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Why Davids Win: They Ignore Goliath's Rules

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted May 5, 2009 7:47 PM CDT
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(Newser) – When it comes to David vs. Goliath-style battles, the underdog’s secret weapon is always supreme effort, Malcolm Gladwell writes in the New Yorker. From that Biblical encounter to Lawrence of Arabia’s stand against the Turks to a winning, but unskilled, California girls’ basketball team, “legs” tend to triumph over power. Taking the contest into unorthodox territory—an overmatched basketball team using the full-court press, for example—is a recipe for success.

Though it works—a study of historic confrontations shows Davids won almost two-thirds of the time when they “acknowledged their weakness and chose an unconventional strategy”—it’s not a popular tactic, Gladwell writes. Why? It’s hard. “The prospect of playing by David’s rules” is “too daunting.” When basketball coaches see the toll a full-court press takes on their players, they “would rather lose.”

Donatello's 15th-century bronze statue of David.
Donatello's 15th-century bronze statue of David.   (AP Photo)
German priest Markus Bomhard displaying Playmobil toy figures modified by him to depict Biblical characters David and Goliath.
German priest Markus Bomhard displaying Playmobil toy figures modified by him to depict Biblical characters David and Goliath.   (AP Photo)
Girls' basketball.
Girls' basketball.   (AP Photo)
Yakama Nation basketball team fan Mackenzie McConville, 6, right, playfully wears the jersey of a player.
Yakama Nation basketball team fan Mackenzie McConville, 6, right, playfully wears the jersey of a player.   (AP Photo)
The character Underdog.
The character Underdog.   (Flickr)
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The full-court press is legs, not arms. It supplants ability with effort. It is basketball for those “quite unused to formal warfare, whose assets were movement, endurance, individual intelligence . . . courage.” - Malcolm Gladwell, quoting T.E. Lawrence

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COMMENTS
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nathanielfoster
May 6, 2009 12:43 PM CDT
I understand the point this article is trying to portray. However, the story of David and Goliath, which I doubt very seriously ever occurred but exists merely as a parable, is a non sequitur in this situation because a supernatural being intervened on behalf of David to win the battle for him.

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basketball • war • insurgency • David • Goliath • underdog • conflict • tactics

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