Minnesotans Can Be Better Co-Workers By Watching Basketball

Have you ever thought about something, but not mentioned it to anyone because you thought it might make you appear odd because of the observation (no, just me.. Ooookkkk).  

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I admit I’m a sports nerd. I’ve been blessed to broadcast football, basketball, softball, and baseball games at the high school and college levels. When you broadcast as many games as I have, you often see things a little differently than most fans. 

When you broadcast games, you have to observe the game, the sidelines, the stands and anything else that can catch your attention. That’s mainly because you’ve got a lot of time to fill on-the-air. 

Something I’ve noticed the last several years from the world of sports, is when a basketball player is shooting free throws and misses their first shot, they still reach for their teammates to give them “five” anyway.  

To be honest, this has bothered me a bit. I admit I’m old school, I’ve always believed that the shooters teammates should step to them, not the shooter seeking the “five”.  

I can remember when I started playing many years ago, if the shooter missed the free throw, there was no “five” given. Maybe it was an unspoken rule? Right or Wrong, that was just the way it was. 

These days though, it’s very different. The shooter steps toward teammates seeking the “five” when they miss the first of two shots. I thought this was something only I noticed but apparently it was not.  

Researchers out there convinced someone to pay for them to watch hours upon hours of women’s basketball games paying specific attention to the free throws that were shot. 

And these researchers found that when a shooter missed the first shot, if they got “five” from their teammates, their odds went up considerably that they would make the second free throw.   

The study also looked at if they made the first free throw, and got “five” from their teammates, it did not affect their second attempt at all.  

So, I guess science says the “old-school” unwritten rule that if you don’t make the first shot, you don’t get “five” has been wrong for all these years.  

This got me thinking, maybe we should apply this approach of freely giving “five” to our co-workers even when their efforts fall short.  

Maybe I can convince someone with a lot of money to pay me to study this and if so, I’ll get back to you with my findings. And if I fail in my efforts to conduct this study, I’ll just step toward you to get my “five” anyway.