Doing Things Differently, And Better

EVERY BASKETBALL PLAYER, at every level, grade school through NBA, should shoot free throws underhanded, just like Rick Barry and, for a time Wilt Chamberlain did. The reason? Its more effective. It works better. Trial after trial bears this out. Like Barry said, one's arms hang down, not up. Everyone who shoots free throws underhanded improves the percentage of made shots. Problem is, nobody does it that way, and hardly anyone ever has. In his autobiography, Chamberlain agreed. During the few years when he shot underhanded from the free throw line, his percentage went way up, and yet, he went back to the old over the head method, because, as he said in his book, he felt like a sissy doing it underhanded. Feeling like a sissy probably cost him several thousand points over the course of his career. In football, nobody, no team, should ever punt the football. At every level, grade school to NFL, the offense should go for it on fourth down, every time. By doing so, your team will win an average of one to two more games each season. This has been demonstrated, beyond all doubt. And yet, who knows it, who would believe it? In baseball, there should always be three infielders on the same side of the infield, depending on whether the batter is right or left handed. the evidence for this is overwhelming. Ironically, baseball, the most staid, tradition bound sport of the three, is the one which is realizing this unorthodox truth first. The "shift" is used most of the time at the major league level, but only in the past couple of years, and yes, batting averages are way, way down because of it. The moral of the story is that humans are far more inclined to do what is familiar, what is comfortable, than what is most effective. Putt from the fringe of the green, do not charge the net in tennis, and, by all means, do not marry the person to whom you are most physically attracted, but rather, the one who is the kindest to you. But who'll listen?