What is the Real Power of Television?
Cross Post from Jack Yoest.
Yesterday, Your Business Blogger was on a major university campus in East Asia watching students play basketball outdoors. Acres of concrete courts. A football-sized outside arena with dozens and dozens of hoops.
The play is not quite like the intramural competition in USA. On this side of the world the students don’t play defense. Just shooting.
So I ask my host about this — offense only, no defense.
I’m expecting a deep relevelation of cultural differences. A difference in innovation or strategies or team play or ego or losing face. Maybe something about DNA differences?
Nope.
The answer?
American TV.
These students watch ESPN. They learned to play basketball watching America’s NBA.
Where you will never see any defensive play.
The basketball style of play will probably change when college ball is broadcast into East Asia.
So. The world is watching the USA. And picking up some bad habits, in addition to watching Spong Bob Square Pants.
Years ago, during the Michael Jordan era, while visiting Manila, I watched some vertically challenged high school boys taking turns standing bent over facing a basket. Another student would run toward the basket, step on his friend’s back and launch himself at the basket and attempt a dunk. The best part was while in mid-air the kid would try to stick his tongue out like he had seen Jordan do on TV. Neither the dunk nor the tongue were ever done simultaneously, yet they had hours of fun.