A Magical Day in Richfield

Seeing this article about the new NBA record for points scored by a single team in regulation by the Nuggets made me think about a historic basketball game I saw as a kid.

It was January 29, 1980. I was 8 years old. A bunch of guys--old guys, young guys, dads, and kids--from my church in Shelby, Ohio, crowded into cars to go see the Cleveland Cavaliers face the Los Angeles Lakers at Richfield Colisseum, the home court of the Cavs back in those days.

I don't really remember much about the records of the teams going into the game, or what the playoff implications might have been. I don't think I followed records or stats at that age. But I was a Cavs fan (and a Browns fan and an Indians fan), so going to the game was a big deal.

Ironically, I don't remember too many of the Cavs players. Sure, I recognize some of the names from the roster, but I don't really remember their playing very much. Except for Bingo Smith, who was my favorite at the time. I actually remember more of the Lakers players from that era than Cavs players.

Going to an NBA game is special enough for an 8-year-old kid, but this day was really over the top. First, I got Michael Cooper's autograph before the game. Amazing.

But the magical part was that this game turned into a quadruple overtime win for the Cavs, 154-153. It was like two games in one, and the Cavs came out on top in the end. The game was special enough in Cavs history to appear as #7 on the list of all-time great Cavs moments.

I wish every kid could have a chance for an experience like that.

The Wave Nature of Vehicles, or The Wavicular Duality

I just read an article about new research on wave patterns in traffic flow. This has been a topic of fascination for me since I took my first physics class in high school.

I recently had a discussion with a co-worker about personal-sized vehicles that touched on this topic. The thought was that personal-sized vehicles could be designed to chain together (like a train almost) and allow the driver of the first vehicle to control the entire train.

There are several benefits:

1. For a commuter, this frees all but the first car from any driving concerns. The occupants of trailing cars can use the time for reading or work without needing to drive.
2. It would improve fuel efficiency. Not only are the personal-sized cars more likely to be fuel efficient individually, but the chain of cars would be even more fuel efficient due to a longer aerodynamic profile.
3. The traffic congestion would decrease because the chain of cars would operate as a unit, eliminating the effect of many separate cars.

To make this chain of cars concept fair, the couple between cars should be smart enough to allow equal energy contribution from each car. Also, braking should be applied by each individual car in the chain.

It's interesting to think about. The problem is how to get enough critical mass for an effort like this to make it realistic.

Maybe I'll expand on these thoughts later.