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Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Basketball - "Dopamine List"

Dopamine is a key bodily chemical, intimately involved in the reward and pleasure center. More accurately, "dopamine is the chemical of anticipation, motivation, and pursuit. It is the drive to get the reward, not the joy of experiencing it."

Analyzing our basketball experience, choose joy over grim, pedestrian existence. 

Positivity and optimism are force multipliers. "Nothing great is ever accomplished without enthusiasm. 


Lexington (after Rollie Massimino and Ron Lee) was the dragon that needed to be slain. Bottom left corner, the author is Peter Gammons. 


Winning as a team meant everything. 

As Brad Stevens said, "Coaches get more than we give." 


"Damning with faint praise." Never be a humorless dweeb. 


A tiny, legacy plaque endured...will it be found in the new Wakefield High School.


You only have to win once to etch an indelible memory (via Boston Globe, 1973) 


The last team I coached...Cecilia Kay will be a junior at St. Joseph's of Philadelphia and the A-10. 


Our twin daughters helped to create their own basketball legacy. 


Our daughters, like their old man, got to play in Boston Garden twice. 


My 'suppressed desire' in high school was to write a book. E-books didn't exist then. Maybe I should have followed the advice to Jose Canseco, "maybe you should read a book before you write one."

Basketball has given me a lot more than I have given it. These snapshots explain why it leaves marks. 

What's on your basketball "dopamine list?"

Lagniappe. Coach K reminds us, "Basketball is about making plays, not running plays."  

Lagniappe 2. I loved practice. Get every player 150 or more shots in a practice. "Repetitions make reputations." Yes, games are where "the rubber meets the road." And practice is where we build the cars. 

 

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