Baseball, the Miami Heat and Determination

Will they be able to buy a championship?

I have come to loathe the Miami Heat.  It’s not because they’re in the NBA Finals and my team isn’t.  The Sacramento Kings have never made it to the Finals, and at this rate, seem relegated to picking high in the draft for the foreseeable future.  They’ll be lucky to remain in Sacramento.

No, I dislike them for the same reason I hate the Yankees.  There seems to be an arrogant idea that they can either buy, or manufacture a national championship.

Pay-Rod has never come through when it matters

When Lebron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwayne Wade this past off-season it aroused questions as to what would have happened if Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson had played on the same team during the 80′s and 90′s.

Michael Jordan said, “There’s no way, with hindsight, I would’ve ever called up Larry, called up Magic and said, ‘Hey, look, let’s get together and play on one team,’ but that’s … things are different. I can’t say that’s a bad thing. It’s an opportunity these kids have today. … In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys.”

Magic wasn’t a huge fan of the idea either.

Magic said, “We didn’t think about it, ’cause that’s not what we were about, from college, I was trying to figure out how to beat Larry Bird.”

Even though Bird and Magic have become close friends, Bird recently acknowledged that it was the competition between them that drove Bird to be a better player.

“I remember back in my days, I’d rather play against Earvin Johnson than play with him, he’s a guy I always compared myself to. I’d rather stay in Boston and let him stay in L.A. and just compete every year in the Finals. That’s what made me a better player”, Bird said.

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When I woke up this morning I read something disturbing on Facebook.  A baseball player posted a comment about his desire to leave Aloha High School and transfer to another school.  His reasons weren’t academic or program related.  It’s because he wasn’t happy about the record of the baseball team at Aloha.

I’ll be honest…I hate losing.  Aloha’s varsity program went 1-14 in league play this year.  The junior varsity and freshman programs both won only two games a piece.  With that in mind, I’d like to point out a few things that contributed to this result for the varsity team:

1. John Dunn, the head coach, is in his first year with Aloha.
2. The Metro League is home to 4 of the top 10 teams in Oregon.
3. 2 teams in the Metro League are currently in the semi-finals for the 6A State Championship.
4. The #1 team in the state is in the Metro League.
5. The team that Aloha beat, was ranked 4th at the time, and as a result, dropped to 14th in the state.

I don’t say any of these things as excuses, only as background.

The Greatest Hitter of All Time

With all this in mind, I have little respect for those that run when the going gets tough.  These are individuals that will never be successful at a high level because they can’t handle adversity.

Some of the greatest players in history never won a championship.  Cal Ripken Jr., Ernie Banks, Tony Gwynn and Carl Yastrzemski were never on World Series winning teams.  The greatest hitter of all time, Ted Williams, never won a World Series ring.  It’s interesting to note that all of these players began and ended their careers with the same team.  Ripken reportedly took pay-cuts at multiple points in his career in order to allow management to sign young talent to help the team.

In order to be truly successful, sacrifices are necessary.  Rather than changing teams to hide your weaknesses, invest in your own game to be the best possible player you can be.  Be the player that everyone points back to and says, “Man, remember that kid?  He could hit the cover off the ball”, not the one that people don’t remember at all.  Be the stand out.  Be the change you want to see.

This is also true in other areas of life.  If things aren’t going the way you want, running away doesn’t solve them.  Typically your problems are there waiting for you when you return, or arrive at your new destination.  Giving up rarely works.  If you have a conviction about something, be a leader rather than a follower.  Let people know your reasons for disagreement without stomping your feet and throwing a temper tantrum screaming, “I’m taking my ball and going home!”  At the same time, don’t delude yourself into thinking that you have the market cornered on truth and perfection.  There was only One who was perfect, and you’re not Him.

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30 May This entry was published on May 30, 2011 at 8:40 am. It’s filed under Leadership, Life, Pride and tagged aloha high school, arrogance, baseball, basketball, cal ripken jr., carl yastrzemski, chris bosh, competition, dwayne wade, ernie banks, larry bird, lebron james, magic johnson, miami heat, michael jordan, NBA, new york yankees, Pride, ted williams, tony gwynn, warriors. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.