Michael's Musings #6 (04.August.2020) - The NBA Is Officially BACK.
Shifting my newsletter use case, the JJ Redick Rule, the Fathers of Basketball,
Preamble: I’ve realized quickly that I’m spending an inordinate amount of time on writing this newsletter as opposed to writing articles. That changes with this issue!
I’ll be using the newsletter more as an update on the current affairs of my life and will serve more as a curation of my present, present, and future work. As such, I’ll be downsizing it to 1 Thought, 1 Quote & 1 Question for the time being.
✏️ What I’m Working On
Source: The Athletic
The JJ Redick Rule:
JJ Redick is an NBA sharp shooter. In fact, there’s little in his game that isn’t attributed to his shooting ability.
If JJ gets a good look at the rim, consider the 3 points as good as guaranteed.
If you run JJ off the line, afraid of his 3 point threat, he’ll take a single dribble and settle for a long 2 pointer—also, as good as guaranteed.
If you double JJ off the screen, he’s an able passer. But only because his rolling teammate has 5 feet of space. All because JJ’s shooting ability makes him a magnet—don’t you dare let him catch so much of a glimpse of the rim.
Those uncultured by the Gods of Basketball will dehumanize JJ, calling him but a “shooter.” Like he was a Cowboy out of a Wild West film or a literal cannon.
JJ makes millions—specifically $13 Million/year—on his near monopolization of shooting. I’m interested in breaking down his career trajectory and demonstrating that you don’t have to be a PolyMath, Jack-of-all-Trades type of guy to make a real impact.
This applies to medical school admissions. This applies to habit formation. I will trumpet the greatness of JJ as far and wide as I possibly can.
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The Fathers of Basketball: An Homage to Tee—and Ja—Morant
Source: ESPN
My father once got ejected from a Parks and Recs game.
No, he didn’t swing at another player.
No, he didn’t curse out the referee.
Well, he didn’t curse out the referee from the court that is. He was an audience member, in the stands.
It’s the one and only time I’ve seen a fan get ejected from a game.
. . .
When I was young, my father rebounded my misses and encouraged me to make dozens of shots a day.
As I grew more cogent, my father and I began to stop seeing each other eye-to-eye. I became cultured by progressive American ideals of independence and that stood in stark contrast to my conservative immigrant Vietnamese ideals of tradition.
One thing that never changed?
We were on the same team on the basketball court.
I’ve begun following the story of basketball phenom Ja Morant and his father, Tee. Tee had plans to play international professional basketball—he actually played with Hall of Fame legend Ray Allen in high school.
What stopped him?
Tee’s wife became pregnant with none other than Ja. Tee became a barber, supporting and nurturing Ja’s own passions. Ja ended up inheriting the hooper gene and the rest is history.
I want to pay homage to fathers everywhere. Just as Kobe wrote the poem Dear Basketball, I hope to pen an article addressing the Fathers of Basketball (no, I’m not talking about James Naismith).
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Which of these topics resonate with you? I’ve been having a big issue in the last couple of weeks taking a project to completion—hence the variety of different ideas. I’d love to write what you all find most intriguing!
🎙️ This Week on Pass the Mike
Pass the Mike is my solution to information asymmetry in the premed space. This podcast demonstrates to aspiring doctors that medical professionals are just like them. Not only have they failed exams and tore their hair out writing late-night essays, but they also enjoy lives outside of medicine—some referee basketball games and others are on quests to engineer the best chocolate chip cookie.
Every Tuesday at 5 AM PST, a new episode will drop! Subscribe to the newsletter and our YouTube Channel to be the first to find out!
Blast From the Past: Podcast Highlight with Brent Shaw (#001)
Here’s a highlight from a previous podcast episode with Brent Shaw (#001) or @therealstudentmentor on IG. We talked about:
The grit and determination that defined Kobe Bryant
Setting goals that don't suck
Why different words for empathy mean the same thing
The exact visualization exercises Brent does to feel comfortable reaching out to world-class physicians and just where that's got him.
In this particular clip, I talk about failure and this concept of a “resume of failures.” No matter your discipline, I’m confident this highlight will resonate.
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Andyshea Afyouni - UCI Medical Student Speaks on Seeking Discomfort, Why Happiness Falls to the Lowest Common Denominator and Starting a Video Diary (#011)
In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Andyshea Afyouni, an incoming UCI Medical Student. We talk about:
Why it's absolutely necessary to live life as if today is your first and last day on this planet
Our stances on the pandemic and political unrest
Why doctors will never go out of style
His transition from written journals to video ones and
Why you can't be any happier than your saddest fellow human.
This episode was extremely uncomfortable (in a really good way) for me but Andyshea is a master of having a compassionate, open dialogue. I grew tenfold and after listening, you will too.
💭 1 Thought
Stop Sleeping On Books
Source: KQPho
You’ve heard it a million and one times and I’m here to reiterate it once more. A book is a literal cheat code for life. You pay a price often less than $20 to have someone’s literal life’s work in front of you.
You can take advantage of a Sci-Fi writer’s creative prowess, literally immersing yourself in a world they spent years to create.
You can learn from the best, skipping all the experiments and mind-boggling questions they lost years of sleep to, and get straight to the conclusion.
Here’s “Of Dollars & Data” Author Nick Maggiulli’s Financial Analysis on books:
“In the late 1980s, Michael Lewis wrote Liar’s Poker over the course of 18 months. If we assume that he worked full time on it over that time period (~2,000 hours per year), this means it took Lewis 3,000 hours to finish the book. Right now on Amazon you can buy the paperback version of Liar’s Poker for $11.24. If you divide the time Lewis took to write Liar’s Poker by the price you paid for it, you are paying Lewis less than $0.004 per hour to write Liar’s Poker. That’s less than half a cent per hour to have one of the greatest finance writers in history do research and write a compelling narrative for your reading pleasure.”
💬 1 Quote
On The Phenom That is Ja Morant:
Choo, Choo!
All aboard the Ja Morant hype train.
I’ve fallen into a rabbit hole, learning a great deal about his personal life. Not only is the guy a star in the making, but his love for his father, Tee Morant, also reminds me of the power of a father-son relationship.
Yahoo Sports shares a hilarious story of the good-hearted Ja punking McMahon, his soon-to-be coach at Murray State:
When they arrived at McMahon’s house for dinner during the visit, Tee quickly informed the coach that his son wasn’t feeling well — that he was prone to hot flashes and might be coming down with something. Ja fanned himself and went to the bathroom. Tee said they might have to leave.
“The guy you’re dying to coach is on your campus and the kid’s father is telling you he’s feeling sick and may need to go back to the hotel,” McMahon said, recalling his distress. “This goes on for about five minutes.”
While McMahon was furiously manipulating the thermostat to cool down the house, Ja was slipping into a Murray State T-shirt. When he came out of the bathroom, the shirt told the story. Tee whipped out a Murray hat and put it on his head. Jamie Morant pulled a Murray cup out of her purse.
“I’m ready,” Ja told McMahon. “I’m coming to Murray State.”
Keep your eyes peeled for an incoming article on Ja. I’m falling in love with the guy’s contagious energy.
❓ 1 Question
You have something the world needs to hear.
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Why haven’t I heard about it?
🙏 Infinite Gratitude
A lot of love for my Twitter family this week. Alex Hugh Sam is my first, best (and worst) friend from Canada. He’s making a real push building out his personal monopoly and I consistently love the work he pushes out. What’s more, the guy is sincerely such a damn pleasure to be around. It makes me upset that he’s so nice, sometimes. I hope the Raptors lose. Maybe then, I will finally see Alex a tad upset.
Robbie Crabtree is the go-to guy for anything and everything performative speaking. He combines his experience as a trial lawyer, history buff and pop culture fanatic (the boy throws Yu-Gi-Oh references into his writing like it’s time to d-d-d-d-uel) to stand before you as an all-around sick dude.
Akiff Premjee is a fellow medical student and basketball fanatic. I resonate with many, if not all, the examples he weaves into his story-based newsletter. Not only is he balancing a newborn child with his left hand (calculating the APGARs obviously), he’s typing away furiously about Roam Research & Notion with his right. This self-improvement king is heading to the top.
Some of you have asked about the chronicles that are Ed & Han vs. Noah & Lina. On our last episode, they finally let go of the foster kittens and the cats found a home in a PetSmart in Washington. It only took 3 days for them to be adopted…
By Ed.
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Ed. Flew. To. Washington.
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And. Adopted. Them.
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No Cap.
Thanks for reading!
P.S. Be sure to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for even more of my thoughts. I encourage you to reach out and ask me anything!