OT: revenge of the nerds--CalTech hoops version on SI - Printable Version
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OT: revenge of the nerds--CalTech hoops version on SI - JJJ - 12-03-2015
You may have seen this already since my issue arrives a week late and then I don't read it right away. If not, for your entertainment, or for perspective, or for something to do until Saturday. No hidden message or lesson or agenda in here to our Nerd Nation from me.
Quote:Indeed, its been easy to treat the team as a joke, as Rick Reilly did in Sports Illustrated nine years ago. (Sample line: Wouldn't you think just once a ball would bounce off a pocket protector and in for a win?). Context is important, though. Unlike the Ivies or its Division III opponents, Caltech makes no allowance when admitting athletes. Only a handful of students have the grades (3.8 GPA) and median SAT scores (2230 to 2340) to get in, and only a handful of those happen to be good at basketball.
http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2015/11/23/caltech-basketball-losing-streak-oliver-eslinger
Re: OT: revenge of the nerds--CalTech hoops version on SI - M T - 12-04-2015
Thanks for the link. It does ring true in lots of ways. There is a camaraderie in struggling for something. When I was there (and actually the whole decade of the 60s), we had a good (for that level, but no comparison to Stanford) core of some swimmers, so we did respectably in swimming & water polo. But most other teams were not very successful.
This preceded the 43 year span the recent BB team out-performed, but even then, basketball was so bad, they asked me to play (I didn't). The class before me won only their first and last football game of their career (and, no kidding, one of the teams they'd play was named "Tijuana Tech"). After that win in their 4th year, the celebration that happened would probably bring out the riot police today (a "spontaneous, traditional" bonfire in the middle of an intersection (Lake & California), with magnesium flare and gasoline for ignition of a roughly 10' stack of wood, built & ignited in less time than the police could arrive (after a little diversion) - I know a couple of guys who were arrested).
Individual athletes can make a large impact on the performance of a team. In the article, one such athlete was the 6'10" BB player. Back in the 60s, I was no better than the 4th best swimmer there in that decade. But, after we left, one of my school relay records wasn't broken for 36 years. (Eat your heart out, Janet Evans! ... Yeah, yeah, I know....small pond) But that pales to a T&F record that is still held since 1948.
People like those here & me went to college for the education & training. No doubt that gave us the basis for where we are today. But the social aspects, including athletics, are usually the longest lasting memories.Â
Re: OT: revenge of the nerds--CalTech hoops version on SI - fullmetal - 12-04-2015
That's amazing--I heard about it when the streak was broken, but I didn't know that the team had been trending upward (relatively speaking) since. It sounds like a slower version of the Stanford football transformation...