Dean's World

While it's easy to look enviously at their fame and wealth, I sometimes have pity for pro athletes. The best of them are the type double A personalities who aren't driven by money so much as by ambition and competition; yet the nature of their business is such that almost all will peak with more than half their lives yet before them.

I'm 43, and I'm confident that my best professional successes are still ahead of me. And the successes I've had already are nothing I'm ashamed of. I would guess that Mr. Pippin is both younger and far more competitive and driven than me; and yet his professional peak is almost surely over. That gives him four choices: find a new endeavor to succeed in, such as coaching; cling to the old endeavor until he becomes a joke; wallow in self-pity over his lost glory; or learn not to be so driven any more. Player-coach sounds like a healthier path than self-pity.

There is, in my view, a genuine beauty to dedicating your life to pursuit of physical perfection in some endeavor, and that is not inherently inferior to intellectual pursuits.

Whoa, back up. I never said the physical pursuits were inferior, just that the typical pro athlete hits their peak very young.

Especially because many intellectual pursuits--just take chess for example--lead nowhere practical, and because the better physical pursuits often do lead to practical things--learning how to persevere against humiliation and terribly painful obstacles, for example.

And for many of the pros, that's enough. Well, that plus the pro salaries.

And for some, they can just walk away when it's over, and either find something else to do or else enjoy their well-earned retirement.

But the top stars are much more likely to be the obsessive personality type that wants to keep improving. I know the type well, since I am one. I'm not as driven at them, and I'm not as high up in my field, but I know the type. And I can just imagine how it would feel at 43 to find that my best success ever was at 33. I'm not sure how I would take it. I hope I would take it well and find new challenges. But for some people, not being "in the game" any more -- whether "the game" is sports, or music, or movies, or whatever -- can be really rough.

Harlan Ellison wrote a short story in which a man stumbled into a shop where the Fates (literally) played a cruel trick: they gave people what they wanted so badly that either they would never leave (because they were fascinated with it) or they could never leave because of disappointment and despair. The guy recognized their trick, and yet still somehow got roped into accepting a gift: a glimpse at the absolute best moment he would ever have in his life. He wondered what it would be: his wedding, a promotion at work, or some future accomplishment he couldn't even imagine. But when he looked at it, he saw himself at age 10, catching the ball that won the game for his neighborhood baseball team. The Fates thought they had him, and he would be lost in the knowledge that nothing would ever be better. But he was too stubborn for that. He told them off, and stormed out. I'm not sure how many really competitive, driven folks could do that.

Plus I grew up pursuing intellectual ideals, yet I have begun to realize as I've gotten older that at some point I still can't keep up with the younger kids like I used to. I can't. Maybe you haven't noticed yet Martin but I predict you will some time. With age comes wisdom, and patience, and these are invaluable.

Of course, that's unavoidable. But it's still in my future, largely through the nature of my field. When you're a young programmer, it's all about the code. I contend that in almost all cases, it's impossible for any class to teach young programmers the value of analysis and design and architecture: no project you can do in a class can possibly be more than a 100 hour project, and youth and energy and code-and-fix are more than enough to defeat any 100 hour project. I know, because I was one of those young hotshots who could tackle any project.

But as you get into your programming career and tackle larger projects, if you're smart, you start to see the limitations of code-and-fix. You start to recognize that the newest tech will only solve so much of the problem, no matter how good and fast and powerful it is. And if you look around, you start to realize that those hoary old concepts of analysis and design and architecture are essential to large, hard problems. You say that with age comes wisdom and patience; well, those turn out to be the essential traits for growing to the next level.

And I can see where I still have more levels of growth ahead. I need to get better at estimating and resource management. I also need to get better at delegating and trusting. And I need to get better at finance. When I have all of these, I'll be ready to head up my own software partnership -- one which will damn sure include slots for young hot shots who deserve a chance to learn how much more they have to learn.

So in my field, I can see a very clear upward path still ahead. I haven't peaked yet. I can declare myself peaked, if I want. Lots of programmers with my age and background are comfortable doing what they're doing, and don't have this urge to do more. And they probably have richer personal lives than I do. To each his own.

But someone with my obsessive point of view who's a pro athlete -- possibly excepting golf -- doesn't have any clear path ahead past early to mid 30s. Oh, they can go into coaching or management; but where I and programmers like me can start our own shops and make our own opportunities, there are only so many coaching and managing jobs around.

For example, can you explain to me what the inverted-T lineup was, and why it's now obsolete? I know people who can.

It was some football formation, but I never cared enough to know the details.

Wow.

No boilerplate there, eh?

Ah, Scottie.

I watched/listened to every single game the Bulls played from 1991 till Jordan retired. Pippen's floor grace, athleticism, and defensive intensity were a joy to watch. He was always willing to let Michael have the spotlight and the scoring. His was the only jersey that hung in my closet.

For that brief period where they moved the 3-point line in, he was probably the best player in the game.

Pippen was slowed by back injuries late in his career. If he's gotten over that, he might be good for 10-15 quality minutes a night. And he might be able to help a team from the coaching angle too.