Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The Stick and the Carrot Approach to Winning Basketball

A perennial problem that coaches have is getting their players sincerely motivated to play winning basketball or other sport.  After all, during the long season, energy and motivation lessen from time to time. 

 
Two clever twists on doing so were seen in a musical that had a short run on Broadway last year and in a recent report of incentives provided by female universty students in Kansas.  The musical Lysistrata Jones recounts a tale of the men on a continually losing college basketball team being strongly motivated when their cheerleader girlfriends refuse to have sex with them until they win a game.  It was based on a similar premise as Aristophanes' old play, Lysistrata.

Well, the story line was entertaining in concept; but after being off-Broadway, the play ran for only 34 preliminary performances and 30 regular performances when it went to Broadway.

Needless to say, that although Lysistrata Jones has both a moderate number of female and male roles, it is not likely to be staged by high schools in most of the country!  And the motivational technique this fictional work suggested using can go only so far.  Some players are just not that good!



 
The other approach comes from Kansas.  There, the moderately successful Kansas Jayhawks basketball team was encouraged into winning ways by female fans tweeting them pictures of their boobs in skimpy team apparel for good luck.  If you are interested in this sociological phenomenon, go to this site.  Apparently, students at other universities are following suit,including UNC.
 
 
 
So what approach works better, the stick or the carrot one?  I don't know if this can be empricially tested; however, a diligent researcher may at least report on whether the win-loss record of those teams whose female fans tweet these good luck tokens have trended for the better!  And, of course, there's the usual scientific litany that should be included: Correlation does not mean causality!
 
 
 
Still, the Kansas Jayhawks have won 16 straight games, including last night's game with Kansas State!
 
 
 

12 comments:

  1. Tweeting boob pictures is a great technique for attention-seekers.

    A friend of mine would attend b-ball games at MTSU and sit under the opposing team's goal. On crucial foul shots she would raise her sweater to distract the opponent's shot.

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  2. I think I'll be a Jayhawk fan.

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  3. I wonder if such distractions can prove useful in other venues. For instance, when I'm stuck on a vexing issue at the office, I wonder if my more comely friends would e-mail me boob pictures as a way of improving my thought processes? And what would be the socially acceptable protocol for asking for such a favor?

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  4. This sounds like BIE updated. To tweet your tits......?

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  5. If the Jayhawks lose will the tweet material become more risque? It could be a downward spiral into nakedness.

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  6. @magicianary
    ...in case anybody is interested in sending pics

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  7. We need to see more of Miss Pink!

    Will you tweet encouragement for the Tarheels, Angel?

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  8. Bilbo -- This type of distraction technique will definitely slow reactions.

    Heidi -- Did that result in a reduced number of field goals made?

    Elvis -- Probably not, unless UNC makes the Final Four!

    Anon -- It does give some incentives.

    John -- Good idea, I hope you get takers.

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  9. looks like they're on to something!

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  10. If I had tits like that, I'd display them proudly!

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