Hey, I’m Ryan…
I woke up one day and decided I like basketball. I don’t know what the deal is. I’ve never liked organized sports. Well, I liked the Niners in the 90’s. But I didn’t really want to play football, or understand it on a deeper level. I just liked watching Merton Hanks get interceptions.
This is different though. I’m obsessed with basketball. It’s not unprecedented. I’ve been obsessed with other things in the past: comics, programming, horology, and a bunch of other stuff. But this is the first time I’ve been obsessed with a sport.
And I want to understand basketball. Like, really understand it. A ton of people watch basketball casually. I want to see it.
What does that even mean? Well, I’m fascinated by the strategy behind it. Why do players and coaches make the decisions they make? I want to see the 3D chess of the game. I’d also like to be able to hold my own in a pickup game.
And that’s what HoopSong is. I’m grinding through skills primers and strategy breakdowns on Youtube, crushing any basketball content I can find, from documentaries to movies to playbooks.
If the courts aren’t covered in snow, I shoot around every morning with my daughter. If I can get a game of pickup going, I will. I’m on a quest to understand basketball.
So this is where you can follow along as I fill in the blanks with questions you probably can’t even imagine an adult asking. Like, why was Kobe so great, how do you shoot a basketball, or what exactly is a foul anyway? Okay, the foul thing might be reasonable. I don’t think anyone quite knows the answer to that.