My newest post

I'm not sure if I should post about college basketball, or about the movie 300, which I saw last night. Maybe both.

As far as basketball and I are concerned, I've usually only watched Iowa State games, and those in decreasing frequency. Once they can win on the road in Boulder, I might start watching again. More and more, I find myself watching basketball games where I have no interest in watching a particular team win, but just to watch high quality basketball. This year, I've seen three games that I consider some of the best I've ever watched. I saw the second Ohio State-Wisconsin game about three weeks ago. I watched Texas A&M-Texas about a weeks and a half ago, and watched Kansas-Texas this afternoon. All three games went down to the final shot, all games featured clutch shooting, and all had great performances by the best players.

Kevin Durant is particularly impressive. He was "held" to 37 points today, which is what the announcers kept repeating, but I guess it did take him almost 30 shots to do it. I looked over his season stats and he scored over 30 points a number of times this season, frequently grabbing 10+ rebounds to go along with it. He's not much of a passer yet, though, as he averages about 1 assist per game. His most impressive effort was a 37-point, 23-rebound game against Texas Tech, I believe. Throw in a couple of blocked shots and you have some player's career stats thrown into one game. Analysts and sportscasters say he could and should be the first ever freshman to win the college player of the year award. I don't know who else could win it. Durant is among the top-5 scorers and rebounders in the country, he blocks shots, shoots free throws surprisingly well, can shoot 3's, and his team is among the best in the nation, largely because of his efforts. I'd like to see him play college for another year or two, but it is very unlikely he will stay.

I don't like watching NBA game at all. It never really seems like the players care about winning, not like in college games. You don't get a lot of the same emotion in the NBA. In college, it looks like those players just love playing basketball, not so in the NBA. I remember something from social psychology where when people are paid money to do things they enjoy, they lose their enjoyment and it starts to feel like a chore. I wonder if that is how the majority of pro sports players feel, like they don't get as much enjoyment out of playing once they are getting paid. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they enjoy the money, but do they enjoy the game as much?

Which I suppose is a good lead-in into 300. The movie featured the famous "300" Spartans that fought against an army estimated between 500000 and 3 million Persians and held their own before being betrayed by one of their own. They eventually all perish, but a Persian general later asks what payment the men had received for fighting and he finds out they were fighting of their own free will, their reward was glory.

I saw the movie with 5 others, who mostly thought the movie was too epic. I liked it just fine. I did about two hours of internet research about the battle today and found out that most of the big lines from the movie are actually quotes from those people.

When a Persian officer says that their arrows will be so many they will blot out the sun, the Spartan captain responded with "All the better. We shall fight in the shade." When a messenger for Persia come to ask for "earth and water", the typical offering given to King Xerxes, King Leonidas really did throw the messenger down a well and told him to find his earth and water down below. When the King Xerxes gives Leonidas a chance to surrender and tells the Spartans to give up their swords and shields, Leonidas really did respond with "Come and take them." It is actually the motto of a division of the armed forces in Greece. After reading more about it, I found out the the translation "Come and take them" is not a perfect translation. That translation implies that if the Persians were able and could defeat the Spartans, they could have them. Apparently, the actually translation should be something like, "After you've defeated us, you can have them." Leonidas was letting Xerxes know that they were prepared to die and knew they would die, and that only then could they take the weapons.

I thought that some of those lines and others in the movie were too witty, like people wouldn't say some of those things, but as I read about the Spartans, I was surprised to find out that they were a people known for their wit. The writer of an article I read called it their laconic wit. When a king once warned the Spartans that "if I make it to Sparta, I shall destroy the city and its people", the Spartan king sent a one-word reply, "if".

I was particularly intrigued by how disciplined and oriented the Spartan soldiers were. Each Spartan was responsible for guarding the soldier next to him, not himself, and in battle movements and strategies, the Spartans moved as a cohesive "one". They held certain attitudes about the way fighting should occur. They thought that combat should be at close-range and in the movie, when arrows shower down upon the Spartans, Leonidas claims that it is a cowardly way to fight. I read today that Spartans who left the group and fought wildly and undisciplined, even when they defeated their enemies, where not given as much honor and respect as those who fought with the unit. In the movie, I think they briefly touched upon it when the captain's son dies, he goes on a killing rampage, and the King just notes that he is suicidal and doesn't seem to appreciate what most would consider the captain's brave acts and deeds by running into the front lines alone. Also, in the movie, the dude who loses his eye and goes back to Sparta apparently was held in less esteem and shunned in Sparta for leaving the battle, even though he was ordered to by Leonidas. Another soldier, who wasn't in the movie, was asked to leave during the battle but to come back. He arrived as the Persian armies had defeated the Spartans and because he hadn't been there, hung himself in disgrace.

Hmm, a good movie, that 300, but I think I've had more fun reading about it afterwards.