Tag Archives: Netflix

Winning at all cost

One day I’ll share the story of how I got my nickname in water polo. It was in a game that didn’t matter in the standing at Nationals, but it mattered to me. I wanted to win.

I was a defensive player, not a playmaker, or a goal scorer. I wasn’t talented, but rather a hard worker… and I always wanted to win, and was willing to do what needed to get done. I’ll share the full details another time, but I was reminded of this today and wanted to bring this idea up.

I just finished Episode 7 of The Last Dance on Netflix.

‘The Last Dance is a 2020 American sports documentary miniseries co-produced by ESPN Films and Netflix. Directed by Jason Hehir, the series revolves around the career of Michael Jordan, with particular focus on his last season with the Chicago Bulls.’

I don’t know if anyone had both the desire to win and also the ability to put themselves into ‘the zone’ and perform at their peak like Michael Jordan did. This got me thinking about the athletes that I worked with as a coach. If they showed this drive during the game, they usually showed it elsewhere too.

In the past 20 years I’ve seen a drop in competition and opportunities to compete (beyond sports) in school. With most sports seasons cancelled this year, its even more obvious. I also see a huge increase in anxiety from students put into competitive situations. I’m not saying we need to create win-at-all-cost opportunities in schools, but I think we need to keep some level of competitiveness in schools. Things like the YELL Entrepreneurship Venture Challenge pit students from different districts against each other in a Dragon’s Den style pitch-off. The students put everything on the line and often aspire to pursue their ideas beyond the competition.

We need to foster teamwork and collaboration and maximize participation in schools, but we also need to create situations and scenarios where competition and competitive drive are encouraged. We need to allow the Jordan’s in our schools the opportunity to excel in their areas of passion, not just on sports fields, but in academics too.

The Netflix Trap

Despite the fact that I grew up in the era of Seinfeld and Friends being sitcoms that were on the air, I haven’t seen all of the episodes. My daughters have seen every episode in order, and my youngest daughter is on her 3rd round of watching Friends through all 10 seasons, or 236 episodes, on Netflix.

When I watched these shows, they were on TV, with commercials, and we didn’t have a VCR set up if we missed the time slot. By the time the reruns were on, I was already not a fan of waiting through commercials to watch a show.

This weekend I got sucked into a drama on Netflix, and still nursing an injured knee, I found myself in front of the television for hours. I fell deep into the Netflix trap watching the next episode, after the next episode, after the next episode. ‘OK, just 1 more,’ I’d tell myself, then just one more after that…

I do this sometimes on longer breaks like summer and Christmas break but it’s very rare that I sink into a series like this on a regular weekend. The appeal is strong when there are no commercials and the opening/closing credits can easily be skipped. There is no waiting until next week’s time slot on TV, no waiting for commercials either. Just show after show, with each ending designed to hook you into the next one.

Watching television has changed significantly. I can see how easy it is to stay trapped in front of it now in a way that wasn’t possible when I was younger. YouTube and Facebook can be the same for some, with the next video automatically playing after the one you are watching is done. Blink and several hours have gone by.

I had a good dose of this on the weekend, and I’m done for now… At least until the March break. The series I was watching has one more season and I’ll probably watch most of it in a two to three day span. I force myself to wait for an extended break. But when I start, I don’t pretend that I’m not easily sucked into the trap of binge watching, like many others.