The Useless Tree

Sports

  • Friday Yi Jing Blogging: Yankees will win Wild Card playoff game next week!

    Using the Yi Jing to predict the outcome of sporting events is a tricky enterprise, as my Super Bowl forecast demonstrated this year.  But the Yi always leaves open the possibility of human folly and contingency, and, thus, is not… Continue reading

  • An Yi Jing Super Bowl Prediction: Seahawks Win!

    Following up on my Sunzi Super Bowl analysis, I thought it might be good to consult the Yi Jing about the outcome of tomorrow's big game. This was made easier last evening by a group of friends who urged me… Continue reading

  • A Sunzi Super Bowl Analysis and Prediction: Seahawks 21, Patriots 17

    It has been a long while since I have attempted a Sunzi Super Bowl assessment.  My first foray was back in 2007 and, while the terms of the analysis were quite useful, my ultimate prediction came up short (damn you,… Continue reading

  • The Dao of Wolverines

    Just had to mention this article, which reports that Jon Horford, a forward on the University of Michigan basketball team, is a student of the Daodejing.  Fantastic.  And it seems that the young man has a good grasp on the… Continue reading

  • Baseball Yi Jing Wisdom

    On Friday night I had the pleasure of talking with Jim Bouton, a former pitcher for the New York Yankees.  Regular readers will remember that I am a Yankees fan, a Daoist Yankees fan at that.  So, it was quite… Continue reading

  • The Olympics and Selective Westernization

    I think it is safe to say that the Olympics, as a concept and "movement," emerged in the modern era as a European project to universalize certain values of competition and character-building.  A Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, revived a… Continue reading

  • Mao Zedong and the PRC’s Olympic Gold Anxiety

    First of all, let me send out congratulations to all the Chinese athletes at the London Olympics.  There have been many outstanding accomplishments, gold and non-gold, for a truly great team. And much has been made about the gold rush. … Continue reading

  • LeBron James, Daoist Sage

    OK, not really.  But one aspect of the narrative of his NBA championship did bring Zhuangzi to mind (I'm reading Zhuangzi and the Daodejing closely just now,  so many things bring Daoism to mind…). Last year, when he failed, James… Continue reading

  • Jeremy Lin and Chinese Soft Power

      Let me add my voice to the chorus: Linsanity is Lintastic! By now, everyone knows Jeremy Lin and his marvelous emergence in the NBA.   Not only in the US, but in China as well, where he seems to… Continue reading

  • Mariano Rivera: Daoist Sage

    Baseball fans out there know that history was made yesterday: New York Yankee Mariano Rivera set the all time record for career saves.  I (and, remember, I am a Daoist Yankee fan…) was lucky enough to listen to the final… Continue reading