Notre Dame On Ice: When Life Gives You Apples…

As a Michigan fan, I smile whenever I see Notre Dame’s iconic brand take a hit (like this). It’s even more delicious when the one inflicting the damage is Notre Dame herself.

Which leads me to this gem starting at 1:09. Note the dejected and sad gaze of the ND band as they play...

The confused reaction of those watching this amalgamation of live music (albeit good music by Chicago), figure skating and Notre Dame football indicates people may not be quite ready now for what G.3 will ultimately be. I am convinced, however, that G.3 can ably weave together the nodes we see in the video in a compelling and entertaining way without compromising the integrity of each individual node. In this example, the half-ass presentation of the Notre Dame football node helps kill this video on arrival. The lackadaisical skating, the horrendous choreography, the apathy of the ND band, the docile demonstration of the sport of football...

Need I go on?

If Notre Dame’s actual football players came out on skates and earnestly competed against another football team on skates, would it have made a difference? Very likely.

Regardless of whether it was a decision made by Notre Dame, Brian Boitano or Musselman’s Apple Sauce to marginalize and emasculate Notre Dame football in this way, internodal blending or linking fundamentally requires a respect for its constituent nodes. Chicago is doing what it does best—perform. Brian Boitano and friends are doing what they know best—perform. This is primarily why these two nodes complement and work well together. Notre Dame, on the other hand, had no shot from the very beginning. 

There is plenty of drama in a rugged and violent sport like football. People are always drawn to dramatic games and if constituent nodes are linked and blended with care and respect, the emotions that burgeon from the nodes of figure skating and music can complement and accentuate the drama that we see in football—whether it’s played on turf or on skates.

So I think I’ll give Notre Dame somewhat of a pass on this one. I’ll give them a 6.0 for the idea of reaching out to other athletic and entertainment nodes, but that’s about all I’m going to concede. I love G.3, but I’m still a Michigan fan.

G.3 Scenarios: Kobe Bryant, Basketball, Football and Nodes in Between

When Kobe Bryant was six years old, his father, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, moved the family to Italy to begin playing professional basketball. It was during these formative years in Italy that Kobe Bryant played football and basketball. When his father retired in 1991, Bryant’s family moved back to the United States, but his passion for football remained.

As a young fan of AC Milan, Bryant had aspirations of being a professional football player; even claiming that if his family had stayed in Italy, he would have chosen professional football over professional basketball. He remarked to the Milan sports daily, La Gazzetta dello Sport, during this summer’s World Cup in South Africa:

“I love soccer since the time I was a boy. From when I lived in Italy and supported AC Milan. Dreaming one day to be Marco Van Basten, one day Diego Maradona and one day Roberto Baggio.”

Byrant has more than just a passing appreciation of football and after these many years, he still feels at home on the pitch and with the football at his feet:

The 2010 NBA season begins tonight and there have been lingering concerns about Bryant’s surgically repaired left knee throughout this offseason. If Bryant could remain relatively healthy through the upcoming season and if he could endure a rigorous football training regimen, his size and athleticism would be an ideal template for a football goalie, backline defender or a forward on set pieces.

If Bryant was in his prime, it is likely that he could have played a center forward position given his athletic and attacking style of play; a style of play that has been very successful for him on a much smaller playing field—the basketball court.

Assuming that we have a Kobe Bryant in his prime, the thought of his potential role as a defenseman (D) or forward (F) in a blended football-basketball G node or a as transitional wing playmaker (W) between football and basketball nodes is tantalizing.

As a defenseman, Bryant, who is already an elite defender in the NBA, could fit in well is as a backline defender who can quickly counter and lead an offensive attack in a defense-offense transition formation (the middle of the three different formation modules bracketed in the diagram below). Given that Bryant’s main sport requires quick bursts of offense to defense and vice versa, his transition as a defender into an offensive catalyst in the defense-offense transition formations would be a relatively easy adjustment to make.

As a forward in the defense-offense transition formation in a blended G node, Bryant could slot into the left or right wings since he possesses the requisite skill set: very good speed, length, strength, long shooting range, passing and decision-making ability, and a strong defensive presence.

As a transitional wing player linking two or more nodes (football and basketball in this example) that are not completely blended but exist in two separate forms simultaneously, Bryant could transition into and out of football and basketball in some of the following ways:

1. Shots made from specific spots on the basketball court could activate football set pieces for Bryant or another player to take during the next pause in football and basketball action.
2. Long distance shots made from specific spots on the basketball court could award the football team on the same GAME team a man advantage on the pitch for a short finite period of time; much like man advantages in ice hockey.
3. A G.3-designed field with a basketball court side by side with a football pitch would allow Bryant to concentrate on his basketball assignments while providing additional zonal marking on the pitch when he is in the corresponding basketball court-football pitch areas (by crossing over the sidelines and freely traversing into and out of the two fields of play as needed).

Elite G.3 performers must excel in multiple individual nodes while at the same time have the flexibility to excel in G nodes that link or blend two or more nodes together. Kobe Bryant may not be the young man he was half a decade ago, but his versatility, athleticism, intelligent play and competitive makeup continues to secure his status as one of the NBA’s and G.3’s elite.

THE GAME In Pictures (…Actually Videos): Celebrity Apprentice 3

Here’s a little video follow-up to our last post.

The men’s (Rock Solid) and women’s teams (Tenacity) were taping episodes for Celebrity Apprentice this past fall. One of the tasks, sponsored by Kodak, involved inviting New Yorkers into the Kodak Store to take pictures with their favorite stars. Here is some third party footage of that taping:

Team Rock Solid…

Team Tenacity…

THE GAME In Pictures: Celebrity Apprentice 3

This past Monday, NBC announced that the ninth installment of its reality series The Apprentice (aka Celebrity Apprentice 3) will premiere Sunday, March 14, 2010.

The cast, announced by NBC Monday (though leaked months ago), will include: disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, former baseball All-Star Darryl Strawberry, celebrity chef Curtis Stone, comedian Sinbad, Poison lead singer Bret Michaels, actor and former WWE and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Bill Goldberg, Olympic gold medal sprinter Michael Johnson, TV personality Sharon Osbourne, singer and actress Cyndi Lauper, TV host and Olympic gold medal swimmer Summer Sanders, actress Holly Robinson Peete, WWE Diva and model Maria Kanellis, comedian and TV writer Carol Leifer, and model Selita Ebanks.

The show’s executive producer and bossman, Donald Trump, already has a prediction for the show.

From the viewpoint of The Apprentice as a microcosm of, and as a node in THE GAME, the upcoming season of The Apprentice will arguably have the most diverse group of contestants the show has ever assembled. By including for the first time, a political component, in Rod Blagojevich, and a culinary component, in Curtis Stone, into the competition, more nodes will be represented in this upcoming season than in previous seasons; resembling more closely an ideal GAME since it includes most of the different domains that are currently in THE GAME.