48MoH: The Embrace of Limitation

[Blackjack]

The Embrace of Limitation



The always provocative Wendell Berry is good at digging for disease, never becoming arrested at the surface, staring at symptoms. He wants to get beneath all that. In a thoughtful Harper’s piece dated May, 2008 –Faustian Economics: Hath No Limits–Berry takes on the disease of limitlessness. Early last year, Berry was responding to the now-realized collapse of American livelihood, which he sees bound up in a deeper question than the headline externals of economy, ecology, and community. Berry writes:


…our human and earthly limits, properly understood, are not confinements but rather inducements to formal elaboration and elegance, to fullness of relationship and meaning. Perhaps our most serious cultural loss in recent centuries is the knowledge that some things, though limited, are inexhaustible. For example, an ecosystem, even that of a working forest or farm, so long as it remains ecologically intact, is inexhaustible. A small place, as I know from my own experience, can provide opportunities of work and learning, and a fund of beauty, solace, and pleasure—in addition to its difficulties—that cannot be exhausted in a lifetime or in generations.

This has brought my mind around to, of all things, the San Antonio Spurs. One of Gregg Popovich’s much utilized exhortations to his team is “get over yourself.” In some ways, the Spurs entire program is built upon the embrace of limitation. Success during the upcoming campaign will force the Spurs to fall back on what they already know is true: there is a goodness in accepting limitations. Ironically, this comes at a moment in the team’s history when Peter Holt has trangressed the team’s typically cap-conscious managing philosophy. And it comes at a moment when Tim Duncan is flanked by more talent than he’s known at any point in his career.

But don’t get distracted by all that. Or, put differently, let’s hope that the Spurs aren’t distracted by it. The team’s future success hinges on a few things breaking the right way, such as health. A willingness to embrace limitation is right at top of their list of indispensables.

Of course, this isn’t profound. Not at all. This is something every thinking basketball fan understands, and it’s something the Spurs have exhibited throughout the Popovich era.

In a recent comment thread, 48MoH reader Robby makes Wendell Berry’s point in this way:

Good luck Fabby! one of my favorite Spurs… knows his skill limitations, is a banger and has a high basketball IQ. Wizards are lucky to have him.

Robby was doing little more than offering a final adieu and word of praise for recently traded Spur Fabricio Oberto. And as Robby, and everyone who watches basketball knows, Fabricio Oberto is only effective so far as he “knows his skill limitations.”

You’ve probably read about Gregg Popovich’s prized comic strip. The one he keeps framed on his desk. Adrian Wojnarowski rehearses it for us:

There’s a superstar player sitting behind the big desk, and a sad-sack coach waiting for an appointment to meet with him.

“The franchise will see you now, Coach,” the secretary says in the caption.

Oh, how Popovich’s eyes glistened when he was showing it off, how one of the greatest coaches in the history of basketball understands about the reality of the genius assigned to him.

“That’s how we work around here, if anybody wants to know the truth,” he said.

Gregg Popovich is a tremendous success, but he’s the first to say his contribution to the team is greatly exceeded by the contribution of a random lottery. The Spurs lucked themselves into Tim Duncan. All the honest people of San Antonio know that that single accomplishment outshines the organization’s collective effort. Tim Duncan is the reason the Spurs have won 4 championships. Not Gregg Popovich. At least that’s what the coach would tell you.

But by limiting his ego, by holding that ugly monster in check, Gregg Popovich creates a culture of humility that is vital to what the Spurs do. This is just another way of saying that Popovich imposes a limit on the Spurs’ self-perception.

Tim Duncan is no different. He could dominate the ball. He could go for his own numbers. But he never has. Tim Duncan is happy to lose the battle of statistical inflation to see his team succeed.

Bruce Bowen scored the ball in college; he was a scorer during his tours of Europe. Sticking to an NBA roster, however, required Bowen to pare back, to limit himself to defensive effort and corner 3s. Accepting those limits, and living within them, transformed Bowen into an all-world defender.

Look at any successful basketball program and examples of this sort of thing will announce themselves with a loud “ahem.” All of basketball is replete with examples of players and teams flourishing within proper limits.

As I said above, Wendell Berry’s observations should seem like a pedestrian truth to anyone who follows basketball. The trick, however, is letting that truth spill out in all directions. The trick is learning to embrace limitation off the court. Is Berry correct that “our most serious cultural loss in recent centuries is the knowledge that some things, though limited, are inexhaustible”?

Theologians like to tell us that when God created time and space, He pronounced them very good. That is, things such as geographical constraint, temporality and finitude are blessed. They’re Edenic. Or perhaps this is what the ecologists wants us to understand. That living rightly means stewarding rather than squandering our natural resources. And this is what disgusts us about Bernie Madoff. Weren’t tens of millions already enough? And this is what, and this is what…. Just as with our on-the-court examples, we could pile on in praise of learning to love limitations in life, as well. But that would be tiresome, and unnecessary. So far as observations go, Berry’s is simple enough. But there is something jolting in what he says.

I suspect that we’d raise much better basketball players, players who exhibited smart shot selection and greater deference to others, if they grew up believing there was an inherent goodness in limits. No one should enjoy the sight of their 10 year old killing the ball for 30 seconds at a time. No matter how flashy their handle, there is such a thing as dribbling too much. At some point they need get over themselves. And maybe that extends to mom and dad too. Or, you know, me.

[Parker2112]

"Theologians like to tell us that when God created time and space..."
"things such as geographical constraint, temporality and finitude are blessed."
"They’re Edenic."

Ugh.

This guy's writing is slipping big. Or I guess you could say... it's just dense with self-aggrandizing intelligentism, rich with a passive voice phrasing that hovers just over the sour stench of unreadability.

This article is a waste. What is the point? That the Spurs must embrace their limitations? They have been doing that for over a decade now...but do Spurs fans really need this pointed out to them?

And the point of the Berry article is not just that we must operate within limitations, but that operating within limitation allows us to achieve and maintain a sustainable output. I agree that if America continues to rely exclusively on capitalism as the aim, it will be no more successful than the Spurs would be if they relied solely on TP to score all their buckets, but Varner (?) fails to incorporate this into the discussion.

Overall, the more intelligent this writer tries to sound, the worse his writing becomes. Leave the word-worship in literature class and get your point across already. Use words with precision, not just to impress. Then maybe I can stomach your articles again.

[jag]

"Theologians like to tell us that when God created time and space..."
"things such as geographical constraint, temporality and finitude are blessed."
"They’re Edenic."

Ugh.

This guy's writing is slipping big. Or I guess you could say... it's just dense with self-aggrandizing intelligentism, rich with a passive voice phrasing that hovers just over the sour stench of unreadability.

This article is a waste. What is the point? That the Spurs must embrace their limitations? They have been doing that for over a decade now...but do Spurs fans really need this pointed out to them?

And the point of the Berry article is not just that we must operate within limitations, but that operating within limitation allows us to achieve and maintain a sustainable output. I agree that if America continues to rely exclusively on capitalism as the aim, it will be no more successful than the Spurs would be if they relied solely on TP to score all their buckets, but Varner (?) fails to incorporate this into the discussion.

Overall, the more intelligent this writer tries to sound, the worse his writing becomes. Leave the word-worship in literature class and get your point across already. Use words with precision, not just to impress. Then maybe I can stomach your articles again.

Agreed. I'm looking for insight into Spurs basketball. My interest in a Spurs basketball blog begins and ends there.