<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Great Story, But A Disturbing Message
Review: For anyone just back from Mars, this book is about the Houston Rockets who dominated early-1990s pro basketball with two world-championship seasons in a row. Under coach Rudy T, a former Rocket himself who worked for years as an assistant coach, they played magnificently, and won everything they deserved.
The message, however, is puzzling. Their competition involved no sort of handicapping or height-norming -- they were competing in an environment where all that seemed to matter was ability. They had no government subsidies. They had no assistance from government regulatory agencies. They had no government welfare programs. There was no public concern for how their defeated opponents might have felt about getting beat. There was no government intervention to quash their monopoly of victory. These players had nothing but themselves, their coach, their abilities and their desires. That is an extremely puzzling message to send, given that about half our nation (per a poll conducted November 2000) is convinced that nothing good ever can happen unless the government initiates or regulates it. The victorious Houston Rockets were saying, in essence, that we are self-reliant, that we do not NEED the government in order to be the best we can be. Definitely they aren't Democrats.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story, But A Disturbing Message
Review: For anyone just back from Mars, this book is about the Houston Rockets who dominated early-1990s pro basketball with two world-championship seasons in a row. Under coach Rudy T, they played magnificently, and won everything they deserved. The message, however, is puzzling. Their competition involved no sort of handicapping or height-norming -- they were competing in an environment where all that seemed to matter was ability. They had no government subsidies. They had no assistance from government regulatory agencies. They had no government welfare programs. There was no public concern for how their defeated opponents might have felt about getting beat. There was no government intervention to quash their monopoly of victory. These players had nothing but themselves, their coach, their abilities and their desires. That is an extremely puzzling message to send, given that about half our nation (per a poll conducted November 2000) is convinced that nothing good ever can happen unless the government initiates or regulates it. The victorious Houston Rockets were saying, in essence, we do not NEED the government in order to be the best we can be. Obviously, this team was not a part of the Democrat Party !!
<< 1 >>
| 
