Member-only story
The Mirage of the Big Market Threat
The big lights of a city are no longer the only reason a young star leaves a small market, and it is time that we admit that it’s all about winning
The first time I ever saw a mirage was when I moved to Amman, Jordan from New York City. In Amman, there are a lot of hills throughout the city. On hot summer days, I would walk up some of these hills only to reach their peak and look down and see what would look like pools of water. Walking further toward them would reveal that they were just an optical illusion.
I think about seeing those mirages over and over again while I lived in the Middle East for a few years, and think how the concept of a mirage applies to so much in our lives. Where what we see or perceive is not what it appears to be. This appears in our personal lives and even in the teams that we follow. Recently, there was an article written that eluded that the New York Knicks were in a position to get prominent free agents because of their connection to the sports super-agency CAA (thanks to team president Leon Rose being a former CAA agent) and the agency’s connection to players and media personalities at ESPN and other outlets.
Any Knick fan that hears even the suggestion of the Knicks having the inside track on a potential free agent or favorable media coverage will instantly retort with all the times that didn’t…
