Back to Basics
I am a huge hockey fan. I was born in Toronto and the Leafs have been my team forever. They have missed the playoffs for 2 years in a row and they were in last place all set to miss the playoffs again this year but they seem to have turned themselves around a little bit and they just got their star defenceman back who missed over 20 games with a broken wrist. When you look at the fact that they're only a couple points out of 10th in the division and they have 4 games left against each of the 8th and 9th place teams (8 teams make the playoffs), they could easily make a run for the 8 spot if they are able to get their act together.
Anyways a couple quotes that made me think of chess from some commentary I was reading:
That said he often recognizes a tendency for players, once they have a taste of the league, to stop doing the tasks they eagerly performed once inserted into the lineup. The problem, [Leafs Coach Paul] Maurice said, is the players figure they have the basics mastered and decide to dramatically expand their repertoire. But the tolerance for errors is radically higher for established players.
“There are players you can see, they’ve had their two or three weeks and they’re starting to turn the puck over and they are not able to sustain it. For some guys, you start to see a bit of a slip.” [Maurice]
“This is something that each player in this locker room, each player in the league, has dreamt about since they were very young,” [Rookie Robbie Earl, who was called up to the NHL last Saturday] said. “I don’t think it’s ever a chore. It becomes a grind and hard work, but I don’t see it ever becoming a chore.”
I remember a story about Tal, someone said they were at his house watching television and a chess program came on, some kind of beginner or intermediate lesson, and he paid rapt attention to things they other person assumed he knew like the back of his hand.
Your quotes made me think of how some commentary talks about certain players having good "fundamentals"--Tim Duncan gets that label all the time. Assuming these commentators aren't simply trying to fill up air time with cliches (Tim Duncan being fundamental is a cliche by now), it says a lot for how much solid basics make up a great player.
@Wahrheit: That Tal story will stick in my craw for a while.
Eric - I have most of mine too but I rarely look at them and I give them away a lot.
LEP - I have a weird feeling that the Leafs are going to make the playoffs. But I had it the last two years too...
I can at least be confident that they are entering a new era after the firing of GM John Ferguson, not so much because John Ferguson was bad, but because it looks like the Leafs executives are willing to finally make hockey-related decisions rather than strictly business related decisions. We shall see.