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The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

grantland.com

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

#71

Post by VLM »

qq66 wrote: post #43
ZoF wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The company site has zero reference to his past and is registered under his birth name(different from his stage name), so I don't think that's a card he plans on playing. Do you think he could really have an opportunity to receive 2x pricing? I think there might be a certain opportunity in illustrating the novelty of his past somewhere on the site, but I honestly don't believe most consumers(even for something large…

There are definitely consumers who are willing to pay 2x the market price for a job exceptionally well done. However, they're not going to assume that because someone juggled exceptionally well that they'd do an equally good job at construction. He'll have to build his reputation in the industry independently, and given that he's not using his juggling persona to market his construction company, it seems like he's OK…

"However, they're not going to assume that because someone juggled exceptionally well that they'd do an equally good job at construction."

That's because construction work is a very large field and honestly resurfacing cement doesn't translate very well to juggling.

Now find a construction job that requires working under stress, lots of attention on you, attention to detail, focus on quality, able to repeatedly meet goals and deadlines, maybe a popular analogy with juggling...

How about general contractor? A guy like him has the brain to be a legendary GC, no marketing BS required. If he can twist his brain into using his eyes and mouth to keep 20 subs on track out of each others way, working multiple subprojects and tasks in the correct complicated order and on time instead of using his arms to throw things, I'd pay him a multiple of a typical GC because he would net save me time and money. On a big job, he could be extremely financially valuable, which could be very rewarding to him.

Or if he's not set up financially / people skills wise to be a GC then his legendary coordination and planning skills would make him an awesome heavy equipment operator. I've seen what a truly good crane op can do, and he could be one of the best. One of those guys who works the machine at full speed yet perfectly smooth and 1/4 inch accurate.

Not seeing how troweling cement makes best use of his unusual skills. Then again, if he likes what he's doing, he wins.

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

#72

Post by pbhjpbhj »

gcv wrote: post #40

Speaking as a juggler: I've seen Gatto in performance (in Kooza in 2008); he's every bit as good as the article says. I've also seen (and met) many other top jugglers. And yet, to be honest, while I appreciate the talent and skill required to do the kinds of numbers and moves Gatto does, and even though I understand the difficulty of pulling off, e.g., 7 clubs or 7-ball 5-up 360s or 6-club backcrosses — I find this t…

Completely agree about that Falco Scheffler video, it's great - https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_C... appears to show him with more than 2 hands! [He does do 5 balls at one point though.]

I think the benefit of less balls is that one can actually follow the patterns whilst with more balls/clubs/objects it's all a bit of a blur and one is respecting the skill but not really getting much out of the visual appearance. Like listening to music written/performed for the listener versus written/performed as a technical demonstration of the skill of the musician.

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

#73

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #69
Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That graph is something else. Interestingly if you saw that for an athlete today, how many people wouldn't automatically assume drug use?

Bradman could presumably have used drugs. But then so could others. A quick search revealed this http://sportsanddrugs.procon.org/view.timeline.php?timelineI... review of the use of performance enhancing drugs (from the original Greek Olympics on to modern times) which I found diverting.

That is really interesting - particularly some of the things they thought would be enhancing performance.

I want to see a version of the Olymipcs where all the contestants are off their faces on opium.

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

#74

Post by galfarragem »

hessenwolf wrote: post #65
galfarragem wrote: post #64

>>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. Resuming: If you are at the top in one hierarchy that doesn't reward you according to your position, what should you do? a) Stay and struggle (even with some niceties ex:social status). b) Move to the…

There exists a continuum of possibilities between those extremes.

You can do anything, but not everything - David Allen

I tried during last years (I'm also dealing with this problem) to be somewhere in the middle of this 2 solutions but doesn't work. To be in the top of one hierarchy (and get the niceties) you need focus. Nowadays to that continuum of possibilities I would call indecision.

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

#75

Post by goatforce5 »

anoncow wrote: post #53
avalaunch wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to look him up to, but once I found this, I understood why he went with Donald Bradman over Pele or Jordan or Ali. http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/the-most-remarkable-graph-in-...

I assume OP is from the commonwealth. Don Bradman is a household name here

And I ask you is he any good?

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

#76

Post by davidw »

jonah wrote: post #51
davidw wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eddy Merckx?

My friend just got to ride with and photograph Eddy: http://pelotonmagazine.com/shutter/flanders-dispatch-day-one... The guy's still going strong.

Wow... I'm envious! That's really cool.

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

#78

Post by sosuke »

kamaal wrote: 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…

I'd love to read a story about a 'Hacknight' that was a wild success where everyone got 6 figure bonuses.

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

#79

Post by thisone »

ryandrake wrote: post #16
kamaal wrote: 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 :-)

ahh, I remember the day my boss told me the exact amount of happiness and motivation I was to come into work with every day (gestures and happy faces were made to show me the exact amount). (and this was after they missed payroll)

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

#80

Post by withme »

unhammer wrote: post #55
gcv wrote: post #40

Speaking as a juggler: I've seen Gatto in performance (in Kooza in 2008); he's every bit as good as the article says. I've also seen (and met) many other top jugglers. And yet, to be honest, while I appreciate the talent and skill required to do the kinds of numbers and moves Gatto does, and even though I understand the difficulty of pulling off, e.g., 7 clubs or 7-ball 5-up 360s or 6-club backcrosses — I find this t…

As a fellow juggler (well, former, I don't really juggle much these days) I agree. I find Gatto amazing in the same way other world record breakers are amazing, but apart from going "wow" it didn't feel inspiring to me as a juggler. OTOH, there are world-class jugglers who go in different directions and do feel inspiring. I remember when I was starting out, this group with Jay Gilligan, Ville Walo and some other Finn…

Also a fellow juggler, but I have always felt the opposite, actually. (And have frequently felt like I'm in a minority.)

I could watch technicians practicing 8 balls, 10 rings, crazy site swaps, endless 5 club back crosses, etc. in a gym for hours. I have certainly enjoyed and appreciated the Jay Gilligan and Michael Moschen's of the world, but the overwhelming majority of "artsy" juggling just doesn't work, at least for me. For every Gilligan/Moschen/etc routine that I've seen that I've thought was well done, I feel like I've seen 4-5 that just fall totally flat for me.

At the other end of the spectrum, the "entertainer" jugglers that are aiming for a non-juggling audience I find almost impossible to watch. They are technically uninteresting, and I just can't get into the endless stream of lame jokes and winking at the crowd. Just awful. I would actually much prefer to watch Gatto practice than do one of his Vegas performances. The performances are impressive technically, but I find absolutely nothing about the presentation entertaining.

I think the reason that I feel this way is that I've always enjoyed the process of juggling (figuring how to do something, figuring out techniques for how to break down a trick into pieces, mastering each piece, etc) more than the end result (a polished, performable trick).

Back when I was juggling a lot, once I felt like I mastered a trick, it didn't really hold much interest for me anymore. When actually juggling, I would much rather spend my time trying to eke out a few more catches of 7 than toss 5 around more or less indefinitely.

But like I said, I've often felt like my preferences here are not all that common.

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