LeBrawn or LeBrain? Looks like Both

There was no hesitation in his voice when asked what the strongest part of his game is. He replied with the utmost confidence and made it known to the world, as if there is no chance anyone can crack the unique bond between his unearthly physical prowess and cognitive superiority. Lebron James and his mental game are dynamic, and he defines both brain and brawn in ways that those before him have not even dreamed -- meaning, what 6'9" player do you know that can drive, dunk, dish, and defend like that? On 60 Minutes last night, the court King explained:

"The way I approach the game mentally. I think, team first. It allows me to succeed, it allows my team to succeed. Because I'm always thinking about, 'How can I help my teammates become better?' I've always approached the game that way, ever since, I mean, I was a kid."

Seems as if he does a gift, as he personally advertised. He said he never got into trouble as a kid. He stayed on the right path. He found security and refuge inside the gym. He developed a mindfulness from his mother and his moving around, one that allows him to this day to pay attention to details, to support those around him, to take care of those closest to him. His maturity is quite creepy, considering he is 24 years young and an unprecedented phenomenon.

Could he really average a triple-double sometime in his career? Oscar Robertson did it with no 3-point line and when assists were only counted on a pass leading to a basket with NO dribble in between. Could he become the best ever, even though he wants to become a billion dollar athlete with a business he is learning on the go? Will his overwhelming industry dream, supposedly developed from his self-proclaimed "realness", distract from his NBA championship goal? It's a different day and age from the one his idol, MJ, started -- but he, LJ, is doing his best to amplify the creation and all its unique elements.

Cerebral Matter

Each week, “Cerebral Matter” highlights articles, anecdotes, and analyses related to the psychological aspects of performance.


Head Games in auto racing:

The battle for the IndyCar championship is won on the course, but Helio Castroneves is trying to influence the outcome off the track.

Castroneves, who enters Sunday's Detroit Indy Grand Prix on Belle Isle 43 points behind driver points-leader Scott Dixon, has refined his strategy to include mind games with the New Zealander.

"I'm trying to do everything I can," said Castroneves, who will start on the front row with Dixon after turning in the second-fastest qualifying lap Saturday of 102.412 mph. "We're trying to get into his head."

Sarah Palin is prepared to deal with pressure. After all, she was a sportscaster and still is a competitor.


Ian Poulter is fed up and sick of dealing with distractions:

"It's just so mentally draining to be in this position, to listen and read and to get all the b.s all week. It's seriously, seriously mentally draining."...

...“They are the people I feel really sorry for,” he said. “They are going to be feeling pressure as it is and you don't want to be standing over a three-footer with so much doubt in your mind, not knowing if the ball is going to run straight.”

Music is great to listen to on many levels. It can change a person's mood instantly – one of the reason athletes use it to mentally prepare for competition. But, did you know listening to those tunes can actually help one heal?


Modeling is how we learn. Young athletes emulate veterans in various ways. Players even choose their numbers based on who they love as kids:

“When I was in high school, I used to watch basketball and the Chicago Bulls,” Aceves said this morning. “Dennis Rodman was one of the best players at that time. The way he played, he played a lot mentally. He made the other players get frustrated.”

But you’re not nuts, right, Alfredo?

“But I’m not nuts,” Aceves said, laughing.

Is your favorite coach really that valuable?


Can Nadal keep up his torrid mental pace?

“I think I help a little bit, him to play to this level,” Nadal said. “He played well today, but I didn’t play with normal intensity. I play a little bit less intensity than last few months for sure. Probably I’m a little bit tired more than usually.”…

…Despite flying from the United States to Beijing and back in the last two weeks, Nadal said jet lag was not as much a problem as mental fatigue from a grueling season.

Is an addiction to crossword puzzles healthy? What is happening in your mind gym?


Maybe it’s ok to be bored…at least some of the time:

In a recent paper in The Cambridge Journal of Education, Teresa Belton and Esther Priyadharshini of East Anglia University in England reviewed decades of research and theory on boredom, and concluded that it’s time that boredom “be recognized as a legitimate human emotion that can be central to learning and creativity.”

Basketball Connections

Many thanks to freelance writer David Friedman for taking the time to write about MIT basketball and aspects involved in the psychology of performance.

Check out the two separate articles here:

David’s blog at 20 Second Timout

SLAM Online - Athletic Intelligence


Also, TrueHoop reported an article from Newsweek about the brain-body connection (originally in Nature) in athletes that ties into research about mental imagery and its effect on athletes. In my doctoral dissertation, I found that the higher rated basketball players in the study were also more effective kinesthetic imagers – meaning they can sense action in their bodies and on the court before it occurs.

Cognitive Collapse

Pressure can cause strange reactions. It can cause one to overreact, tighten up, or cloud one’s judgment. Whatever the case, if it’s not addressed with even a brief brain bout, the initial result can turn into an epidemic. Illustration: a championship event. Closing out a basketball game can be difficult on many levels, and Memphis learned that the hard way last night. With 8:50 left in the game, Kansas led 47-46. At the 2:12 mark, Memphis led 60-51 after Rose and company compiled a sizzling span in which the point guard himself scored 10 points. The Tigers looked like they were poised to cement the so-called “dream team” label, but the stability they used to get to that state suddenly vanished.

They gave up an uncontested jumper with 1:56, then threw the ball away as Kansas canned a three. CDR made two free throws, but his team went on to miss four of its next five. He also missed a crucial jumper that would have given Memphis a four-point cushion. Meanwhile, Kansas made two more freebies, another 2-pointer, and the clutch three to tie it with two ticks left. The OT was no contest. Memphis collapsed and Kansas capitalized. Emotions shifted. San Antonio became a swing region, where one party that had made such progress suddenly saw its seasonal development evaporate into the Texas air. A team that appeared confident for so long allowed the intensity of the moment to probe and then plow, forcing regrettable pressure to rise. And then, as Billy Packer gloriously commented (and I actually agreed with him), we witnessed the ability, rather inability, to make shots when pressure was paramount.

What happened to the 38-1 squad during the final, fatal fourth? Strong defense diminished. Heel-playing began. Hope overtook expectation. The mental game became most influential. Panic prevailed. Playing fast and being aggressive worked for Memphis. Slowing pace and having to think did not. For example, when it was shut off from the lane, by virtue of the lockdown man defense that cut off right hands and partly because of the box-and-one, creating shots in the half court became more difficult. The Tigers didn’t have enough re-routing power to combat the clutter. Couple that with a contaminated motor program in the last couple of minutes that prevented a smooth stroke and all Coach Cal was left with was a clowder of cats to be categorized as catastrophic.

The brain needs millions of neurons for a player to shoot and make a free throw. Complex functions occur at blazing rates that make use of all of the lobes and human senses. A plaguing thought or even an abrupt delusion can corrupt the shot, causing negativity, constriction, and, ultimately, misfire. Unfortunately for Memphis, the infection spread swiftly, just as the wings of the Jayhawks extended into "Self"ish history.

Other madness observations

• It took the “premier” college basketball announcer around four game minutes to realize the Jayhawks were in a box-and-one … once he did, he was very proud, repeating the finding a half dozen times.

• Is it me or does Digger Phelps incessantly bully Dicky V.? During the pre-game on ESPN in which the panel of experts was seated adjacent to the water, Bob Knight, in an explanation about officials not calling obvious charges said, “I can take Dick and with one finger I can push him back.”As Knight pressed Vitale’s chest with his index finger, Digger chimed in. “Not far enough … Right in the river, baby! … Say goodnight Dick! … Can you swim?!”
  

• The Stanford women wear black uniforms to intimidate, run the triangle offense, have a 20-point scorer, shoot more than 72 percent from the foul line, and hold teams to 56 points per game at 35 percent field goal shooting. Let’s see if those details work out against the defending national champions who average 78 points per game and have the best player in the women’s game. Should be another great one.

Getting High More Than Mental

In 2001, I had an article published in the now defunct Boston Sports Journal that described the phenomenon known as the "runner's high," a feeling of ultimate enjoyment and possible euphoria engendered from intense exercise. My claims were mainly based on personal experience and other runners' accounts, however, there was no scientific evidence to demonstrate any fluctuation of brainy chemicals during physical activity. The theory existed with no proof.

Rousing research has recently informed us that what was thought to be valid for so many years really is; that something actually is occurring in the brain. That something (or those somethings) are increases in narcotic-like chemicals in the blood known as endorphins. The exciting finding, made possible via PET scans, is that endorphins were produced in higher quantities in the emotion relegated parts of the brain which provided the runners in the study with the high feelings. It's no longer purely a psychological manifestation or an educated guess that the brain's functions are responsible for the change in an exerciser's mood.

I'd like to see a similar experiment with athletes besides everyday road runners or marathon maniacs. Scan football or hockey players before they go out and create enough chemicals to feel no pain at all (discounting the morning after angst). When potential injury or harm to others is possible, what parts of the brain are activated besides the limbic (emotional) and prefrontal (organizational) areas? If pain receptors are somehow strengthened or manipulated to be more resilient during an extreme stimuli provoking activity, the reaction may suggest a flight or fight response.

More so than a pure adrenaline rush, the brain prepares the body for painful outcomes and also helps to organize the motor processes and decision making of someone in danger. The strong survive because they are able to generate more excitement, increase intensity, and become more resilient to whatever force may strike (whether it's an opponent, the pounding of the pavement, or a ball headed straight for the body).

Athletes who train on a daily basis and who are made to practice hard with contact and more physical force may indeed be training not only bodies, but their brains to achieve the high more often. The reality of the physiological high gives more credence to coaches who insist on training the mind as much as the physique. The ability to bounce back and be mentally tough just may be possible because neuronal chemicals are collaborating and attacking the target in one's head, so that the reaction is psychologically created from physiological mechanisms.