David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

best player.
“Think about football,” Ranadivé
said. “The quarterback can run with the
ball. He has the whole field to throw to,
and it’s still damned difficult to
complete a pass.” Basketball was
harder. A smaller court. A five-second
deadline. A heavier, bigger ball. As
often as not, the teams Redwood City
was playing against simply couldn’t
make the inbounds pass within the five-
second limit. Or else the inbounding
player, panicked by the thought that her
five seconds were about to be up, would
throw the ball away. Or her pass would
be intercepted by one of the Redwood
City players. Ranadivé’s girls were
maniacal.