Basketball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Paint

Contents

Power Foreword Dick Vitale xi Acknowledgments xiii Tip-off: Hoops, Pop Culture, and Philosophy 1 FIRST QUARTER: BASELINE VALUES, ENDURING LESSONS Building Communities One Gym at a Time: Communitarianism and the Decline of Small-Town Basketball Stephen H. Webb 7 To Hack or Not to Hack? (The Big) Aristotle, Excellence, and Moral Decision-Making Thomas D. Kennedy 19 Basketball Purists: Blind Sentimentalists or Insightful Critics? R. Scott Kretchmar 31 Hardwood Dojos: What Basketball Can Teach Us about Character and Success Gregory Bassham and Mark Hamilton 44 CONTENTS What Would Machiavelli Do? Confronting the Strategic Cheater in Pickup Basketball Regan Lance Reitsma 57 Basketball, Violence, Forgiveness, and Healing Luke Witte 71 The Breaks of the Game: Luck and Fairness in Basketball Scott A. Davison 83 The Beauty of the Game Peg Brand and Myles Brand 94 SECOND QUARTER: PRIME-TIME PLAYERS, COACHES, AND SAGES The Zen Master and the Big Aristotle: Cultivating a Philosopher in the Low Post Fritz Allhoff and Anand J. Vaidya 107 Wilt versus Russell: Excellence on the Hardwood David K. O’Connor 116 The Wizard versus the General: Why Bob Knight Is a Greater Coach than John Wooden Jerry L. Walls 129 THIRD QUARTER: SHOOTING FROM THE PERIMETER The Dao of Hoops Dirk Dunbar 147 Hoop Dreams, Blacktop Realities: Basketball’s Role in the Social Construction of Black Manhood Bernard Jackson Jr. 158 Contents viii She Got Game: Basketball and the Perfectly Developed Woman Deborah A. Wallace and James M. Wallace 168 FOURTH QUARTER: METAPHYSICAL MADNESS Shooting with Confidence Kevin Kinghorn 185 The Hot Hand in Basketball: Illusion or Reality? Steven D. Hales 196 Philosophers Can’t Jump: Reflections on Living Time and Space in Basketball Tim Elcombe 207 Playing for the Same Team Again Matthew H. Slater and Achille C. Varzi 220 Plato and Aristotle on the Role of Soul in Taking the Rock to the Hole Daniel B. Gallagher 235 The Basket That Never Was Thomas P. Flint 244 Hoosiers and the Meaning of Life Michael L. Peterson 256 The Lineup 274 Index 279 Contents ix ...