The following are a few of the notable pieces I have written over the past few years. Article headlines and excerpts are included here. Click on the title to read the story in full.
Farming After Doomsday – April 2008
From climate change and nuclear winter to global pandemic and asteroid strikes, humankind has little trouble envisioning any number of catastrophes that could qualify as extinction-level events. Throw in the possibility of extra-terrestrial attacks, Armageddon prognostications and zombie takeover, and it seems surprising humanity has survived even this long. Far-fetched as some End of Days scenarios may seem, we can all take solace in the fact that, at least as far as food supplies are concerned, the world is now prepared for the worst.
In February, in the remote Arctic island community of Longyearbyen, Norway, the national government and the Global Crop Diversity Trust unveiled the “Doomsday Vault,” a facility designed to store seeds for every agricultural crop known to man.
Preserving the Masters: How the Art World Won Its Battle of New Orleans – August 2007
The New Orleans Museum of Art was blessed by its fortunate location and impenetrable, fortress-like exterior. Countless other area residents, however, faced raging floodwaters after Katrina that were not only washing away the hard-earned money that they had invested in homes, cars and other possessions, but also threatened to forever erase their priceless culture, art and heritage.
Enter Heather Becker, who in arriving with a commando team of art conservationists from Chicago, can be considered one of the few first responders that arrived in New Orleans quickly and adequately equipped enough to handle the task at hand.
“We were taking a leap of faith by going down there,” says Becker. “We didn’t know whether we were going to be able to get in. We didn’t know what we were going to be able to do. We just wanted to get down there to see if we could help.”
It’s Not Whether You Can Find the Perfect Stats, It’s How You Use Them to Play the Game – March 2010
At the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, discussion generally surrounds the quant-friendly nuances of how the statistics of the game can be collected, analyzed and adjusted to provide the closest numerical representation of the truth. What are the limitations of Player Efficiency Rating? How valid is adjusted plus-minus? Can any of these advanced numbers ever really show us an objective reality or are they all too biased by the contextual roles that players have within their unique roles on their teams?
These are all fine debates and ones that will continue to rage on throughout every corner of the Dorkapalooza community.
What is most relevant to NBA fans today, however, is how front offices across the league are using these numbers to make decisions in a practical sense. Some of these answers became clearer on Saturday as Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard and Celtics Assistant GM Mike Zarren gathered to speak on a panel alongside two of the NBA’s statistical pioneers, Dean Oliver, who works with the Nuggets, and John Hollinger, who we all know from ESPN.
How do team execs really use the numbers?
The Complexities of Complexion – November 2008
Distinguished insurance professor David Ivory quickly became a mentor to Marvin Kelly, initially in his studies and later in his professional development. “I’ve asked him before every career move I’ve ever made,” says Kelly.
The first move came in 1980 when Kelly became the first black commercial underwriter ever hired by the Hartford office of Transamerica Insurance Company, an insurer that specializes in life but also writes commercial lines and provides financial services. “I’ve been the first and only African-American in every position I’ve had,” says Kelly.
After several productive years at Transamerica yielded only limited advancement, it was a colleague, rather than Ivory, who provided the advice that helped him realize that this was not the place for him. “I’ll never forget him, an Irishman who had been there for 20 years,” says Kelly. “He asked me what I was still doing there. ‘Do you see anyone that looks like you? Do you think you’re going to get promoted here?’ I wasn’t mad until he told me.”
Loss for Words – April 2008
Since an online version of Scrabble launched on the social networking site Facebook last June, more people have been playing than ever before. In just nine months, more than two million Facebook users — of 40 million total — began challenging family, friends and even strangers to a test of wits.
One would assume the game’s makers would embrace the 60-year-old board game’s new-found popularity. But Hasbro and Mattel, who share ownership and distribution rights, have nothing to do with this unsolicited online version, which is called Scrabulous. Make no mistake, Scrabulous is identical to Scrabble right down to its point values, tile distribution and triple-word scores. The Agarwalla brothers who programmed the knock-off from India are now reportedly making $25,000 per month on advertising, though they say this is an unexpected, yet welcome, benefit of the game’s popularity.
Regardless, Hasbro and Mattel see a clear infringement and have made it known that Scrabulous’ days are likely numbered.
The NBA’s Chex Mix Renaissance – June 2009
Depending on your individual outlook, the NBA’s renaissance began anywhere from two to six years ago, but after yet another great season, there is no denying the fact that the NBA is in a better place now than it has been at any time since MJ stuck that iconic pull-back jumper over Bryon Russell in 1998. Kobe is unquestionably among the all-time elite. LeBron is Haley’s Comet. Chris Paul is the best point guard since Magic. Dwyane is a combination of relentless and universally appealing that we haven’t seen since Jordan. Dwight is an athlete rivaled only by cartoon characters. Duncan is a sage old man. KG is a warrior hoping for one last battle. And dozens of other All-Star caliber players are putting on spectacular shows across the League every night of the season.
Much larger than any individual’s effect on the NBA, however, is that the fact that, not only do these future legends play the game the right way, but the concept that the only style of basketball that can win is team basketball is again paramount. The Jordan Era mythos that great individual players can will their teams to victory has evaporated. Whether that revelation came before LeBron’s highly favored Cavs lost in the Eastern Conference Finals a few weeks ago or back when Kobe’s 35 ppg average earned him little more than awe and a first-round Playoff exit is irrelevant; all that matters now is that every competent GM and, more importantly, every competent fan now knows that no team can contend for a title without a solid four- or five-player nucleus that knows how to play together — and is willing to do so.
After Haiti: The Future of Disasters – March 2010
The horror in Haiti was tragic, but unfortunately all too reminiscent of past images from a decade with one unthinkable disaster after another. In a storybook world, this earthquake would be the final event in a 10-year stretch of bad fate, but it is more likely that we have simply entered a new era where rampant development and population growth means that losses will be increasingly frequent. As we forge ahead, we can either learn from the past or blindly hope the future will get brighter on its own. But hope alone is not an option. Only through better disaster planning and catastrophe response will we be able to mitigate the damage dished out by Mother Nature.
Pacers Can’t Miss Against Nuggets – November 2010
Indiana was hoping to catch a lethargic Denver team sleeping. The Nuggets had lost a heartbreaker to the Bulls in Chicago the night before and were presumably looking past the Pacers to their upcoming national television showdown with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers on Thursday. But even in their wildest dreams, the Pacers couldn’t have predicted that they would be fortunate enough to score 54 points in the third quarter on near-perfect shooting.
The New International Tool of Justice – October 2008
There has been an ongoing legal battle occurring on the margins of society ever since an innocuous statute buried deep in early U.S. law was uncovered by human rights advocates nearly three decades ago. Their goals are to expose and seek justice for atrocities committed across the world, and they began by crusading against infamous war criminals such as Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader who was recently dragged out of hiding to face U.N. charges for his role in the ethnic cleansing of Muslims and Croats during the Bosnian war.
Now, however, their focus has moved over to corporations, and human rights advocates are seeking damages from companies they believe have been complicit in human rights abuses. No company has lost a case thus far, but many believe it is only a matter of time. And once that occurs, a floodgate of human rights lawsuits may open.
The Northeast Unthinkable – June 2006
Despite the annual trepidation now apparent in the Southeast and on the Gulf Coast, the potential for a Northeast hurricane does not receive the same level of anticipation. In a region known more for blizzards and ice storms, few realize that the worst disaster to ever strike it began as a tropical storm.
“Along the U.S. coastline, the New Orleans area is the most vulnerable area with respect to storm surge and water damage. New York is second,” says Karen Clark, president and CEO of AIR Worldwide, a leading catastrophe modeling company. “So we could see the same type of destruction from the storm surge that we saw from Katrina easily.”
Dear Washington Wizards Fans – March 2010
The Gilbert Arenas ordeal will forever tarnish the team. There is no coming back from that. For the rest of your life, your favorite NBA squad will be the team whose captain illegally brought guns into the city then brought said guns into the locker room then got caught doing all that and then thought it was funny. For those who think the NBA is a league full of thugs, the incident will go down as the last straw. (Although, personally, I think we should reserve that moniker for Caron’s 2/24/10 game with Dallas vs. the Lakers). Others will just call it FINGA GUNZ.
Regardless of how high of a moral soapbox the observer has, however, Gilbert’s guns will now be brought up ad nauseum whenever an analyst, writer or just some drunk guy at the bar discusses the worst moments in NBA history.
Interviews
James Lee Witt, former director of FEMA – June 2008
Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research – October 2008
Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do? – May 2009
Matt Mason, author of The Pirate’s Dilemma – May 2008
Reviews
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell – February 2009
SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner – November 2009
The Art of a Beautiful Game by Chris Ballard – November 2009