2 – Love & Wisdom vs. Postmodern Power: A Brief History of the Conflict in America

Basket-Foot-Golf: How Paradigms Work
In our last session, I teased you with some imagery.

Imagine walking on an athletic field and seeing a group of people trying to dribble footballs through a sand trap. Take second to really visualize that.

To our left, there is a coach talking about the proper golf club selections for the free throw line and goal line.

To our right, we see a person wearing shoulder pads put a big orange ball on top of a small white tee, and try to hit it with a 5 iron.

Behind us a person practices kicking a small dimpled white ball from behind the three-point line painted on a strip of grass.

One coach is teaching a seminar on how to score the most strokes. Another is teaching a seminar on how to score the fewest baskets. Which one is right?

As the participants go through this, they seem confused. Disoriented. Their activity doesn’t seem to have any particular purpose. It is just what they are doing.

What the heck is going on?

When we came upon this scene, most of us quickly recognized the orange ball as a basketball, the white ball as a golf ball, and the brown oblong ball with stitching as a football. The clubs people are using are golf clubs. The tees are golf tees and football kicking tees.

Of course the participants are confused and disoriented. They’re trying to play three unrelated sports simultaneously. They are confusing football, basketball and golf. Watching this, we know quickly that whatever they are trying to do, it will never work.

These three sports are all ways to understand and play a game, but they are very different.

Each sport is a self-contained system independent of the other sports.

Each sport uses the same words like rules, ball, team, playing surface, scoring and win, but the way each sport understands these words is very different. Sometimes the way each sport understands these terms is opposite.

Essentially, each sport is a different paradigm for athletic competition.

What’s a paradigm? A paradigm is defined as “A set of assumptions, concepts, values and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them.”

That’s the technical definition of paradigm. A much easier way of thinking about paradigms is the example we’re talking about. Football, basketball and golf are all different paradigms—different ways of understanding—how to play a game.

In football, you use a large oval ball, run plays and hit people hard. There are 22 positions with 11 on offense and 11 on defense. You move the ball forward by running with it or passing it. You can make one downfield pass per play. You score by running or passing the ball beyond the goal line, or by kicking the ball through goal posts at the end of the field. You win by scoring more points than your opponent.

In basketball, you use a large round ball and get kicked out of the game for hitting people. You move the ball forward by dribbling it or passing it. You are not allowed to run with it. You pass the ball repeatedly during play. The same five people play on offense as defense. Like football, basketball games have time limits. Unlike football, play is continuous through offense and defense. You score by tossing a ball through a hoop at the end of the court. Like football, you win by scoring more points than the other team.

In golf, you use a small, dimpled ball and move that ball forward by hitting it with a club. You never touch other players and time is not generally kept. While passing the ball is fundamental to the game of football and basketball, throwing a golf ball down the fairway will get you disqualified. You can play as part of a team, but you usually play as an individual. While football and basketball go back and forth on the same playing area, golf is played on 18 different areas. You don’t win by scoring the most points, but by scoring the fewest strokes.

Three very different paradigms for playing a game.

Clearly,