Basketball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Paint

The Dao of Hoops

THE DAO OF HOOPS Dirk Dunbar The Dao does nothing, yet leaves nothing undone. —Daode jing (v. 37) THE DAO (“THE WAY”) permeates popular culture. The yin-yang symbol is a media icon, visible on car bumpers, TV commercials, T-shirts, surfboards , you name it, while books such as The Tao of Pooh, The Tao of Physics, and the Tao/Dao of almost anything imaginable can be found in most bookstores.1 The reason is simple: the Dao and its related notions offer a model of balanced and harmonious action that can enhance all kinds of ways of being and doing, including the art of playing basketball. For me, basketball is the ultimate sport: to play it well requires teamwork , instantaneous decision making, spontaneous hand-eye-foot coordination , patience, intensity, dedication, concentration, and selflessness. All these elements are emphasized in ancient China’s earth-wisdom tradition , particularly in Daoism. Key Daoist concepts such as wuwei, qi, and ziran not only integrate the most significant qualities of the sport but also demonstrate how basketball can serve as a microcosm of a balanced, meaningful life. I am not just writing theoretically but also speaking from experience. Both in basketball and in life, Daoism has helped point me in the right direction. While I excelled in hoops, admittedly, I’m still trying to navigate the rest. I started playing basketball before I can remember. With help from my older brother, I learned the fundamentals on a small court with a four-foot basket in our basement. I could dribble equally well with each hand and shoot layups and laybacks and even make an occasional free 148 Dirk Dunbar throw on a regulation basket by the time I entered kindergarten. At the YMCA, on the court in our backyard, and in school gyms all over town, I spent countless hours in pickup games or alone, pretending to be (or to be playing against) Oscar Robertson or Jerry West. Anytime anyone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was immediate : a professional basketball player. All through my youth, I lived and breathed the game, carrying a basketball with me wherever I went. “If a basketball had hair,” a reporter quoted my coach, “he’d marry it.” Following a fun-filled high school career (during which I was selected to all-state and All-American teams, led the nation in scoring, and was recruited by over two hundred colleges ), I attended Central Michigan University and was the third-leading scorer as a freshman in the Mid-American Conference. I was contacted by a number of NBA scouts and agents and felt confident that I had a future in pro basketball. I watched film, worked endlessly on fundamentals , and continually broke down every aspect of my game in an effort to become a complete player. Only later, however, when I discovered Daoism , could I truly understand and fully appreciate the game. Balancing Yin and Yang Daoism is an ancient Chinese wisdom tradition that is more an evolving way of life than a system or a philosophy. Many Daoist practices have developed over thousands of years and have a variety of practical applications that relate to balancing yin and yang, such as proper breathing, martial arts, fengshui, art, acupuncture, and healthy eating. Rooted in an animistic worldview, the Dao patterns nature’s interconnected cycles, displaying and celebrating creative diversity by guiding the interplay of yin and yang. “All beings carry yin and embrace yang, and blending the vital force of each creates harmony,” the Daode jing teaches (v. 42). Yin is a dark, ecstatic, receptive, feminine force that represents the earth, coldness, wetness, softness, spontaneity, and nature’s chaotic yet creative power. Yang is a light, rational, assertive, masculine force that reflects the sun and heavens, warmth, dryness, hardness, control, and order. The interdependence of yin and yang is based on the principle that whenever a thing reaches an extreme, it reverts toward its opposite. Day peaks and turns toward night, it rains when clouds absorb too much 149 The Dao of Hoops moisture, hot fires burn out more quickly, gravity counterbalances to harmonize planetary orbits, and animals breathe in rhythm with plants. From the origins of Chinese earth wisdom to the peak of Daoist thought in the writings of Laozi (sixth century b.c.) and Zhuangzi (fourthcentury b.c.), the Daoist tradition evolved from myths...