Saturday when I was at the Honda center I watched fans get excited, stand then sit and root for their respective teams. It made me wonder,"How much do these fans really factor into what's happening on the hardwood?" The Bruins made a run late to secure the victory against Texas A&M and the crowd stood up with its U-C-L-A FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT business. But does Luc Richard Mbah...Shipp, Westbrook or the others get amped by the crowd? You have to think that the last two years have been very successful years for Bruins. They've been to the championship game and the final four the last two years only to be handed defeat by some well coached Florida Gators. You'd think that by now they were on a mission and don't need the inspiration of bunch of fans.
But the question remains, "Why do players play?" Better yet, "Why do you play?" I used to say that I played out of love for hoop. I was lying. Truthfully, I played to prove my worth to people. "Look, I can play. Somebody, anybody, look at me dunk a basketball. Please be impressed. Tell me I'm worth something." It's like there was some little kid inside me keeping me from enjoying the game the right way. But have you ever been honest with yourself about why you do the things you do? Why do you play the game? And better still Why should you play the game? I'm curious....let's get this conversation started.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
The "Answer"
Yo, it's rare that I give props to players who play for teams that rival the Los Angeles Lakers. I like to focus people's attention on Kobe, Ronny Turiaf, Lamar Odom, etc...But let's talk about Allen Iverson for a minute. (Sorry, I know it's March Madness right now but this is worth discussing) Many people, myself until a few years ago, did not know that Allen Iverson was a standout football player in high school. He played quarterback, cornerback, punt/kick-off return as well as running back. Coaches around his league said he was clearly the best player on the field at anytime. Before he made the varsity football team, 200+ people would come to his J.V. games just to see him play. He could "humm" that ball, as we used to say where I'm from, a good 40 yards down field and might scoot for a pick-up of 40 yards on any down. I attached the video clip to this blog so you coudld see it for yourself. He was such a gifted athlete and still is. I'll make this a two-part entry so here's the question for discussion, "Why did he choose basketball?" and secondly, "What makes him so determined to win?"
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Into the Fire
On Saturday, March 22 I was lucky enough to score some tickets to the NCAA tournament games in the afternoon. The first game featured Stanford vs. Marquette and the second was UCLA vs. Texas A&M. I want to ask a question though for you to respond. What would you do if the guy or girl who gets all the attention on your team was injured or unable to play for some reason. How would you respond? Stanford had the chance to deal with that on Saturday when their head coach received double technicals and was thrown out of the game. When your coach is thrown out, everything changes. He or she has his/her system: plays they prefer to run, substitution patterns, methods for how they talk to the team, etc...But what about when your coach is gone or the player who scores 20 ponts/game for you goes down. Stanford found out they had two big men, brothers I think, who refused to lose. Brook Lopez scored the winning basket shooting an awkward baseline jumphook with only seconds left to play. It was a grind-it-out kind of win for Stanford while being coached by the guy who never gets any attention, the assistant coach. What do you think about stepping up when the coach or player in front of you goes down? How do you prepare for something like that so you're ready when it happens? Have you ever been in that situation?
Monday, March 10, 2008
How Angry Are you?
Anyone can be angry but you must be angry enough to improve. An article on Ezinearticles.com said this concerning anger:
“Angry people have a certain perception and expectation of the world that they live in and when that reality does not meet their expectation of it, then they become angry.” (Tristan Loo, What Causes Anger?)
It seems that anger is synonymous with displeasure. When it surfaces, it aggressively attempts to interrupt or punish the source of the displeasure. What is noteworthy is that perception has much to do with describing the emotion of anger. Perception provokes a feeling. For example, why is it that a woman could step on her husband’s eyeglasses and upset him. But if he found that she stepped on his glasses because she had accidentally set herself on fire, he might be less prone to accuse her of malicious intent. In other words, he would not be mad at his burning wife because he perceives that she was merely trying to put herself out when she stepped on his foot. Perception matters.
I learned this truth not playing basketball and found that anger is as common as breathing. It is said that anger impedes domination by providing us an internal gauge for how much “crap” we will actually take. But I offer this. Anger in its truest sense must prompt one to actively improve himself and his environment. Anger is a common emotion that I remember experiencing in sports as early as about age 8. We have it as babies, undoubtedly exhibited through tantrums, but I never noticed how much it involved perception until I played college basketball.
By the time I was a sophomore in college, I had anger associated with self-validation that was six years in the making. In high school I only played quality minutes as a senior. That means I sat the bench for three years and then finally got to play. The more athletic I became, the less I understood about my inability to secure playing time and this is where discontent turned into anger.
My anger symptoms consisted mainly of resentment, apathy and diminished concentration. I hated my teammates and coach, pretended not to care about team objectives and found it difficult to learn in practice. I perceived that somehow I was destined to fail. It was as if the entire world knew I was a horrible basketball player masquerading as an effective one. The fear was that maybe I really did think I was better than I actually was. I could see myself being a fraud and this sickened me. However, before long I discovered that I could not be a fraud if I was “capable”. I would learn in college that capability is not defined by minutes played but by effort in competing, time in preparation and precision in execution.
As a sophomore looking to develop over the summer before my junior season three things became a physical priority: 1. ball handling, 2. Shooting and 3. Agility. I dribbled, shot and worked out more than any of the previous years before a season but was met with disappointment at the start of the regular season. The less I played the angrier I got and the more determined I became to add superior skills to my basketball repertoire. An interesting reality check always occurs when you have the control to attain what is needed but instead only get angry. The reality check involves your motives and questions whether or not you are disappointed or vested in changing what you perceived is wrong. Anger is an impetus meant to inspire and protect. If we are not willing to improve ourselves and our environments (i.e. social, work, home, etc.) then we are unfit to be angry. Anger is an intense emotion that accompanies the release of adrenaline in some instances (???). Anger can inflict misery but it can also provide a catalyst for necessary change. This revelation led me to alter how I processed anger.
In lieu of detracting from the team, I decided that I would hone and utilize my skills to become a dominant practice player. Could I improve the quickness of my first step so that my drive to the basket was indefensible? Could I make eighty percent of my shots in drills and 50 percent with someone guarding me? Could I guard players heavier than me by improving footwork and hand positioning? Personal challenges became channels for my anger. I truly competed against myself and over the remainder of my basketball career, I attempted to win the battle of useless vs. useful anger. How about your anger? Is it useful or useless?
“Angry people have a certain perception and expectation of the world that they live in and when that reality does not meet their expectation of it, then they become angry.” (Tristan Loo, What Causes Anger?)
It seems that anger is synonymous with displeasure. When it surfaces, it aggressively attempts to interrupt or punish the source of the displeasure. What is noteworthy is that perception has much to do with describing the emotion of anger. Perception provokes a feeling. For example, why is it that a woman could step on her husband’s eyeglasses and upset him. But if he found that she stepped on his glasses because she had accidentally set herself on fire, he might be less prone to accuse her of malicious intent. In other words, he would not be mad at his burning wife because he perceives that she was merely trying to put herself out when she stepped on his foot. Perception matters.
I learned this truth not playing basketball and found that anger is as common as breathing. It is said that anger impedes domination by providing us an internal gauge for how much “crap” we will actually take. But I offer this. Anger in its truest sense must prompt one to actively improve himself and his environment. Anger is a common emotion that I remember experiencing in sports as early as about age 8. We have it as babies, undoubtedly exhibited through tantrums, but I never noticed how much it involved perception until I played college basketball.
By the time I was a sophomore in college, I had anger associated with self-validation that was six years in the making. In high school I only played quality minutes as a senior. That means I sat the bench for three years and then finally got to play. The more athletic I became, the less I understood about my inability to secure playing time and this is where discontent turned into anger.
My anger symptoms consisted mainly of resentment, apathy and diminished concentration. I hated my teammates and coach, pretended not to care about team objectives and found it difficult to learn in practice. I perceived that somehow I was destined to fail. It was as if the entire world knew I was a horrible basketball player masquerading as an effective one. The fear was that maybe I really did think I was better than I actually was. I could see myself being a fraud and this sickened me. However, before long I discovered that I could not be a fraud if I was “capable”. I would learn in college that capability is not defined by minutes played but by effort in competing, time in preparation and precision in execution.
As a sophomore looking to develop over the summer before my junior season three things became a physical priority: 1. ball handling, 2. Shooting and 3. Agility. I dribbled, shot and worked out more than any of the previous years before a season but was met with disappointment at the start of the regular season. The less I played the angrier I got and the more determined I became to add superior skills to my basketball repertoire. An interesting reality check always occurs when you have the control to attain what is needed but instead only get angry. The reality check involves your motives and questions whether or not you are disappointed or vested in changing what you perceived is wrong. Anger is an impetus meant to inspire and protect. If we are not willing to improve ourselves and our environments (i.e. social, work, home, etc.) then we are unfit to be angry. Anger is an intense emotion that accompanies the release of adrenaline in some instances (???). Anger can inflict misery but it can also provide a catalyst for necessary change. This revelation led me to alter how I processed anger.
In lieu of detracting from the team, I decided that I would hone and utilize my skills to become a dominant practice player. Could I improve the quickness of my first step so that my drive to the basket was indefensible? Could I make eighty percent of my shots in drills and 50 percent with someone guarding me? Could I guard players heavier than me by improving footwork and hand positioning? Personal challenges became channels for my anger. I truly competed against myself and over the remainder of my basketball career, I attempted to win the battle of useless vs. useful anger. How about your anger? Is it useful or useless?
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