Monday, April 28, 2014

NBA or NOBEL?

 https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/425520873286950912/dQwMSlPp.jpeghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6a/Nobel_medal.png


So, as your fairy godfather, I can grant you wish between these two choices - an outstanding career in the NBA leading to a Championship or an outstanding career in the Academy leading to a Nobel Prize.  Register your 'vote' on the poll and it would be nice if you would add a comment about why you chose one way or the other.

My Letter to the Editor of the Boulder Daily Camera - this is what got me started....


I would wager a couple of dinners at Jax that the Camera used more ink covering Spencer Dinwiddie’s decision to leave CU for the NBA draft than in reporting CU-Boulder’s Tom Cech winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  It seems apparent to some of us that winning a Nobel at age 42 is a couple of orders of magnitude [for at-risk CU admits, that’s 100 times] more significant than a very good player, from a team that may be among the top 50 in the country, leaving school.  Like many basketball fans, I too would have liked to see Spencer continue at CU, but also understand that the lure of the NBA is a prime consideration for athlete-students.  Who wouldn’t be tempted by an annual salary that is more than many CU folks will make during their careers?  Also like many fans, I too wish him well in the upcoming draft.  However, as a long-time player, I must take issue with his self-analysis of ‘having first round talent’.  There is no doubt that he has many/most/all of the attributes of a first round pick, but basketball talent is only a portion of the requirements.  There are thousands of players who have as much basketball talent at Spencer – even my career statistics are at least as good as his, but alas, I am barely 5’10” – and thus physical attributes are an important part of the draft-day equation.  Spencer has no doubt worked hard to get where he is today, but he should also give a hat tip to his genes for at least some of his privileged position.

4 comments:

Bizzy Brain said...

I would choose basketball success. Obama winning the Nobel prize for doing nothing made the award a meaningless political joke.

DES said...

Bizzy - first - it looks like you did not vote in the poll at the top of the page. Hopefully it shows up there for you.

Second, I should have thrown out the Nobel Peace Prize - way too political and not much based on achievement when compared to physics, chemistry, medicine, etc. Maybe should have stuck with Nobels in science since obviously those are the most important :-)

Bizzy Brain said...

I would ditch economics and literature also. Intriguing there's no prize for math. BTW, without Peace, Economics, and Literature, I would still choose basketball

DES said...

Bizzy - econ and lit are two that also came to my mind. So, great minds.....