Sublime

Even when I was most physically intimidating, I used the power of invisibility to help me. When I went to block a shot, for instance, I wanted to do it in such a way that I could surprise the other player.

Most basketball players appropriate fragments of other players’ styles, and thus develop their own. This is what Bradley has done, but one of the things that set him apart from nearly everyone else is that the process has been conscious rather than osmotic. His jump shot, for example, has had two principal influences. One is Jerry West, who has one

One of my favorite sayings is “Play for the front of the jersey.”1 If you follow sports, you know what this means. The name of the team goes on the front of the jersey, and the name of the individual goes on the back.

He’d had to make his way alone, and no one—not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses—ever makes it alone.

To make this even more specific: on our team, all of us—from the coach to the last guy on the bench—understood that the key shots at the end of the game were almost always going to be made by one player, Sam Jones. Every team needs a “go to” person, and Sam was ours. To win we knew we had to create the opportunity for him to take those shots . . .

Red Auerbach, walking down the tunnel toward the court with me, asked if I had any worries about my ability to score. “I wouldn’t say I had any worries, I think about it sometimes,” I said. He told me then he’d make a deal with me, that he’d never use statistics in negotiating one of my contracts, that the only thing he’d ever bring up was how I pl

Calvert readjusted his will so that Wordsworth would get £900 on the event of his death. Calvert serves as the patron saint of a rare sort of social type: the person who can see a gift in others, push that person toward their vocation, and provide practical assistance to make it happen.

Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer in the world. Yet he has a teacher; he works with Butch Harmon. And Tiger doesn't endure this instruction or suffer through it — he revels in it. It's his keenest professional joy to get out there on the practice tee with Butch, to learn more about the game he loves. Tiger Woods is the consummate professional. It

There were never any pep talks, never any grandstanding (well, there were victory cigars!). All that was required for Red’s ego to be filled was for the Celtics to win basketball games and championships.