Steph Curry Takes It Easy

Stephen Curry is the nation's top scorer in NCAA Divison I basketball. Last year, as you may recall, he led his Davidson College team to an Elite 8 appearence where they just missed a game-winning three pointer as time expired to lose to the eventual champion Kansas Jayhawks.

This season, Curry's junior season, has proven to be much of the same. The young man went into yesterday's game against Loyola (MD) averaging over 35 points per game. He scored an astonishing 44 points on national televison against a very impressive Oklahoma squad last week.

In Tuesday night's game, the one aganist Loyola, he decided his services weren't needed.

By that, I don't mean he didn't bother playing. He did - 32 minutes worth. He just didn't bother scoring. I'm not kidding. He did not score.

Credit Loyola's defense? Well, no. They gave up 78 points and lost by 30, so I'm not sure, but I don't think their defense can be credited.

I give all the credit to their stupidity. Loyola ran a defense seldem seen in the NCAA ranks, it is more a defense reserved for the dusty, dim courts of grade-school basketball. They ran a triangle-and-two defense all game long. Those unfamilar with the defense should know that this defense is designed to defend against a team with two superstars and three lesser players. It frees up two of your better defenders to guard the superstars man-on-man, and the 3 other defenders stay in a triangle zone around the key. The triangle zone protects the lane against the superstars that may get by the first defender and also keeps tabs on the three lesser players.

So you see, Loyola ran this defense, but instead of the two free defenders (ones not in the triangle zone) on two separate players, they both double-teamed Steph Curry on ever possesion.
What did Curry do? The answer is simple: Nothing. He literally ran into the corner and stood there. The scary part was that the two Loyola defenders stood there too making sure he didn't score. See the problem with that then becomes the rest of your defense. Davidson essentially played 4-3 on every offensive possesion because Curry and the two defenders were busy doing absolutely nothing in the corner.

Good plan, Loyola. Curry only ended up taking 3 shots, missing all three. His team didn't need him to score - a fact that will prove beneficial as the season progresses. Davidson now knows they can win, and win big, without their best player which makes them even stronger as a unit. It says a lot about the role players for Davidson who beat down Loyola by 30, albeit with a man advantage on offense.

But I think it says more about Steph Curry. He saw the defense they were running. Recognized it. And exploited it. Ya, he scores points like I eat fruit snacks, but on this day, he didn't need to - nor did he want to. He wanted to win, and he knew his best chance at winning was to stand around and take it easy on offense and allow his teammates to take it to Loyola. He didn't care about his individual statistics. He just wanted the win, and he got it.

Sometimes you have to know when doing nothing at all is actually doing more good than bad. I know it. Steph knows it. Take it easy sometimes. Good things happen.

The Day Backyard Football Died

With Thanksgiving fast-approaching, plans are frantically getting put together. Who's house are we going to? What do I have to bring?

The better question to ask, and the one that dominates the minds of most males (particularly young males) is, Who's team am I on?

For some reason unbeknownst to me, and presumably the rest of the sporting public, Backyard Football played by those over the age of 14 only occurs on Thanksgiving Day. The lingering question, and one I'd bet you just introspectively asked, is why? I know, I know, it doesn't make sense to me either. In fact, it actually makes me mad.

I want to play Backyard Football. Why doesn't it happen? We use to have so much fun. We all did. We've all played. How can 10 random 13 year-olds gather in a field, organize a game and play football for hours, but anyone older than 17 can't?

My best guess: General apathy.

We get older, we get lazy. It suddenly becomes very uncool to run around playing football on a random Wednesday. There are better things to do. When you get to be older some things are more important. Girls, cars and responsibilities always get in the way. As you get older some things get to be more fun than playing football in your neighbors yard. You can go to bars, drive around all night and even go bowling. But, if you ask me, I would prefer a day of Backyard Football to any of the previous three - even in combination.

Turkey Bowl's are a great time. Why not recreate it throughout the year? Abiding by our current social views of pleasure, if something is good mass produce it, distribute it and make a profit off of it. And while that analogy might have fallen short, you get my drift. Backyard Football is fun. Even if you're older. If some is great, more is greater.

Play Backyard Football. Play on Thanksgiving. Play on any day. Get out the old pigskin and kick it old school. No offensive lines. No coaches. No play clocks. No holding penalties. No referees and most importantly, no adults, even if you're legally old enough to be one.