Bah Humbug

Through an entry in Wikipedia today I found out
what a humbug really is. Now the Scrooge story
makes so much more sense.

In the 1800's entrepreneurs often engaged the
public in good natured hoaxes for entertainment's
sake. They were called "humbugs". Think of them
as something akin to our modern day tabloid
stories of Bigfoot's love child or aliens. Most know
they're not true, but people still pay to read about
them. P.T. Barnum was just such an entrepreneur.

In the late 1860's evangelical preachers spoke
often on the subject of giants in the land from the
Old Testament. When George Hull an archeologist
from upstate New York happened across a gypsum
quarry in the Midwest and came up with a money-
making idea.

He had a big slab cut off and shipped incognito to
Chicago where an expert stone cutter turned it into
a stone replica in of a giant who had died in the
throes of agony. The detail was amazing and sulfuric
acid and stain were used to age the figure.

Hull then had the statue shipped by rail to the farm
of a relative and buried in the dead of night. There
it lay for a year until genuine fossils were found in
the area, and the cousin had some well-diggers
"discover" the giant supposedly turned to stone.

Soon thousands a day were coming from all around
and paying 50 cents to see the fossil giant. Ten days
later two-thirds interest in the giant was sold to a
local banker David Hannum for $30,000. Because
of Hull's credentials the banker was convinced the
find was genuine, and it was moved to an exhibition
hall in Syracuse where they charged $1 a head to
view it.

P. T. Barnum then made an offer of $50,000 to
buy the piece, but was turned down so he hired
a crew of workers to carve a giant of his own.
Within a short time, Barnum unveiled HIS giant
saying Hannum had sold the original to him and
Hannum was now displaying a fake! Because of
his reputation more people than ever flocked to
see Barnum's giant.

It is at this point that the banker Hannum --
NOT BARNUM -- was quoted in the newspapers
as saying "There's a sucker born every minute."

Still under the impression HIS giant was authentic,
he was referring to the thousands of "fools" that
paid money to see Barnum's fake and not his
authentic one.

Hannum brought a lawsuit against Barnum, but
when it came to trial Hull stepped forward and c
onfessed the original had been a hoax. The judge
ruled Barnum could not be sued since Hannum's
giant was a fake after all.

Now though Hannum's name has been lost to
popular history while Barnum is left with the
misplaced stigma of being the one to say
"There's a sucker born every minute."

While the fundamentals of good shooting are
pretty much universal I'm sure you've heard
some things that have made you scratch your
head. Even conflicting information or
misinformation.

Keep your elbow in. Don't worry about the
elbow, just get it above the eyebrows. Relaxed
wrist, firm wrist. Focus on the front rim, back
rim, net holders, etc.

Well meaning and effective shot coaches do
disagree which is why I expose you to a variety
of approaches. You have to make the instruction
yours through practice and decide what works
best for your body type and mental approach.

Shoot For the Stars,

Dean - The Dean of Shooting Hoops

P.S. I like Hal Wissel's shooting approach because
I believe the points he emphasizes are the ones
that matter most. In his DVD though he's working
with shooters who are mature physically. That
doesn't mean it won't work for younger players
too because I know Hal and his sons do teach kids,
but I think it would be best for athletes who've at
least gone through puberty. Check it out for
yourself at:

http://www.deandelker.com/wissel_order.html