Champions League

This Wednesday was the UEFA Champions League final in Moscow between world soccer’s two best teams: Manchester United and Chelsea. As far as I know there is no sporting league in the world the champion’s league. A collection of the worlds best soccer leagues send their best team or teams to the champions league where they compete for the ultimate title of best soccer club in the world. Being in Europe for this event is a dream… the celebration for the faithful of the two competing teams is the secular equivalent of Christmas or Easter. My first exposure to the event came when I went to the Parc des Princes to watch the semi-final between PSG and Juventus. Dad had managed to get company seats with a die hard Indian soccer fan friend named Shrinee. I can’t remember if Juventus won 5-0 or 6-0 . In either event, it was the most lopsided professional soccer game I have ever seen. The PSG fans were irate; I learned more new French curses that day than I had previously learned in a year or two in France. Not being much of a PSG loyalist myself, I loved the atmosphere and the game. A few years later, I think it was the 1999 final, Manchester United was playing Bayern Munich. My closest friend at the time was a German named Andreas. Andreas lived for Bayern Munich; he kept me apprised of the precise details of all the qualifying matches. He invited me over to watch the final with him. I remember being amazed how much Andreas was into the game; every call, pass, and shot elicited huge reactions. When I tried to make any side conversation I was either ignored or shushed. It turned out to be an epic game, the teams were very closely matched and seemed to be at a deadlock when Bayern won a free kick at the edge of the area early in the second half. Mario Bastler stood over the ball, ran at it, and then curled it around the wall and just beyond the goalie’s outstretched finger tips into the net. Andreas launched into an ecstatic celebration that involved a lot of shouting and jumping across couches. This subsided after a few minutes, but every now and then for the next half hour, Andreas would pump his fist, and mutter a celebratory “yes!” Bayern held on for the rest of the ninety minutes and into injury time. Suddenly and shockingly, Man U scored on a counter attack to tie the game with less than two minutes to be played. One minute later Manchester scored again. I was amazed; I had never seen two goals scored in such quick succession, especially on such a stage. Andreas was inconsolable. After a few primordial screams, be started crying. He looked like he was in physical pain, I figured that I had worn out my welcome, and quietly excused myself and left. I consider myself a pretty big sports fan, but I am several orders of magnitude away from the European super fan.

Arrogance vs Humility - the Face Off

This weekend was the Teach for America 2008 corps opening activities. I got my first taste of what this program looks like in the trenches – much more to come on that – the week’s activities fueled my thoughts about the tradeoffs between humility and confidence. TFA preaches humility as the most salvific quality teachers have. This is because so many hot shot kids like me join TFA and think that they know everything and this rubs experienced teachers the wrong way because they have been around the block, and get the impression that TFA is trying to come in and change the world and save the day. The truth is, that is exactly what we are trying to do, but if we do it humbly it bothers less people, and we learn lots about teaching – which admittedly, we know little about. At our opening dinner, the director talked about humility. At my first meeting with my direct supervisor, she talked about it. Humility is all over our preparation materials.

I was about ready to drop my arrogant exterior buy into humility wholeheartedly (I know, most of you are gasping right now) when I had the privilege of sitting in on one of the current corps members’ classes. She pulled the three of us aside who were observing her and said “listen, I know that TFA teaches us humility, and that is important. I have learned a lot for great faculty members here; however, if I was content to leave school everyday knowing that I did more, and did it better, than anyone else at the school, I wouldn’t do half of the work that needs doing.” She went on to say that if she humbly deferred to what everyone else expected of her, she would be perpetuating the mediocre status quo.

This rekindled a debate that has been in my head for a long time: the seeming diametrical juxtaposition between humility and confidence – which can look a lot like arrogance. Many dictionaries, including Webster and Princeton actually define humility as lacking pride or arrogance. I have long sought to understand what the correct balance should be between confidence and humility. In areas I know that I have relatively little competence or knowledge I think I am generally humble; however, I usually express what I perceive as my abilities with confidence. Perhaps the heart of the problem is that I have often thought of both humility and arrogance in the context of comparative relativity. Being humble relative to someone else is however, meaningless, just as being arrogant relative to another is meaningless. Perhaps finding a way to express both attributes irrespective of any comparative context is becoming of us.

I have always felt that false humility is foolish… it drives me crazy when individual A gives B a deserved complement, so often B tries to play off the complement saying, “you are much better than me” or “no I am not” instead of graciously accepting deserved praise. Clearly, the deserving part is the lynch pin… putting any weight on false or empty praise or insult is counterproductive. Even more counterproductive humility is differing to substandard, mediocre, or otherwise insufficient standards, principles, or objectives in an effort not to seem pretentious, or a wave maker. It is precisely these circumstances that demand confident and assertive changers (leaders) willing to make waves, and confidently use whatever abilities they make have to improve situations instead of assuming a humble stance and assuming to know too little about a problem to act decisively on it.

I don’t wish to undermine humility… clearly being teachable and willing to learn is a very desirable characteristic. Some of the men I admire most, I admire for their humility despite tremendous professional and personal accomplishment. However, more admirable than humility in and of itself is knowing how to balance true knowledge of ones own weaknesses, and strengths – both humility and confidence – with using those abilities and deficiencies appropriately, playing the role of teacher and learner, leader and follower when appropriate.

Home Court Advantage

I am boggled by the fact that the home team is 20 and 1 in the NBA playoff conference semi-finals this year. The pistons managed to win a game on the road over a greatly overmatched Orlando team, but that is it. The mighty Celtics haven’t won a road game in the playoffs yet, but none of the games played at the garden have even been close, the Cs have won big every time. This has been indicative of the whole NBA playoffs; not only are teams not winning on the road, they are taking turns blowing each other out by 10 and 20 points, only to go to the other team’s house three days later and reverse their fortunes. Commentators keep on telling me that the Spurs and the Hornets are such a great matchup, but all six of the games have been blown wide open in the third quarter, and, like all of the Celtic’s games, none of them have had a remotely competitive fourth quarter.

What is going on here? Is home court advantage really worth 10-20 points a game? If so how? While playing sports in high school, I never felt a serious home court advantage. A few extra voices chanting for your team never seemed to affect my performance very significantly. If anything, I would get nervous if whatever girl I happened to like at the time was in the crowd causing me to perform worse. Admittedly I never competed in front of huge crowds, either home or away, but don’t think it would affect my performance much.

The NBA must somehow be different… perhaps the sheer decibel level of 20,000 people closed in a small box really does have an effect on opposing team’s ability to communicate. I wonder what a playoff series would look like if it were played at a neutral stadium, or traveled around neutral stadiums kind of like the superbowl or the champion’s league final. I like the loyalty that the NBA builds in cities for its teams, but I wonder if we would get some close games again if games were played in neutral locations. I’m not calling for the experiment just yet: I’m guessing – and hoping – that this year is just a fluke, but if things don’t change we need to do something to get some close basketball games again.

Favorite Places, Cities, and Monuments

Most naturally beautiful places I have been to, only minimal human intervention allowed:

1) Norwegian Fjords near Bergen: Steep, dark rock cliffs covered in vivid green vegetation, sometimes topped with snow plunging into deep blue water. The most gorgeous place I have been to on earth.
2) Lake Nakuru, Kenya: rising up out of the African Serengeti, this high altitude mountain lake is home to three million flamingos, with many rhinos, monkeys, and exotic birds. The whole landscape is shrouded by lush vegetation encompassed by mountains.
3) Amalfi Coast, Italy: Thousands of years or terraces climb steep green hills planted with lemons, peppers, olives, and grapes. The cliffs crash into small white sand beaches, then into clear, warm water. Every few miles, small towns are built into the steep stone faces.
4) Isle of May, Scotland: This small island off the Scottish coast is dotted by unique white rock formations, beautiful bays, and steep cliffs. More impressive than its beautiful geology is the island amazing bird life. It is a literal aviary. There are thousands of puffins, cormorants, guillemots, and others, a bird lover’s paradise.
5) Ring of Kerry, Ireland: Miles and miles of grassy peat bogs with sharp rocky outcroppings dotted with small lakes and sparse copses of trees. In the week I spent there, rainbows were near daily occurrences. The landscape falls into ocean off short cliffs where it is constantly pummeled by huge waves.
6) Arches, Utah: The stripped red rock is beautiful, and in the spring bright green brush, grasses, and wildflowers sprout up in sharp contrast with the rest of the landscape. The rock formations are really the highlight for me. Delicate arch in particular is breath taking to me.
7) Niagara falls, New York: The falls are simply massive. The deafening roar of the water is as impressive as the few of the falls and mist. I love standing just on the edge of the falls watching the water as it moves peacefully towards its sharp fall.
8) Wengen, Switzerland: This small town nestles between huge, colossal white capped mountains. The light green grass is often interrupted by small streams, and dark green pines. Small herds of cows are commonplace, wearing large deep bells that announce their presence.
9) Yellowstone & Grand Tetons, WY, ID: The forests are beautiful, the mountains are stunning, but seeing buffalo, wolves, moose, bears, bald eagles, is one of a kind to me.
10) Nile River, near Luxor Egypt: Further north the river is dirty, but a few hours south of the delta the water is a deep blue, flanked by a thin green strip of palm trees, then after only a few hundred feet turns into a white desert. The sunsets especially are breathtaking.

Honorable Mention: Bretagne, France; Lake district, England; Bay of Naples, Italy; Muir Woods, California; Etna, Sicily; Sea of Galilee and Golan Heights, Israel; Cliffs of Dover, England.

Favorite Cities:

1) Paris
2) Rome, Vatican
3) Florence, Fiesole
4) Venice, Murano, Burano
5) Jerusalem
6) Assisi
7) Munich
8) London
9) Prague
10) San Fransisco

Honorable Mention: Vienna, Salsburg, Siena, Naples, Palermo, Antwerp, Delft, Bath, Lisbon, Barcelona, Vienna, Versailles, Rouen, Cologne, Grenoble, Washington D.C.

Coolest Monuments I have seen:

1) Petra, Jordan

2) St. Peters, Rome
3) Mont Saint Michelle, France
4) Sainte Chapelle, Notre Dame, Paris
5) Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
6) Karnack Temple, Egypt
7) Piazza St. Marco, Venice
8) Orvieto Cathedral, Orvieto
9) Stonehenge, England
10) Pyramids and Sphinx, Egypt

Superpowers

Americans in general, especially republicans, and more especially Mormon republicans, seem to deify America’s history and role in the world. Many even imply that some imagined record of impeccable foreign dealings justify America’s interference in world affairs. I often chuckle as Americans tell me about our squeaky clean national past and moral superiority. I sometimes want to ask them if they have ever heard of the Mexican-American war, the Bay of Pigs, slavery, or segregation. What we did in Texas in the 1830s isn’t much different from the Israeli settlement initiative that so many, me included, find offensive. Of course America, like every country, person, or institution has made mistakes, and at time acted in her own self interest when the just, honorable thing would have been to do otherwise. America’s greatness isn’t rooted in having been perfect, neither is any other entity’s. However I do think that America has been and is a great country, infact I think that those who demonize America are further off the mark than those who deify it. While living abroad, I often felt like a representative of the US. Indeed, I am one of the few Americans that many friends and acquaintances in Europe know. I was often asked why America felt that it could police the world and intervene in everyone else’s affairs. At the time I didn’t have a very good answer. Now I do. I got the answer from Spiderman: with great power, comes great responsibility. I am impressed that America does choose to get involved in world problems. Admittedly this is often for her own interests, but not always. The UN exists on the back of US dollars. Woodrow Wilson’s idealism and hope for a completely self-determined world has survived the collapse of the League of Nations, and survives both in most Americans minds as well as in her military action. Does she make mistakes, of course, but she does so generally attempting to do good. We often only look at the major, and usually unpopular conflicts, like Vietnam and Iraq to measure US foreign intervention. This is far too simplistic a scope because of worldwide small scale interventions often unreported in the news. We also sometimes see only the dark side of larger scale interventions. I don’t mean to imply that wars aren’t hideous, nor that conflicts like Iraq are justified or well executed. However, wars are fought by real people, with real emotional response to the world around them. Anecdotally, I spoke with a colonel this weekend who expressed frustration with the media’s portrayal of conflicts in general as well as Iraq in particular. He mentioned to me that he left the base far more often in humanitarian outreach than in combat, but as he drove out of camp past the PR tent to invite them, they would only come if there were a chance of a firefight because those stories sold. America’s greatness on the world stage would disappear if we retreated into an isolationist cocoon. On the other side of the coin, we don’t have the right to police the world, but for the world’s superpower to sit by and do nothing is to waste her power, and to proclaim her ideology as no better than any other. While deifing America is going too far, demonizing it is even worse. We need look no further than the Marshall plan to see the importance and the remarkable positive impact that a superpower's intervention can have. To sit by and do nothing is missing the opportunity to use power for good.

Lebron James

I love playoff basketball. No matter who is playing, I love watching it. Last night I got to see most of the Boston, Cleveland game. I have been looking forward to this series, but last night I was deeply disappointed. With the exception of some great play from Kevin Garnett, the game was a mess. While Pierce and Allen were awful, I was especially disgusted by Lebron’s play. Let me preface this by saying that he is my favorite player in the NBA... I don’t think the NBA has ever seen such a skilled passer, scorer, and rebounder in a body that would make any NFL linebacker coach salivate. I also like the way he markets himself as a celebrity and not just an athlete. I was surprised that he wasn’t closer in the MVP voting, but I have to agree that Lebron didn’t deserve to win MVP this year. Last night illustrated why. James scored the first points of the game on a drive past half of the Celtics that looked easy. Then, as Boston started throwing different coverage’s on him, Lebron started throwing up the ugliest threes over and over again. I am generally very impressed with Lebron’s shot selection, especially when he drives into the lane, but his 3pt selection is consistently terrible. He shot 30% this season, and took more 3s than anyone on the team. Lebron’s teammate, Daniel Gibson, is one of the top 3pt shooters in the league at 47ish %. He needs to teach James what a good three looks like… almost all of Gibson’s shots come off kickouts and sneaking across the weak side. Lebron spotting up after a dribble or two with two guys on him is simply a terrible shot; it’s amazing he shoots 30%. Those are the kind of shots that you throw up to show off in streetball, but coaches start trying to teach that out of players starting in middle school (trust me I remember). What especially bothered me was that coach Mike Brown didn’t seem to do anything about it. Lebron just kept throwing up ugly threes the whole game. I’m sure that Mike Brown realizes that he is paid to keep Lebron happy, but the difference between mediocre and great coaches is the ability to teach elite players. Even mediocre coaches should have enough control of their team to make needed in game adjustments, even when they do involve star players with big egos.
Another lowlight from last night’s game was Ray Allen’s egg in the points column. I’ve loved and hated the guy since he took us to the eastern conference finals in Milwaukee. I have loved his beautiful and quick shooting stroke, but always been annoyed by his seeming inability to create a shot for himself, especially when his three ball isn’t falling. That didn’t matter last night in the end, but if I am the Cavs, I keep on sitting a defender half way in Allen’s uniform no matter what, and simply take him out of the game.

Provocentrica

As I finish up here in Provo, I've tried to sum up my time here. People and experiences would probably be the most accurate portrayal of the last three years, yet also the most esoteric. Instead, I've tried to list my favorite events and places:

Paint balloon capture the flag
Moab trips: Cliff jumping, manner of the adverb, midnight canyoneering, half marathon, 6 a.m. delicate arch hike
Heber parties: Disco ball, cotton candy machine, food art, aluminum foil grillz, limbo, kissing game, egg roulette, pass the lifesaver, murder in the dark, chocolate fountains
Hiking to hotpots in 18” of fresh snow
Black out dance party
Squaw peak to Hobble Creek sunrise fall colors drive
Hiking timp in three hours for sunrise
Heber century bike race
Top of Utah marathon
Solider Hollow sledding
Peoa pond ice hockey
112 devotionals and forums
NW Nazarene ultimate tour
Logan ultimate tour
Colorado State ultimate tour
French Idol 2007 winner
5 question dating game
International dinners
Bishop Freedman’s house – especially the grill
12:30 a.m. Monday Pizza Pipeline
12:30 a.m. Song & dance: French braids and hair bands
SLC, Manti, South Jordan, Timp, and Provo temple trips
Water Basketball
Temple square Christmas lights
Disco king
Colony powder-puff football
Brighton night skiing
Bryce canyon stars
Angel’s landing
VP 73: 88” HD ESPN w/ surround sound
Messiah sing along @ Abravanel Hall
Yellowstone trip: Buffaloes, bandanas, tent in a tent, strange store, ninja stars, bubbas
1000s of miles bike rides and runs
Lake Powell: cliff jumping, wakeboarding, houseboat
BYU planetarium shows
Gare gastronimiche
Four square
Thursday night ultimate
Colony 3 on 3 bball tournament
390 dance parties
Apple Beer / Henry Weinharts
Games at 396: Kings, Couch, etc
Up for downs Halloween parties
Capitol Reef Butch Cassidy’s hideout
Palm Sunday dinner and services @Hales
Intramural teams: Valhalla, Real Provo (co-ed soccer champs), Golden Calves, Flava of Love, Wilsons, Juggernauts, Bucks
30+ plays, concerts, operas, etc
424: Farmaggedon murals, Midnight Blitz for breakfast
Ihop, especially at 4 a.m.
Rock Canyon: Meteor shower, sledding, lunar eclipse, and true colors
Disc Golf @ bicentennial and Rock Canyon
Restaurants: The Tree, Chef’s table, Schula’s stake house, The Roof, The Garden, Settebello, Gloria’s, Diego’s
Murder Mystery
Nacho Libre
Thanksgiving point tulip festival
BYU Jerusalem: The center, Garden, tomb, St. Anne’s, Dome of the Rock Bethlehem, tons of tells, Red sea, dead sea, med sea, sea of Galilee, Ein Gev, Cairo streets, Karnak, Petra, Ahman, 88 hrs travel time: SLC-Tel Aviv
3002 JKHB SI office
LaVell Edwards Stadium
38th ward photo scavenger hunt: most intense hour of my life