A week after being once again edged out by HBS in the US News business school rankings (HBS #1, Sloan #4), Sloan suffered a much more humiliating defeat in the first annual HBS-Sloan Basketball Classic.
Although advertised as a means to bring about greater interaction, understanding, and friendship between the two powerhouse b-schools, this game was actually just another thinly veiled excuse for twenty overly-competitive males to show who the alpha dog was. So that whimpering sound you heard last week wasn’t a first year drowning in three case days or a second year realizing that her two year vacation was quickly coming to an end, rather it was Sloan’s hoop team slumping away in defeat to another exciting night of regression analysis and proving complex theorems.
Okay, so that might be a bit over the top, particularly when you consider that Sloan’s team led most of the game and was only overtaken in the final minutes by the Dream Team’s sheer desire and heart (yes, yes, pompous HBS’ers calling themselves the Dream Team, how typical). Sloan dominated the game early, especially on the boards where their taller players were able to gobble up loose balls and kick it out to their sharp shooting guards. Another advantage Sloan utilized was a large crowd presence and two very funny announcers who kept everyone engaged.
With the home court advantage, the crowd, and a slew of behemoth businessmen, it looked like Sloan was going to take home the victory and a year of much-deserved bragging rights.
But what Sloan didn’t count on was a little thing called heart, a noun called will, and a streetcar named desire. People have been trying for years to bottle up and sell motivation, from Britney Spears using Zantrax-3 to the Air Force pushing go pills, but if a major pharmaceutical could somehow bottle the determination of Dave Tompkins, Chris Long, and Torarie Durden then they would really be in business. This threesome led the charge and got the team fired up, proving instrumental in the come from behind victory. Other major contributors to the team included Chase Chavin, Dan Holley, Scott Schweitzer, Patrick Scott, Jason Phillips, Billy Rahm, and Dan Reed. Also, the shaggy appearance – and some say even the performance – of the HBS squad was significantly improved by Rachel Saget, who provided high quality, just in time jerseys for the entire team.
A special thanks to her, and a special thanks to MIT for hosting this event.
