Time is linear. What happens last sticks out most.

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Los Angeles Clippers v Oklahoma City Thunder - Game Five

“We lost because of that call.” In the thick of the 2014 NBA playoffs’ second round series between the LA Clippers and the OKC Thunder, everyone from Clippers fans to the head coach, Doc Rivers, himself repeated that sentence.

Even the casual sports observer can resonate with that concept. How many times has a controversial penalty or non-call within the last few minutes of a game left choruses of infuriated fans in disgust because they felt that the decision single-handedly swung the game? It doesn’t matter how the team was playing the rest of the match; all that matters is that they had a chance but the swindling referees cost them the assured victory. It was a coin flip coming down to the wire, but then the coin surely got rigged somewhere along the way.

Let’s step back and realize that coin flips are inherently 50-50. Got that? Good, then you understand that for coin flips that go one way, just as many coin flips can go the opposite direction. The impact of one controversial decision late in a game could easily be avoided by the negatively affected team not having missed a point-blank layup earlier (basketball), or if the team had just converted that one 3rd down pass in the second quarter (football). So what’s the problem?

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Launch

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This is my first real attempt at a high-frequency, analytical blog after seeing the examples of some friends and having several people pushing me to publish my thoughts. I realized that my passions in business and sports could be connected. A lot of my writing will look to meld the two straits. Some of the posts here will be of the longer variety, some of the shorter, but I hope all will be crisp and insightful. I’ll look to post the heavy material once a week, and during the week, some shorter snapshots that may come up.

I’ve got to thank Tory Gattis for helping me launch this project (because at the end of the day, this is a project). Be sure to visit his blog, HoustonStrategies, for great discussions into the social systems of Houston. If you enjoy sports, or care about business and entrepreneurship, this should be a great site for you. And if it isn’t, then I’m not doing something right. So do let me know your feedback, and I can work towards creating a better experience.

As a preview, here are some topics to expect in the coming weeks:

  • Time is linear. What happens last sticks out most.
  • Why should athletes make millions? Rather, why shouldn’t they?
  • When others all start to zag, it can become invaluable to zig.
  • Find your “why.” It might just save you.

Everybody likes to offer their two cents. But here, I’m offering my three Senths. Welcome!

-Senthil