I have just finished watching the sports drama Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. As a fan of all sports, it’s very good, but I recognise it’s not for everyone. Watching Jerry West find his place as a coach and the rise of Magic Johnson was compelling, but the standout thing were the quotes thrown into the arena by West.
“I’ve scored 25,192 points in my career. You know what keeps me up? If I scored 10 more in just 5 games, I’d have 5 [NBA] rings instead of nightmares.”
It is the finest margins that separate the best in their field from the rest of the pack. Almost 10 years ago Team Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford described the marginal gains that differentiated their cycling team from the competition.
I remember recalling a story from the 1990s as part of my presentation, where in the Winter Olympics of 1998 the Swedish team won no goal medals, yet through their post-event analysis, learned that if they had just a 5% improvement in performance, they would have won almost every gold medal they competed in. Fine lines indeed.
Anyhow, congratulations to the Golden State Warriors and Steph Curry for their latest NBA title (their 4th in 8 seasons), thanks Jerry West for the great story and look forward to more stress willing the Chicago Bulls and the Bears to progress next season in their respective leagues.
