There is a gut-wrenching video sequence on the internet of a young bloke taking a three-point shot (during the half-time of a pro basketball game), with a prize of one million dollars at stake. Mike's foolproof ritual In the clip, the kid, Mike, starts off practicing his wrist-snap by flicking the ball into the air precisely four times. Next, deliberately, almost in a trance, … [Read more...]
Mountain – Socrates reviews a film for the eyes, the ears and the brain!
All of you unashamed aestheticists who have not seen the documentary film Mountain yet, get off your arses and do so before it disappears from the big screens completely. If you don’t give a rat’s arse about beauty but like a bit of awe and adventure, then this is a film that you must see. On the other hand, if you are not all that fussed about beauty or adventure but like to … [Read more...]
Excruciating jargon – Basketball and soccer at their worst!
Two of the world’s greatest global games are rotten with jargon. Positively stinky with it! Why? I can’t say, for sure, but it has something to do with the fact that while both games crave growth and acknowledgment as the globe’s biggest and best sports they, ironically, seek to exclude outsiders by generating their own exclusive languages. Is basketball and soccer jargon … [Read more...]
What is a PUP list?
Could a PUP list be an assortment of baby doggies selected for a canine beauty pageant? Of course not. If the meaning of the word PUP was even remotely related to our furry friends, then it wouldn’t make it onto the Sportsocratic “What is it… ?” page. It's an acronym, of course As you might have guessed, PUP is an acronym. As we know, Americans love acronyms. American sports … [Read more...]
How Socrates (nearly) openned the batting for Australia! A true cricket tale.
I was in the second year of an overseas posting working for a multi-national publishing company in Maidenhead, England. One day the Managing Director of the U.K. Publishing house I worked for stopped me in the foyer as I was leaving the building. I was about to start a three-day road trip visiting university towns in the North of England to jag some new authors for the … [Read more...]