Fantasy Basketball

Thanks to freedarko, I found the Tablet's wonderful challenge to pick the all-time Jewish starting five basketball team. As I discussed this with some friends, the challenge was posed to me to pick the all-time Chinese starting five. This was my response.

PG
me: seriously, have you noticed how every Chinese PG ever literally craps his shorts whenever Dwyane Wade sets up a half-court press? Do we teach dribbling in China? at the very least, I have a killer nickname, right?

PG, Backup
Woo Woo Wong: "Wong was known as one of the finest Chinese-American basketball players in his time" has to go down as one of the great backhanded compliments of our time, along with "Chewbacca was known as one of the finest Wookie orators in his time".

SG
Jeremy Lin: doubles as the smartest player on the team, and only the 3rd biggest douche (after Xing and Yi, and yes, damn straight that Xing just referred to himself in the 3rd person...it's just Xing being Xing)..

SF
Yi Jianlian: has the best nickname on the team (verbatim from Bill Simmons: There hasn't been a more effective nickname in years. Not only does it sound like the right nickname for him ("Chairman Yi"), but the joke-trapped-inside-the-joke (during ESPN's lottery show, there was video of Yi posting up actual chairs and spinning around them for layups) will never stop being funny. And when you think about it, we haven't been able to call anyone "The Chairman" since Sinatra died. So it's done -- we're calling Yi "The Chairman." This meeting is adjourned).

PF
Wang ZhiZhi: would allow everyone to make Wang jokes, though they probably would even without him on the team.

C
Mengke Bateer: the greatest thespian on the team, and it's not even close.

DNP-HAS NO FEET
Yao Ming: on the plus side, his first child (with his 6'3" wife) will become the greatest basketball player of all time. Too bad she'll have to toil in the WNBA. Although I seem to remember a certain someone that was able to make it big for the men's squad...
(side note: the girl from Hang Time, Daniella Deutscher, is 35 years old (!!!). This makes me feel three times as old as the day I found out Ken Griffey Jr retired and runs like an old Harrison Ford now).

Random NYC Observations

Apropos of nothing, here are a few of my observations so far about New York City.

The restaurant waiters are comically bad

• Some of them stare at you the entire time you eat. 
• Some of them never actually answer your question.
  me: "can you recommend a good white wine?"
  waiter: "would you like to hear about our specials tonight?"
• Some of them make up rules.
  me: "we would like two orders of the lobster special, please"
  waiter: "actually, as of 12 minutes ago, you can only order one lobster special for the table"
• Some of them say "that's amore!" roughly 26 times during your visit (sigh...I still enjoy Little Italy). 

Walking into a cab is a little like playing Russian roulette...only instead of one bullet out of six chambers, there are five bullets out of six chambers.

• Many of them pretend not to be able to hear you. 
• One of them bitched to me for the entirety of a 10-minute ride about how terrible the previous customer was. 
• One of them has been a cab driver in the US for 33 years but can't say much more than "you say airport, right? to fly?".
• One cab driver completely brightened my day, told me where all the good Argentine restaurants in NYC are, where all the good dance spots are, and how lucky I am to be living in the West Village.
• One of them nearly ran into a pedestrian while going 55 mph on a 15 mph street, then threatened to get out of the cab and "shut (the pedestrian's) face". 
• Many of them argue with you about the amount of tip you leave. Well, maybe if you weren't such a terrible cab driver in a SERVICE industry, I'd have given you a bigger tip.

The street vendors are a little slice of Christmas

• Maybe I don't always buy, but it's just nice knowing I COULD get a Rolex for $15.
• The smell of the grilled food draws you in, the people watching keeps you there (honestly, I will never cease to be fascinated to just watch people figure out how to eat a giant chunk of grilled chicken off a stick).
• I bought a pink tie on the street for $5, and proceeded to get about 12 compliments the next day on how awesome my tie is.

 How can you lose with this skyline?

Times Square is the 10th Circle of Hell

• Unless you enjoy walking around with people regularly bumping into you and being asked every 30 seconds if you want to go to a comedy show.
• My friend and I met in Times Square and decided to find a place for a quick drink. After passing TGI Fridays, ESPN Zone, Hard Rock Cafe, Olive Garden, and then TGI Fridays AGAIN, we finally settled on a small sushi place off Broadway that made us crappy cocktails for $15 a piece. For being such a unique part of NYC, there is absolutely nothing uniquely "New York" about Times Square, other than the fact that every billboard/restaurant supports something you've heard of in the mainstream.

You sometimes forget that there is trash right in front of you on the street

• I understand that Manhattan is a small strip of land and oftentimes there aren't any back alleys to leave your trash. But seriously, THERE IS TRASH JUST LYING ON THE SIDEWALKS. It's almost gotten to the point where it's like "hey, this place doesn't smell ridiculously terrible, maybe I should take a short break here".
• I am completely aware now when I'm back in Chicago just how clean Chicago is.

Central Park is not just a great idea...in the history of urban planning...but maybe...maybe a great idea...in the history of humans

• I love everything about Central Park. 

Nobody will ever accuse Chinatown restaurants of passing health and safety regulations

• I thought the trash and smell was bad in Financial District, Midtown, etc. Then I went to Chinatown.
• The thing I don't understand is that Little Italy and Chinatown are literally right next to each other. The street vendors sell the same items. They are both restaurant-heavy. And yet, Little Italy doesn't smell like Big Foot's dick or a used diaper filled with Indian food.
• I sometimes wonder how anyone could actually eat in Chinatown. I mean, I think that smell would be a pretty effective de-appetizer.

The subway system actually makes sense...except when it doesn't

• A novel idea - the seats are not covered with the fabric padding that all the CTA trains have. Consequently, the NYC trains don't smell like urine.
• M-F, the subway system is awesome. It's quick, clean, effective.
• On weekends, it's a different story. Schedules change on a whim ("just an FYI, this train will not be making the next 6 stops"). Construction means many stops/stations are completely inaccessible. 
• Still, it's roughly 42 times better than the CTA.

There is nothing quite like walking around Midtown while listening to Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind

• Self explanatory.

West Side Story on Broadway

I lost my NYC Broadway virginity in style last week, going to the revival of West Side Story. It exceeded all expectations, changed how I view an entire scene from the movie, and caused me to have a few "Holy Crap!" moments.

First some context on the situation. I've been traveling to New York since the beginning of August for Diamond client work. New York is definitely a unique city and different from anywhere else I've ever been, but we'll save that for another time. Last weekend, I had a friend visit me, and seeing a Broadway musical was pretty high on our priority list.

Now some context on West Side Story and me. My first year in the Minnesota All-State Orchestra (I was a sophomore), we played a West Side Story medley. I hadn't yet seen the movie, but the music was intoxicating. I vividly remember actually REHEARSING the shouting of "MAMBO!" (our conductor was very careful in pointing out that we should shout "MAM-bo", not "mam-BO"). The concertmaster for that concert only had one solo, a completely saccharine addition to "Somewhere", but naturally, I was insanely jealous of her. I also loved the fact that Lenny composed all the music. I think looking back, we will remember Bernstein for two things - being the colorful conductor of the New York Phil and composing the music for West Side Story.

Of course, it went to a whole other level when I finally saw the movie and understood just what all the music signified. There was a time when I knew most of Tony's lyrics by heart and desperately hoped the high school would choose to do West Side Story (instead of the usual drab random Shakespeare production we seemed to do every year). Never mind that I couldn't (and can't) sing, but I never doubted that I wouldn't get that part. That part was written for me. Since that was around the time that I decided I love music and love playing music, West Side Story has always held a special place for me.

I just met a girl...

In terms of actually seeing it live, there were two immediate realizations that I made. First, wow, EVERYONE that gets to sing has an amazing voice. I might have some qualms with the delivery (I thought Tony used way too much vibrato), but the actual sound quality is amazing, especially when I feel like sometimes they should be winded from all the dancing.

The second is on the dancing and choreography. I remember seeing the group dance scene (when they do "Mambo") and thinking "there are people in this world that can dance like THAT?". The dancing is very violent in its movements but so well coordinated. I think when I watch the movie, I tend to discount how impressive everything is because I just assumed they took a few takes or maybe edited some stuff. Seeing all the dancing live and realizing that they really are this good? That turned out to be my personal highlight.

In terms of the actors and roles, as I mentioned, I didn't particularly care for Tony (too much vibrato and not very musical). Anita was great and very sultry (my friend mentioned that she looked like Penelope Cruz, just perfect). I enjoyed Riff although I never realized how little singing he actually does. Bernardo looked like he should've been running a Colombian drug cartel (very colorful suit and gangster hair). Maria (Josefina Scaglione) was off the charts - very beautiful and great soprano voice.

I will definitely make it back for another musical. There is the completely absurd American Idiot playing right now that I might see (I love Green Day and love the album, but I don't see how that makes it a musical, which requires, you know, acting). I also want to see Lion King at some point. But for now, I am completely satisfied with my Broadway musical experience.

Diamond...and Improv

I started my first day at Diamond today. The official name is Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, but that is just way too long for me to keep writing. It's my first experience in consulting, and I was really impressed with all the members of my training class. We have people from all over, esp. many from NYC. Everyone seems really sharp and outgoing, even compared with typical MBA students.

The entire day was fairly predictable. We learned about how awesome Diamond is various consulting things (the official policy for determining what is reimbursable rivals only the user manual for IBM's Deep Blue). However, the last training event of the day was a refreshing change of pace and I think will be fairly useful. Diamond brought in an Improv instructor to go over basic improv techniques and how to apply them in business settings.

We had two major activities that I will remember well. In the first, we were in pairs, and we had to start each sentence with the same word that the last sentence ended in. The consequence of this is you have to focus on what the other person is saying until the very end. All too often I find myself eager to reply to a statement before the statement has even been finished. I want to work on that and focus on listening to the entirety of the conversation.

The second major activity revolved around starting conversations with "no, but", "yes, but", and finally "yes, and". The key here is to demonstrate that we can signal acceptance without also signaling agreement. I love psychological stuff like this. The idea is that people are more willing to listen to what you say if they feel like you initially accept what they say. Even if you disagree with a statement, it's better to reply with "Yes, and..." and finish by expressing your opinion.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of training. I also found out today that I will be staffed with a major global wealth management firm out of NYC. More on that later.

Happiness

Celebrated the one-year Enova anniversary by accepting the Diamond offer today.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
- Andy Dufresne

I love the Minnesota Timberwolves. I also love what Andy said to Red up there. It stands to reason then that I love the NBA draft. Even a chronically disappointing franchise like the Timberwolves can hope for a savior-type talent through the draft because every lottery team has a shot at the top pick.

I was discussing the recent draft lottery results (in which the Timberwolves ended up with the 4th overall pick) with my friend, and he made the comment, "How did we go from 2nd to 4th?  We can't even lose right." That got me thinking. For a team as familiar with the draft lottery as the Timberwolves, it didn't seem like there were ever any celebrations; simply put, the Timberwolves never seem to be power brokers in the draft, and that is reflected in the fact that they have never picked higher than 3rd overall.

First, a quick introduction to how the draft lottery works. Every non-playoff team has a shot at getting one of the top 3 picks in the draft. The more losses, the bigger the chance. In the event of a tie in records, a coin flip determines which team gets priority (and a slightly higher probability). The probability weights have changed over the years (see here if you are really interested), but the fundamental concept has not. In every draft, unless a team "wins" one of the top 3 picks, they are assigned their pick according to the reverse order of finish in the standings.

 Pink ties are just a small part of what makes Timberwolves drafts great

I took a closer look at every Timberwolves opportunity in the draft lottery, only to find that the Timberwolves have never moved up in the draft. As in, they have never done better in 20 years of existence under the lottery system. They have had 14 chances in the lottery since their inception, and they have never been able to improve on their expected draft position.

* the Timberwolves had possession of the Nets pick as a result of the Marbury-Cassell-Brandon trade

The Timberwolves, in their 14 lottery chances, have been expected to get an average draft position of 4.79. In reality, they got an average draft position of 5.79, a full pick lower. This includes the year they had New Jersey's pick. In this entire span, the only time that you could characterize the Wolves as having even a moderately successful draft lottery experience was in 2008, when they won the 3rd pick while having the 3rd most ping pong balls.

The 2008 draft actually brings up another point about the Wolves draft history, in that they have been incredibly unlucky in their placements. Three times they have gotten the 3rd pick in a 2-player draft (1992 with Shaquille O'Neal and Alonzo Mourning, 2008 with Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, and 2010 with John Wall and Evan Turner). In all three cases (esp. 1992), the Timberwolves did the best they could with the hand dealt, despite the fact that their draft position represented a huge drop-off in talent.

Call me crazy, but I think I want the guy on the left

Finally, the Timberwolves have compounded the issue themselves by making poor decisions in the draft. There has certainly been analysis done on the poor drafting decisions (let us not revisit the logic of drafting Wally Z immediately before Rip Hamilton, Andre Miller, Shawn Marion, and Jason Terry), but it's still worth pointing out that outside of 1995, the organization has not drafted a player that would be even be considered for an All-NBA team. They've seemingly succeeded at outsmarting themselves a few times (Marbury over Allen and Foye over Roy to name a few examples).

The Timberwolves did not win the 2010 NBA Draft Lottery. In fact, they've been so incredibly unlucky that playing the draft lottery has not helped their expected situation one time. The team will be in the Draft Lottery again next year. DraftExpress currently says it'll be 6-8 forward Harrison Barnes (note: I am not at all excited about this guy; in general, unless you are drafting Lebron James, I think it's a bad idea to draft any position outside of Point Guard or Center at the number one overall).

As a rational person, I can't help but think that the long string of unsuccessful attempts will eventually even out. But, we are talking about the Timberwolves here - their fearless leaders have tended to inspire a lot of fear over the years.

No comment

Fight Club: Book Review

Fight Club is one of my favorite movies, and it's part of the short list (off the top of my head, that would be City of God, The Shawshank Redemption, Godfather I and II, Goodfellas, This is Spinal Tap, and Anchorman). Despite what some think, the movie is incredibly rewatchable for me. I had heard that the book is an even better story than the movie and finally got around to reading it.

Chuck Palahniuk definitely has a very unique writing style. It's not quite stream of consciousness, but rather just a stunning display of randomness. In the movie, we hear the narrartor's thoughts, and they tend to be a confusing jumble of statements (I felt like putting a bullet between the eyes of every Panda that wouldn't screw to save its species. I wanted to open the dump valves on oil tankers and smother all the French beaches I'd never see. I wanted to breathe smoke). The book is basically that, taken to the next level. Sometimes the quick read slows down as you try to make sense of the random thoughts from Palahniuk.

The focus of the story is also very different compared to the movie. The movie frames the true identity of Tyler Durden as a surprise and only very careful and astute viewers pick it up the first time through the movie. It also places a huge emphasis on the anarchy aspect in Project Mayhem, laying the rhetoric on thick (We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives).

The book, on the other hand, really focuses on the inner battle for the narrator. The reader should be able to realize about halfway through the book what Tyler Durden is. When the revelation is actually revealed in the book, it is more about how the narrator reacts to it rather than to surprise the reader. The anarchy aspect is also toned down in the book. Again, most of the focus is on the narrator and his thoughts; Tyler Durden actually has a small role in the book compared to the movie.

Other than differences, the two are pretty similar. The book is a very enjoyable read and highly recommended for anyone that liked the movie. It offers a different perspective from the movie and offers more than just the novelty of the plot. It also has a very clever ending (different from the movie) that I will not spoil.

Swan Lake

I meant to write about this much earlier, but I've only found time now. A few weeks ago, I saw the American Ballet Theatre do a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake at the Civic Opera House. It was my second ever ballet (saw the Joffrey do Stravinsky's Rite of Spring last year, which was amazing). Unsurprisingly, the ballet was a completely different experience to watch on stage, instead of merely listening to the music.

Lots of swans

I have a slight history with the ballet in that the All-State Orchestra that I was in the sophomore year of high school played the suite. The fourth movement of the suite is the Pas d'action, the scene in which Siegfried falls in love with the half-swan Odette. It is a slow scene with a large violin solo. Near the end of the scene, the violin and the cello have solos together, and the intention is that each voice is playing one of the leads. It is a very poignant scene just from the music alone. At the time, I practiced that solo like crazy (I can still play the entire thing from memory). Ultimately, it didn't work out for me in the audition and I didn't get the solo or the first chair position.

The point is, I already love this scene. But having seen it acted out by world-class dancers was a complete revelation for me. The scene is so tender, esp. at the end when the violin and the cello are both going and the two lovers are draped all over each other.

As far as the actual performance itself, the dancing looked really good to me. I especially enjoyed the third act when different countries made their "pitch" for presenting a bride to the prince. Each dance number was pretty extravagant. The instrumental play was actually pretty poor. The Neapolitan Dance features a huge trumpet solo, and the one I heard was really subpar for the level of the performance.

I'm still really glad I got to see one of my favorite "musical" ballets. As an orchestral musician, I sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that the beautiful ballet music I play is just music; instead, it is oftentimes just artistic support for the main show of the ballet dancing. I will have a little more context for the next time I play Swan Lake. I'm also excited to see the other two big Tchaikovsky ballets, Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, at some point as well.

Itzhak and Yo-Yo

I just listened to the new album of Mendelssohn Piano Trios by Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Emanuel Ax. I got it mostly out of curiosity - I saw the album at the University Bookstore and was actually surprised to see Itzhak is still putting out recordings. His last few albums have mostly been re-issues (see here or here. The last album of his that I can remember that actually has new material is a Mozart one in which he plays Mozart 3 and then conducts the Jupiter symphony with the BPO (note that is off the top of my head - I could definitely be wrong about this). That one, to put it mildly, may not have seen Itzhak in the best light.

One of the three is not like the other

Not only was I surprised to see Itzhak recording again, but it was equally pleasantly surprising to see him paired with Yo-Yo. Since I really love the first Mendelssohn Trio (and the second is not so bad either), I really wanted to see how this would compare with my favorite recording (currently the Heifetz-Piatigorsky-Rubinstein one).

Let me first start by saying the general atmosphere that the three establish is very restrained and prohibitive. The three never really hit highs or lows, but instead try to deliver an understated performance. Compared with the firecracker Heifetz-Piatigorsky-Rubinstein, this one is a lot slower and less energetic. These are not necessarily bad things. In the second theme of the first movement of the first Trio for instance, I really feel like I get time to savor the beautiful melody. I also really like that Perlman is not in a hurry. That's not to say that he was slow or slowing down, but it did seem like he was consistently behind the beat when he wanted to be; the effect is nice and in stark contrast to everything Heifetz ever played. Further, the piece is kind of melancholy anyway, and I think the strategy taken by the three performers is actually justified.

Yo-Yo is fantastic. His openness and warmth of sound are made for these pieces. Itzhak doesn't have quite the bright and powerful tone that he used to, but he does manage to keep up. I must admit that I very rarely notice the pianist in piano trios, but Ax seems to do all the right things. Overall, I like the recording very much, but it didn't blow me away. The best way to describe my reaction is that it surpassed my low expectations. Why low? Because I have seen Itzhak Perlman perform live recently, and I have seen the debilitation in his technique and sound. Mendelssohn's Trios are actually perfect for him at this point because they don't require technical fingerboard gymnastics, and the climaxes are almost always in unison with the cello part.

This leads (finally) to the main point of the post. We were totally robbed of Itzhak and Yo-Yo. These two should have found each other 30 years ago and recorded the entire catalog of Piano Trios and other chamber music with each other. They have similar styles - big booming voices with an eye toward the dramatic while staying more or less conventional. Given the right pieces (such as the Archduke Trio or the Ravel Trio, just to name a few), these two would have built on each other and transcended the genre.

Instead, because of record label contracts (Itzhak was an EMI guy for most of his career, Yo-Yo has been with some form of Sony for his whole career), these guys only hooked up one previous time, and that was only possible because it was on Barenboim's label. (PS. I loved that recording. Itzhak did some quirky stuff in the Mendelssohn because it was a live performance, and Itzhak and Yo-Yo more or less fought each other for the title of "biggest sound produced" in the first movement of the Brahms Double). It took this long for Itzhak (now in his mid-60's) to finally team up with Yo-Yo.

Now, admittedly, they started teaming up in the mainstream earlier this decade, with the 2000 Oscars performance and more recently the Obamauguration. But even then Itzhak was losing his fastball. Looking back, his career peaked in the 80's (see: the first Brahms recording with Giulini, or the Beethoven Sonatas set he did with Ashkenazy). Yo-Yo more or less peaked in the 90's, but he has sustained a lot of his tone and skills.

What's up with the white turtlenecks?

This also brings me to a huge what-if for me. The Tchaikovsky Piano Trio recording with Perlman, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Lynn Harrell is one of my five favorite music albums of all time. It goes on the desert island, and I don't even know what goes with it as of right now. I just know it's there. The music is so passionate and the three do such a perfect job of give and take. It is also Itzhak at his absolute apex, when he could make a climax sound like a mountain crashing in on itself. The recording was made in the early 80's. I know Yo-Yo was a little younger then, but wouldn't he have at least matched Harrell's performance?

The same goes for Yo-Yo. He recorded quite a bit of chamber music with Isaac Stern when Isaac was nearing the end of his career. In those recordings, Isaac was clearly a step below his prime, as he often played out of tune and had a very muted sound with little vibrato.

I'm happy that they are playing together now. However, I can't shake this feeling that we could have had a treasure trove of chamber recordings with the greatest violinist and cellist of the past 50 years consistently teaming up. Imagine them doing the Beethoven Piano Trios with Ashkenazy, or the Trout, or the Ravel duo. Sadly, this will have to be filed under one of the better musical what-ifs: what if Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma had been under the same record label?

CMSO Firebird Concert

Chicago Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra played the "Fantasy" yesterday:

Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
Pierne: Concertstück for Harp and Orchestra
Nuiko Wadden, Harp
Mussorgsky: Prelude, Khovantchina
Stravinsky: Firebird Suite

I think Russ is really stretching with some of these concert themes, but "Fantasy" is as good as any for this concert. The Bach and Stravinsky were in Fantasia movies, and the Mussorgsky and Pierne are picturesque, soundtrack-type pieces that fit in well.

I'll go in order. The Bach was nearly a disaster, as we just didn't have enough time to rehearse it. The fugue section is actually pretty difficult technically and really difficult in a large ensemble.I think we played it well, and we did it without resorting to stereotypes (i.e. it was not overdramatic).

The Pierne was a pleasant surprise. I think it sounded a little too much like movie music, but it was still very enjoyable. Harp soloist was very good and impressive. From my viewpoint, I could actually see her hands shaking before starting off some passages. Once she started playing, though, her movements were natural and gorgeous. I just found out that she is the harpist in the Janus Trio, which I feel like I've heard of before.

Ruiko Wadden, Harp

The Mussorgsky is one of those pieces with an absolutely sublime melody line, something that you could get lost in for minutes at a time. Our oboist absolutely nailed the solo. I will need to explore the opera a little bit more, if only just for that melody line. By the way, I don't know what it is with me and the Russians. I can think of 5 or 6 melodies off the top of my head by Russian composers that make me pull a J.D. from Scrubs. There's the Borodin Polovtsian Dances. The line that builds and eventually climaxes in the last movement of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique. The second theme in the first movement of Pathetique. The slow movement of the second Prokofiev concerto. The second theme of the first mvt of the Khachaturian concerto. The slow movement of Tchakovsky 5. All of Scheherazade. I guess my point is, I'm easily drawn into Russian melodies.

The Stravinsky was a real challenge. I've become a pretty fast learner of music, but it took me several tries at the Stravinsky before I could even develop a roadmap in my head, and even then the notes were still hard. I ended up needing to fake a few passages (first movement, just before the start of the Princess Dance, and the end of the Infernal Dance. However, once we had played and rehearsed it a few times, the piece actually started to make sense.

I actually have a pretty long history with the Firebird suite. Back in 10th grade, my youth orchestra had a series of Russian-heavy concerts (something like Shostakovich 5, Polovtsian Dances, Russian Festival Overture, and the Finale of Firebird). In my 10th grade English class, I did a big report about 20th century Russian composition. It was painfully basic stuff (i.e. look! Stravinsky's using percussive sounds!), but hey, I didn't (and still don't) know anything about music theory. However, it confirmed my love of classical music. During that time, there were a few recordings that I listened to obsessively. One of them was Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra doing the Firebird Suite. I'll talk about the other recordings later. The point is, in 10th grade, I never thought I would get the opportunity to try such a complex and substantive piece like Firebird. On Sunday, I got to be part of an experience that actually transformed the piece for me.

I listened to Firebird roughly 3,764 times in 10th grade

Our performance completely exceeded my expectations. The Infernal Dance was fast and exciting. The solos were absolutely gorgeous in the Princess Dance. The first movement actually moved with purpose and didn't drag. And the Finale was actually quite intense, one of the better experiences I've taken part in.

Brahms 1 is next.

Individual Jump Ball Performance

Thanks to play-by-play data from Basketball Geek, I've been messing around with the game logs for the three seasons from 2006-2009.

One of the things I've always been fascinated with is the jump ball. To my eyes, it obviously takes height and athleticism, but there is also the factor of tipping it into the right place. I remember watching a Spurs game from a few years ago (sorry, tried looking for the specific play but couldn't find it) in which Tim Duncan won the opening tip by slapping it hard to Manu Ginobili, who gathered the ball and without breaking stride made a nearly uncontested layup. That play was probably drawn up by the Spurs because they knew they had the advantage in the jump ball.

First, some basics about the jump ball. There is one to start off every game to determine the initial possession. The winner of that jump ball will also start with possession in the 4th quarter, while the loser gets possession in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Thus, the opening jump ball is really not that crucial to the game. A jump ball can also occur during the flow of the game, most often in the event of a tie-up for possession of the ball. A complete list of ways to initiate a jump ball can be found here.

Jump balls are also used to start each overtime period. This is a potentially huge advantage as there are very few possessions in the overtime period as it is, and winning the jumpball guarantees you will have at least as many possessions as your opponent. I may look at overtime jump ball stats and their correlation to winning games in the future.

So, are some players better at jump balls than others? I looked across the three seasons from 2006-2009 and kept track of each jump ball and determined the winner by seeing who ended up with possession. My criteria was that a player's stats were only counted if, during the season, the player attempted at least 15 jump balls. This weeds out most of the smaller players who only do jump balls when they are part of a tie-up. I then looked at the average attempts per season and calculated their jump ball win percentage.

The chart has the average attempts on the x-axis and the win % on the y-axis. The best players for jump balls are the ones furthest up and furthest right. Although there is a slight positive trend (which tells us that NBA teams are, for the most part, picking the right players to do the jump balls), the results are pretty scattered.

The individual results are also not that surprising. Most people would probably have guessed that Dwight Howard is one of the most effective players at the jump ball. The "winners" of this survey are Howard, Duncan, Shaq, and Samuel Dalembert.

Also, it's interesting to see how height isn't necessarily the most important trait. In fact, although I have not done this analysis, it looks like rebound rate would be a good proxy for jump ball effectiveness. All the high % players are ones that are usually associated with good rebounding skills and the effort/desire to play in the low block. The ones that are low % but also made many attempts (Yao Ming, Mehmet Okur, Eddy Curry, etc.) are tall players but not necessarily athletic players.

However, height does matter in that it seems to serve as kind of a threshold stat. The three worst players in this survey are Kevin Love (ouch), David Lee, and Udonis Haslem. All three are undersized big men that had to play significant stretches as the lone big man (Love when Jefferson went down in 2009, Lee pretty much all the time, Haslem after Shaq was traded from the Heat). Even though all three players are effective rebounders, it looks like those skills don't really help in their case as they do not meet a basic level of height.

Finally, I just want to mention that this is a relatively small sample size, as even in the best case (say, for Dwight Howard), we still only have about 250 attempts over the three-year period. Statistical fluctuations can and do occur. The next step is to see if winning the jump ball in overtime actually leads to an increased probability of winning the game.

Tosca at the Lyric

I saw the Lyric Opera do Puccini's Tosca last Friday night. It was the first time seeing a live opera for me. We had pretty good seats, on the third floor (not too far, but definitely far enough that opera glasses would've helped). Overall a pretty good experience, but I think it came in slightly under my expectations.

Tosca is a great first opera to see. It has an intriguing but typical story line (crazy woman driven to the edge for love, kills bad guy, everyone dies in the end). The sets were splendid - I really liked the church setting for the first act. Music is solidly Puccini.

Yep, she murders...I know, crazy!

After the first act, I was actually hyper. It was very exciting, hearing the voices in person, and seeing the acting definitely makes a difference. The second act really slows it down as most of the act is a dialogue between Tosca and Scarpia (until she kills him in the end, of course). The final act is brief - I actually wanted more.

In the end, I think part of my underwhelming experience is because I don't really have a connection to the music. Puccini is famous for the most well-known arias, such as Nessun Dorma and O mio babbino caro. There isn't really a signature aria in this opera. The two times I was most engaged were in the final act when Cavaradossi sings his farewell to Tosca and the end of the first act when Scarpia is plotting while the church congregation gathers. None of those really qualify as a "chill" moment for me.

As cheesy as this sounds, the closest I came to the "chill" moment is when I realized during the end of the first act that Tosca is the opera in the background when James Bond is kicking ass in Quantum of Solace. That movie might actually over-dramatize Tosca, although I still think it's cool that I made the connection.

I will definitely try to make a few more Lyric productions. They still have Figaro on their schedule for this year and already announced Carmen, Midsummer Night's Dream, and Lohengrin (among others) for next year.

Emanuel Ax plays Chopin, Schumann

Saw Emanuel Ax in recital on Sunday. The program had a Fantasy theme, with the Chopin Polonaise-Fantasy in A-flat Major, some Chopin Mazurkas, the Chopin Andante spianato and Grande polonaise brilliante, the Schumann Fantasiestucke, and the Schumann Fantasy in C. Overall, it was a great experience considering I didn't know any of the pieces.

First of all, Ax is a lot older than I would have thought. That didn't stop him from starting with tremendous energy in the Polonaise-Fantasy. I don't know too much about pianists, but it was refreshing to see someone that just played the music and didn't try to make their movements/actions the focal point. There was no humming from Ax or excessive orgasm-type facial gestures. He was a solid player and created the right atmosphere for each piece. He is especially good at something that violinists value in playing Bach - he is able to borrow and make up time. For example, if he slows down a little in the beginning of a passage, he makes up for it later in the passage.

Ax got one of the louder and longer standing ovations I've ever seen from a Chicago audience. He came back onstage 4 times, with the fourth leading to an encore. My friend told me the encore was definitely Chopin, but I have no idea what it could have been (maybe a Nocturne?). Overall, a good experience and outside my usual comfort zone for classical music.