To everything, turn, turn, turn
There is a season, turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven – The Byrds
Some sects of society think it’s their right to have the world never change.
Schools should be as they remembered them. Sports should be the same. The same should be true for political parties and social normalities.
These sects think that change is the enemy when it’s the uncertainty of change that serves as the Grim Reaper of progress.
Definitions and industries are living organisms.
I frequently tell parents. The “fundamentals” of basketball in the mid-to-late 80s when I was terrorizing the hardwood aren’t the same “fundamentals” today. When I coach, my responsibility is to prepare the players for what they face now and in the future. The game is different.
With offenses operating further from the basket, there is more space to cover. Some shots that were considered good in today’s game would have been classified as bad shots in my day.
That’s all part of the evolution of the game of basketball. Today’s players have more access, earlier learning opportunities, and teaching mechanisms at their fingertips.
Of course, that’s met with resistance from the old heads who won’t accept that the game will never look like the one they grew up with. The whine and moan about today’s players calling them everything from “soft” to words unsuitable for my content.
There’s a constant struggle between today’s basketball environment and the one I grew up in. Today’s environment is dominated by training and games every weekend. Players aren’t allowed to develop creativity. Everything is scripted. Forget playing another sport. Most sports now have a 12-month calendar. Everything is extreme.
It’s no better from the old heads who have overplayed their “the game has been ruined” card. They hate the three-point shot. They hate the number of players who have athletic abilities that, back in the day, were only possessed by a precious few.
The sky is falling. If you like today’s game, you aren’t smart enough to know what good basketball is.
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep
This country has become extreme in many ways, including politics.
