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The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

grantland.com

11–20 of 103 posts

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#12
post #2

Because there's no money in juggling?

This article is much more about the journey of his life and the journey of a journalist to answer the question. The final answer means very little; there are a myriad of reasons he quit. Perhaps you should read the article. It's very enjoyable.

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#13

I used to run the world's biggest juggling video repository (JuggleThis.net, now defunct) which itself was definitely responsible for a lot of the irritation Gatto found with the new generation of camera-happy juggling kids. Certainly he was frustrated by newcomers filming 100 takes and showing just one (something I'm guilty of too!). But without being a juggler yourself it's hard to express just how much better than…

I'm not ashamed to admit I had to look up Donald Bradman. Cricket? That's the analogy you went with? :-)

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#14

I used to run the world's biggest juggling video repository (JuggleThis.net, now defunct) which itself was definitely responsible for a lot of the irritation Gatto found with the new generation of camera-happy juggling kids. Certainly he was frustrated by newcomers filming 100 takes and showing just one (something I'm guilty of too!). But without being a juggler yourself it's hard to express just how much better than…

I'm not ashamed to admit I had to look up Donald Bradman. Cricket? That's the analogy you went with? :-)

OP is Aussie. As a fellow Aussie this makes perfect sense

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#15
post #9

>> Will it get me another job? ... If you can’t understand why I don’t waste my energy on doing seven balls overhead for a minute to make a youtube video for people to watch, then you haven’t entered the real world yet. I had a similar discussion with my office colleagues a few weeks back. When there was a call for a 'Hacknight' at our workplace to drive revenues up, when a SVP panicked he was going to miss his targe…

[deleted]

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#16
post #9

>> Will it get me another job? ... If you can’t understand why I don’t waste my energy on doing seven balls overhead for a minute to make a youtube video for people to watch, then you haven’t entered the real world yet. I had a similar discussion with my office colleagues a few weeks back. When there was a call for a 'Hacknight' at our workplace to drive revenues up, when a SVP panicked he was going to miss his targe…

Hey, wait, I don't know about you, but I've always thought one of the most rewarding parts of working in tech was being lectured about motivation by someone with 10X my salary, 100X my bonus and 1000X my equity stake :-)

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#17
post #7
post #4

I don't see any tragedy here and I doubt Gatto/Commarota does either. He did something amazingly well as a kid and young adult, had fun with it and has now decided it's time to move on. The tragedy with top sports-people is often when they retire and have a lot of trouble adjusting to not being the best in the world at something. From the article it sounds like Commarota finally got tired of the constant stress on hi…

I agree, I see no conflict or tragedy also. He is a man that has pursued excellence, understands quality, likes to work for himself (performer, landscape gardener, etc), seems to have a competitive edge but also seems wise to it, and has demonstrated keenness to carefully coach others or explain how to do things. It should be quite a successful business.

That's probably the most insightful view going - I was simply thinking of him as yet another construction guy. But add that to his story / marketing / brand and ... I will pay extra for the proof of a guy willing to be painstaking to achieve excellence.

Given my current troubles with builders, this is a 2x pricing opportunity for him - quite seriously

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#18
post #9

>> Will it get me another job? ... If you can’t understand why I don’t waste my energy on doing seven balls overhead for a minute to make a youtube video for people to watch, then you haven’t entered the real world yet. I had a similar discussion with my office colleagues a few weeks back. When there was a call for a 'Hacknight' at our workplace to drive revenues up, when a SVP panicked he was going to miss his targe…

Hey, wait, I don't know about you, but I've always thought one of the most rewarding parts of working in tech was being lectured about motivation by someone with 10X my salary, 100X my bonus and 1000X my equity stake :-)

you forgot being lectured about taking risks (or wasting my life on making better advertising) by assholes who've already made theirs and never have to worry about how they're ever going to afford to buy in the bay area, raise a family, pay for college, etc. It's easy to take a risk on a job when you don't need the money...

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#19

I used to run the world's biggest juggling video repository (JuggleThis.net, now defunct) which itself was definitely responsible for a lot of the irritation Gatto found with the new generation of camera-happy juggling kids. Certainly he was frustrated by newcomers filming 100 takes and showing just one (something I'm guilty of too!). But without being a juggler yourself it's hard to express just how much better than…

I'm not ashamed to admit I had to look up Donald Bradman. Cricket? That's the analogy you went with? :-)

In terms of "sportsman who is so far ahead of his peers that it's almost impossible to explain how", then yes, I think Bradman fits the bill!
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