Heat, Penguins streaks show allure of dominance

FOr 'cac and country: Globetrotters get wrapped up in global politics

The Harlem Globetrotters are the most unique team in American sports. Unlike other squads, their victory is the entertainment they provide. They dazzle fans with a repertoire that ranges from showy dunks—rivaling the skill of NBA players—to fan interactions; from soaking referees with water pails to circling defenders with their dribbling.
The Globetrotters have found their niche playing over 20,000 games—the equivalent of 243 NBA seasons—in thousands of U.S. cities and in 122 countries during the course of their 87-year history.
While we have grown accustomed to the Globetrotters’ spectacular performance on the court, they continue to make national headlines off the court. Mighty Mitchell—the 11th female member of the Globetrotters—and Flight Time Lang walked across the Francis Scott Key Bridge from Virginia to Washington, D.C., dribbling and spinning pink basketballs the whole way to raise awareness for breast cancer.

FOr 'cac and country: NAS misconstrues Bowdoin’s athletic divide

The NAS report has garnered incredible notoriety beyond our campus. Real Clear Politics compared “What Does Bowdoin Teach?” to William Buckley Jr.’s seminal “God and Man at Yale,” and Rush Limbaugh knocked Bowdoin for our lack of American history courses. Before any public figure comments on the NAS’s arguments about our sports culture, it is only right to clear up a few of its ideas.
Peter Wood and Michael Toscano, authors of the report, analyzed Bowdoin athletics based largely on the paradigm provided in William Bowen and James Shulman’s 2001 publication titled “The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values.” According to the report, it provides “a scrupulous examination” particularly on “selective institutions without big-time programs.”
When it comes to athletes, schools like Bowdoin stray from their mission statements, the authors of the report argue. The report contends that athletes create a divide in and out of the classroom that prevents the College from fulfilling the common good.

FOr 'cac and country

Heat, Penguins streaks show allure of dominance

March 29, 2013

After winning 27 games in a row, the Miami Heat finally lost.

As an Orlando Magic fan, I’m thrilled. My enemies—those who wanted to “be a part of history” by hoping the Heat would break the coveted 33-game winning streak held by the 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers—may consider this to be bad news. Those who are disappointed that the Heat could not mount a heroic comeback against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night to further cement their legacy as one of the greatest teams ever should take comfort knowing that what they are watching still stands out in the annals of history.
For the first time since 1972, an NBA team won over 22 games in a row. Simultaneously, the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins are riding a 14-game winning streak—just three victories from breaking their own record of 17 consecutive wins in 1992-1993. This may seem like one of those random ESPN stats, but give it some time to sink in and you may come to appreciate its implications.

Wednesday night was the first time the Heat lost since Super Bowl Sunday. The Penguins have been undefeated since February. We can appreciate both of these streaks regardless of whether the Penguins lose their next game or never lose again for one reason: sustained concentration.

In all sports, it is commonly said that a team can only beat an opponent nine times out of ten. At some point, David will get the best out of Goliath. But for Goliath to continually demonstrate his superiority—whether it be on the court, field, or rink—is as impressive as it is rare. Such a killer instinct is even more rare to see in two different teams in two different leagues at the same time.

Both the Heat and the Penguins are the most efficient offensive teams in their respective leagues. The Heat lead the NBA in field goal percentage and are second in 3-point field goal percentage while the Penguins are first in goals per game and second in both point and power play percentage.

Defensively, the Heat forces turnovers more than any other team in the NBA. Meanwhile, the Penguins have silenced their early critics with an incredible defensive turnaround this season. They went from allowing 36 goals in the seven games spanning February 20 to March 7 to allowing just nine goals in their eight games since March 7.

Underlying this shared dominance is a shared sense of urgency.

“We’re just going out there and playing the way that we need to,” said Sidney Crosby, golden child of the NHL and unquestioned leader of the Penguins, after their 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on March 19. He had two assists in the game—not a feat in his eyes, but rather a self-made expectation that he fulfilled.

Similarly, LeBron James, the closest NBA equivalent to Sid the Kid, said to ESPN, “We were just happy that we were able to play our game, weather some of their storms that they had and come out with a win” regarding their 107-97 win over the Lakers on February 10. LeBron recorded 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting as he outplayed Kobe Bryant, putting some of the “Kobe or LeBron” conversation to rest.

As legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once quipped, “Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.”

With a casual 88 game winning streak and a cool ten NCAA championships in a 12-year period, Wooden has the right to define consistency. No collegiate or professional team on this continent has ever experienced that kind of dominance that his team did.

Replicating that superiority must be one of the many achievements driving LeBron’s and Crosby’s respective squads. But instead of ranking them laterally, based on reaching 88 wins or even their league’s respective streak records, let’s applaud their teams for returning the competitive fire to the game—a reminder that might not come for another 41 years, when another pair of hockey and basketball teams simultaneously captivate sports fans and chase history.

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