Rich Mack on the Obama Hoop Question..

Rich and I had some days together. I can remember when we usta car pool in the early ‘80s. We would drive for two hours a day, a coupla days a week, and we would talk through that time. He is a basketballer from his heart.. he is down in Rhode Island now..not far from where Craig Robinson coached at Brown.. here’s his answer to the Obama BasketBall Ethics PickUp Question…

… I thought about your question. Specifically, I thought what if I was checking out a guy for my sister.

Two annoying things I've seen in pickup games that often may be indicative of character flaws:

1.) How a player uses his mouth as part of his game. The worst situation is with guys who never miss -- they either score or are fouled. Uggh. Since pick-up is self-officiated you occasionally get the worst of the worst, guys who'd rather argue than play. I have had the experience in a couple places of playing in leagues with refs where there are guys who I've also played pick-up. Quite often the guys that argue in pickup are also the guys who argue with the refs. So, to be fair to the jabberers and not claim that it's a sure indicator of character flaw ... there are counter examples....

2.) It's a team sport: if you like bouncing balls by yourself, take up billiards. And I'm not just griping about ball hogs -- I'm not so good that I expect to spend a lot of time handling the thing myself. But that's part of the point -- try to remember why you're out there. Ever since Michael Jordan was on TV, I see a lot of guys who dribble between their legs or behind their back for no reason. To show they have the skills? To waste time? I've seen kids dribble into a corner and then spend a few more seconds dribbling and looking at the floor. Meanwhile nine guys are standing around. Get a grip. Michael Jordan was good for the sports in some respects and bad for it in others. The Globetrotters do some silly dribbling, but they also do .. pass plays, with precision cuts and precision passes.

Hoop, Obama, and character - Jim Haas says ...

During the inauguration hoopla, I read that Michelle Robinson Obama, back in Chicago in the day and before she had been too very long originally dating Barak, asked her brother to play basketball with him and give a report. The thinking was that if Obama had genuine character flaws of any kind they would probably surface in a pick up game. I think that is a sort of street smarts; I like the idea. The idea that you study a person this way - it's almost Shakespearian to ask your brother to run the ploy. With that in mind I asked old buddy pick-up game all stars of yore for their take on suspect traits in a pick-up game player - traits that could divulge deep inner traits of character - ugly ones - ones you wouldn’t want to endure for a lifetime. How did they gauge other players? I invited my b-ball buds to forward the question to their team mates too.

Jim Haas says ...

Allright jack, you're talking to a hoop fan and a player. I try to watch every Warriors game, in spite of their record and play two hours of full-court each Wednesday night in what we call "the geezers league". Playground ball comes on the weekends.

What I find objectionable is a player who hogs the ball and feels he has to take a disproportionate number of shots - even if he's good and he makes a high percentage. That's not why the rest of of us are out there, to watch some other guy crank up his jump shot the whole time. We want in on the game too! Seems to me that someone like that has an inflated view of his own worth: the kind of person who is often blind to his defects and is oblivious to the talents or needs of others. In other words: an egotistical son of a bitch and I don't like him!

Another thing I don't much care for is serious trash-talking. But then, I don't really encounter it amongst the people I play with. Seems to me so very childish, unless it's done in a "friendly rivalry" sort of way. If someone I don't even know were to openly put me down for doing the best I can on the court or because they're better than I am, I feel it says a lot more about them than me. "Insecure"..."feelings of inadequacy"...even "malevolent" all come to mind. In fact, come to think of it, many years ago when my boys were probably 8 and 10 years old, we three were challenged to a playground game by a trio of 12-13 year olds. They could play and were beating us pretty handily - which was OK. We were having fun and getting exercise. But then they started taunting. After a while I took umbrage and decided to pass less, crash the boards more, defend harder and essentially drive to the basket right through them. It didn't take long before they felt threatened and stormed off retaining their bravado, calling out names and insults from a safe distance. When one finally yelled "suck my dick", I maturely came back with the rejoinder of a lifetime: "I would if you had one" (...wait a second, that's not how it was supposed to come out!)

Oh yeah, one more: the player who gets frustrated and as a result intentionally fouls hard or sets a pick with a fullback's block - more often than not it's the guy who weights 220 pounds, too. Gotta admit I'm not very fond of that. As seen in the previous paragraph, this can lead to unpleasant and regrettable results. I think such a person could use a little anger management and is unlikely to have the tenacity to remain steady in the face of adversity.

Running the ship of state or shooting hoops - it's all about the same human foibles and capacities. Michelle was right in looking for a team player, one with smarts and game as well.

(Drawing above by Jack Vaughan and Jacob Vaughan.)

Hoop, Obama, and character - Jake Widman says ...

During the inauguration hoopla, I read that Michelle Robinson Obama, back in Chicago in the day and before she had been too very long originally dating Barak, asked her brother to play basketball with him and give a report. The thinking was that if Obama had genuine character flaws of any kind they would probably surface in a pick up game. I think that is a sort of street smarts; I like the idea. The idea that you study a person this way - it's almost Shakespearian to ask your brother to run the ploy. With that in mind I asked old buddy pick-up game all stars of yore for their take on suspect traits in a pick-up game player - traits that could divulge deep inner traits of character - ugly ones - ones you wouldn’t want to endure for a lifetime. How did they gauge other players? I invited my b-ball buds to forward the question to their team mates too.

Jake Widman says ...

People who intentionally foul as a way of playing defense. There's this one guy I play with--if you're going in for a layup against him, he'll hold your arms down. If you start to drive around him, he'll reach out and grab you. If you cut to the basket without the ball, he'll step into you to knock you off line. I know this stuff happens in the NBA, but it's a sign of a personality flaw in pickup ball because there's no real consequence--you don't get your two shots, and he never fouls out. To me, that makes it contrary to the spirit of the game, or at least of the types of games I like to play in. (Part of it is that none of us are so good that a layup is a gimme--let the guy get his shot off!) It tells me he's someone who's willing to exploit loopholes in the rules to his own advantage, even though it's not in keeping with the spirit and is not the way everyone else is approaching the game. Maybe it's a good trait in a lawyer, but it's not an attractive trait in a playmate.

Hoop, Obama, and character - Jeff DeMark says ..

During the inauguration hoopla, I read that Michelle Robinson Obama, back in Chicago in the day and before she had been too very long originally dating Barak, asked her brother to play basketball with him and give a report. The thinking was that if Obama had genuine character flaws of any kind they would probably surface in a pick up game. I think that is a sort of street smarts; I like the idea. The idea that you study a person this way - it's almost Shakespearian to ask your brother to run the ploy. With that in mind I asked old buddy pick-up game all stars of yore for their take on suspect traits in a pick-up game player - traits that could divulge deep inner traits of character - ugly ones - ones you wouldn’t want to endure for a lifetime. How did they gauge other players? I invited my b-ball buds to forward the question to their team mates too.

Jeff DeMark says:

I haven’t been playing basketball for a few years now but I can think of a couple things:

1) If a person drives to the basket and misses or misses an outside shot they call “Foul” when they were clearly not fouled. They blame the miss on someone, not themself .

I used to just hate that and always looked at that person as a cheat.

2) Some one who is a ball hog, who will not pass and constantly shoots even if teammates are open. I always looked at them as selfish and egocentric, the opposite of a team player.

3) People who flashed anger quickly or took the game way too seriously I thought were out of balance and immature. If they had to win at all cost I usually thought I would not want to be their friend.

I saw people’s character flaws revealed many times of the court.