and the reason behind that was that Nowitzki succeeded via a more old-school skill-set, sharp-shooting and his savvy, whereas James succeeded on his strength, his speed and his ability to jump really, really high.
We all know now what happened in the Finals. Nowitizki put up an MVP performance, averaging 27 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, hitting countless clutch shots and especially showing up heroically on a fever-ridden night. On the other hand, James shrank away, averaging much lower than his season average in the Finals, and shrinking spectacularly in the crunch time moments. James TOTALLED 18 points in the six fourth quarters of the series, averaging just three points in the fourth quarter per game. He was passive, he didn’t get to the free throw line, and he was a defensive liability during several key moments.
Is that who we call the ‘most talented’? Is that who someone with great basketball perspective – Scottie Pippen – called the ‘greatest player ever’?
I think the Finals offer us an opportunity to redefine what we describe as ‘talent’. If Carlisle’s Mavs, led by Dirk, could do it without jumping particularly high or running particularly fast, then ‘talent’ is something else. ‘Talent’ is not just to be a good athlete but to know exactly when to use the full potential of your talents. ‘Talent’ is the ability to figure out a way to win, no matter what the situation. ‘Talent’ is playing as a team, and being there for your teammates.
The Miami Heat have players who can run fast and jump high. The Dallas Mavericks have talent.
Though both the above articles are related to talent in sports, there should is no doubt in my mind that this is a universal truth and applies to all the walks of life.
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