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At the end of last season, The Academy of Classical Christian Studies girls basketball team hit a buzzer-beater to win the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association championship over Apache High School.
But something felt wrong to Academy head coach Brendan King. ‘As soon as I walked out of the locker room, my stomach kind of turned into knots. And I said, I'm going to need to know if we really won this game or not,' King told CBS News.”
King went home and watched the game. He counted every made basket and every free throw. Sometimes it sucks to be right. King discovered that his team had actually lost. Someone at the scorekeeper’s table had miscounted during confusion about the scoreboard early in the game. A 44-43 victory was actually a 43-42 loss.
According to league rules, it didn’t matter – once a game is over and the score is recorded, what’s done is done.
Coach King told his team, though, and the whole thing didn’t sit well. Academy players unanimously decided to appeal their own victory. The league awarded the victory to Apache. According to one Academy player, "It was a really good teaching moment for us to just be, like, this is not the whole point.”
I love sports because, to me, they’re always about something more than sports. As Apache Coach Ann Merriweather put it, "It showed us, you know, there are still good people in this world," Merriweather said. "It's something we'll always remember."
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Have you ever corrected a mistake against your self-interest, just because it was the right thing to do? Drop me a line – I’m curious!
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Curiosity is worth practicing. That’s how we get better at it. When it’s done particularly well, curiosity can be elevated to an art form. Curiosity makes life worth living. I am literally Curious AF. And now you can be too! Click HERE to unlock your free membership subscription.
Here is a taste of what I’m doing, reading, watching, and thinking about.
What I’m Listening To –
I was sorry to hear that D’Angelo passed away and I’ve been listening to a lot of his recordings. Here is an hour of D’Angelo live from the 2015 North Sea Jazz Festival.
What I’m Reading –
By popular demand (my daughter asked me to), I brought back the LIT AF podcast and picked up Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where I left off. This week, the creature started telling his own story.
What I’m Watching –
Murderbot on Apple+. I rarely watch a show more than once, but our son is home this week and this comedy of ten half-hour episodes is a perfect fit. From NPR: “It's about a robot played by Alexander Skarsgård rented by a team of planetary scientists to work security on their expedition. Unbeknownst to them, it's more than a robot – it's gained sentience, and wants nothing more than to be left alone so it can watch the thousands of episodes of TV shows it's downloaded.
… Relatable.
It knows that its gaining of free will would be considered a malfunction, and would result in it being scrapped for parts. So it pretends to be the unthinking, dutiful machine they rented, even as it silently, and hilariously, judges the humans it's protecting for being impractical, unsafe, naive and (from its perspective) wildly emotional.”
You heard it here first: Boldness is all.
Quote I’m pondering –
Sometimes when you win, you really lose, and sometimes when you lose, you really win, and sometimes when you win or lose, you actually tie, and sometimes when you tie, you actually win or lose. Winning or losing is all one organic mechanism, from which one extracts what one needs.
- Gloria Clemente (played by Rosie Perez) in the movie White Men Can’t Jump
Thank you for reading! This publication is a lovingly cultivated, hand-rolled, barrel-aged, ad-free, AI-free, 100% organic, anti-algorithm, zero calorie, high protein, completely reader-supported publication that is not paid to endorse any political party, world religion, sports team, product or service. Please help keep it going by buying my book, hiring me to speak, or becoming a paid subscriber, which will also entitle you to upcoming web events, free consultations, discounted merchandise, and generally being the coolest person your friends know:
Best,
Know someone who is also Curious AF? Please share this edition with them!
David Preston
Educator & Author
Latest book: ACADEMY OF ONE
Hash marks on the back of a legal pad. Photo: David Preston
David Preston
Comments
Speaking of correcting a mistake against my self-interest, just because it was the right thing to do? Several years ago with 3 small children (and one of them in and out of the hospital with breathing issues), my husband laid off work, and I only had a part time teaching position. I was scrimping and saving and using the little bit of money I had to get some groceries from WalMart. As I stepped out of the car, there on the ground was a $100 bill. My first thought was-"A Gift from HEAVEN!". But my next thought was-wait, if I had dropped that $100 and really needed it, how devastated I would be to have dropped it! and what a pickle I would be in. I knew I had to turn the money in. I never heard back from Wal-Mart and to this day I really hope that the person thought to call WalMart and they were able to get them their money back..