Average

Average is virtually profanity in most athletic circles because no one wants to be it. And I understand why. Average is kind of that status that you can arrive to seemingly without hardly doing more than the minimum on any given day. Show up, go to class, at least turn in your homework and don't give the teacher a hard time. That should just about do it - AVERAGE! But I'm realizing that most of the world I encounter seems marginally interested in average. Many I talk to are far below average based on how hard they DON'T work or how much they think people owe them. I often witness people who want riches, success and fame but can't spell. Oxymoronic is an understatement. AVERAGE used to be a byword. Now we're refreshed to see an average effort and that's alarming. God has called humans to incredible capacities that are insulted every time we settle. I hope the world will tire of its cheating at pick-up games of basketball at LA Fitness. It's so unbecoming for people to cheat, rob, and feign knowledge as a means to get "stuff" in life. If people had average initiative or better I wonder how much better the world would be.

6ixth Man Part 2ish

I'm trying to make sense on a daily basis of what exactly the sixth man is in my life. I'm certain it is Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, I attempt to understand how I can invoke the advantage of the "Sixth Man" in every area. Where can I compete with a one-man advantage? Well i find that the opportunity is at every turn. What man doesn't need the sixth man advantage when faced with vices of a world that rationalizes truth with opportunism. I mean...am I the only one who grew up around adults who said, "You're acting like you're grown" as if to say that right now you can't say certain things or do certain things but when you're an adult have at it. When we are exposed to such a culture, stewing in the juices of compromise and quasi-commitment it is no wonder we struggle to exist with bonafide loyalty and unmitigating truth. The "Sixth Man" becomes crucial in a world like ours because we're overmatched. We are the enemy we face in so many areas. The best analogy I can think of is Wesley Sni;es starring as the superhero "Blade". He hunts vampires bent on human blood and despises them. But he himself is the very thing that he hunts. He staves off his hunger for humans with a potion. The potion is his "Sixth man" or else he'd be competing and losing a pretty one-sided battle. If you missed the Blade movies, rent them so you get my analogy. Otherwise just know that in this world, no one stands a chance against evil minus the "Sixth Man". Character is multi-faceted, represented by many virtues but they all originate from the same source...Jesus Christ. All that is good has been birthed and you need the power of the creator to produce that good in the heart of one who is a product of a corrupted planet. Long live the Sixth Man in you and me.

Sixth Man Part 1 (maybe)

So I was trying to put into words a title that represents a philosophy of athletics that is both honorable before God and yet indicative of a desire to perform at peak potential. My wife came up with Sixth Man. The Sixth Man is the player you want to be if you sit the bench. I sat the bench sometimes and would think to myself..."Self, it would sure be nice to just be the first guy off this bench into the game. I mean, the starters have to tire sooner or later."

Take the NBA for instance. Manu Ginobli off the bench? Or in Orlando, Hedo Turkoglu off the bench? Whatever man, those guys are starters masquerading as bench players. The Sixth Man brings energy though and lots of it. If you're the Lakers, last year the bench mob was like a sixth man of sorts. Jordan Farmar, Rony Turiaf, Sasha Vujacic and whoever else they mixed in with those guys played like they were shot out of canon.

What's the point? The Sixth Man should give you the depth you need to assume a position of advantage in a contest. So then figuratively speaking, the sixth man for any athlete or person, for that matter, is ... drum roll... "CHARACTER". Character is forged from myriad characteristics like courage, poise, integrity, preparation, faith, devoutness, genuine piety, humility and about a thosuand other things. Here's a ready example. You are UCLA playing 18th ranked Tennessee in your home openeer. We're talking football now. If you lose, so what. If you win, wow, you did it with your third string quarterback and a brand new head coach. So the sixth man is integrity and an insatiable desire for perfection. YOU DECIDE that it would not honor God if you didn't give your best effort and you resolve to expose the fact that Tennessee is not playing like a ranked team tonight. So you abandon whatever excuses you were going to make, play defense and win in overtime when the Volunteers miss the field goal to tie. The Sixth Man won that game for UCLA and it wins games for you when you understand that there is always an advantage. The sixth man is perspective and wherewithal. It is housed in the realization that you need others as much as they need you and that you cannot excel alone. It is also defined by taking your eyes off obstacles and analyzing the task in front of you. Do you have sixth man?

NBA...What to Say?

Today is April 30, 2008 and Avery Johnson is the former coach of the Dallas Mavericks. He was fired today. While the coach of the Dallas Mavericks he won more than 170 regular season games but lost 12 of his last 15 playoff games. And in the NBA, according to Tim Legler of ESPN, that will get you fired. Mike D'Antoni, coach of the Phoenix Sun could soon find himself out of a job according to critics. But the NBA is an ethical enigma. Drug use by players is prohibited and for insurance there are four random tests throughout the season. That is scrupulous to say the least. But there is an arguably unhealthy premimium on not just winning but winning in the playoffs. Coaches are given 2-3 years to produce if they show signs of life by winning regular season games. When that "almost-a-champion" phase has exhausted itself, NBA franchises search for the missing pieces (i.e. Jason Kidd and Shaq") complete their puzzles and march to the next step. Teams will do anything to win even if it undermines the coach. I'm pretty convinced that coaches know how to win once the right ingredients are at their disposal. But it's clear that coaches do not always have the authority they represent. Coaches are cogs just like players. They are a means for the parent organism to flourish and when they become expendable, teams release them too. It's hard to believe that winning isn't enough but it isn't. Winnng at the end is all that matters to Mark Cuban. But I don't remember him playing in the NBA which Avery Johnson and Mike D'Antoni both did. Yes, the NBA is a compex riddle. The NBA Cares but it does so for communities domestic and abroad by utilizing its member, the players/coaches. These men are the image of the NBA in flesh and bring the league millions of dollars. Nevertheless, if they should falter because of an increasingly competitive Western Conference, Heads roll. Johnson will find another job soon. I'm not worried about that. But one thing is certain, professional basketball is a big boy industry with unreasonably high expectations to match its exorbitant salaries. Good or bad, it's definitely business.

Arrogance: Part 2

The last blog was a reflection about a gifted young athlete I observed that was missing humility. He brandished his selfishness refusing to pass the ball and insulted both opposing players and the game of basketball itself. But why is arrogance bad for sport? Where's the edge in competition if you don't have a swagger. I find that it's hard to talk about humility to winners, people who have success doing it their way. When an athlete employs arrogance and destroys the competition, who am I to refute it? In a debate I now realize I cannot argue against arrogant players who champion their prowess and point to the score board when they are criticized. We'd like to say that prideful people soon come to ruin but I've learned that this "ruin" isn't necessarily described in terms of losses. So what is it that arrogance does that is so corrosive? Answer: The corrosive piece associated with arrogance is DECEPTION. It's been said that deception is what it is because you don't know it's happening to you. So in essence, the arrogant athlete is of the belief that he/she will never be in a position of want. The arrogant athlete operates from a well-founded position of authority because he/she is more gifted than the masses. But there are forces in the world that can strip the arrogant athlete of his/her power. Athletes are a commodity, as quiet as it is kept. They build reputations for high schools, attract new recruits for colleges and make money for everyone except the athlete until draft day comes, if it comes. In the shadows lurks the law system, jealous friends and potentially spiteful administrative bodies. Arrogance makes one expendable over time the way a slow cooker prepares the evening meal. Ten years may pass as the athlete simmers in his/her juices of arrogance and when the athlete is done stewing, he/she is surrounded by one of two things: cut-throat opportunists or no one at all. Arrogant athletes create a scenario where they are only worth as much as they can produce. But the humble athlete gets a pardon when performance starts to tail off. The humble athlete is kept on the team because he/she has value beyond ability and it is this value that moves an athlete from simply phenomenal to contagious. Arrogance isolates you and makes your teammates wish you forgot your shoes. Humility creates synergy so that your desire to win is multiplied exponentially. So the next time some arrogant player defends him/herself saying that arrogance is my cold-hearted edge, admit that they are correct. The humble competitor finds his/her edge in preparation and not in brashness and you can promise the arrogant athlete that his/her edge will cut them from the inside out.

Arrogance: Part 1

I attended a high school all-star game on Saturday between the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and Pasadena Star News teams. If you're not familiar with this prep all-star game, I won't bore you with the names of the high schools involved. What I will say is that it is amazing what talent can buy certain people in this world. I watched an athlete who wore the #3 for one particular high school team from Pasadena. His athletic skills were unparallelled as he slashed the lane, snatched rebounds from above the rim and fluidly coursed through the competition as if they were stationary cones from an obstacle course. He won the slam dunk competition and posted MVP honors for his team at game's end. But don't mistake my honesty for impression. I WAS FAR FROM IMPRESSED. I was appalled. When you are as gifted as this young man, the world takes notice and immediately begins offering you approval. You can ignore your teammates, yell derogatory statements at opposing competition and neglect playing defense but all people see is that you can straddle three people on your way to an electrifying dunk. When you're arrogant and talented, people say, "He's got to be that way....it gives him his edge." These are fitting words because an edge is what knives have and they can be used to complement lives or destroy them. This young man I observed was consumed with himself and he made fans of his own team angry. I sat in the stands watching sponsors and coaches coddle this player. "Which Division I are y'all going to," the player heckled to opposing teammates. If I were the coach of his all-star team, I would have subbed him out immediately for the duration of the game. When will the sports world send messages to young athletes that giftedness does not equal superiority. Everyone needs limits. Arrogance may as well be cancer because one day we'll all be average and not the talk of the town.

Why do you play?

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.

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?"

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?

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?