OK, if you are tired of hearing about basketball then you can take comfort that this will be my last post about it until the ACC tournament. But, as you know my middle school boys who were undefeated all year long lost the championship game. Well as some consolation, last night our high school 9th and 10th and 11th and 12th grade teams played for the championships and both won. I went home feeling a sense of relief and pride for both those team's accomplishments. I also felt exhausted. I have literally watched or been involved in 5 games the last two nights. That is a lot of basketball. And not particularly healthy for a type A competitive soul like me. I learned a lot. Let me share with you some of the things I observed/learned over these past two nights.
1. "Churched" people don't act any different from non-"Churched" people in the heat of the battle. Can I be honest? Let me be brutally honest. It was down right embarrassing and disappointing watching so called "Christ" followers act so un-Christlike during the games. I heard people cussing and complaining and whining about calls. I saw boys acting like Kobe Bryant when they were called for fouls. I even saw the people in charge of running the whole operation act in ways that I thought were completely inappropriate. It literally made my stomach upset. Now don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that I am a saint by any stretch of the imagination. Anybody that knows me knows that I can act foolish too. But for crying out loud, when you are representing your church and more importantly, when you are representing Christ, ACT LIKE IT. I know to say "It's just a game" is cliche. But it is just a game.
2. Expect the unexpected. One of the things that I have learned growing up in and around sports my whole life is that on any given night, any given team can win. Think of all the teams throughout history that have demonstrated this principle. NC State in 1983 beat a highly favored PHI SLAMMA JAMMA Houston team that was expected to win it all. In 1985 Villanova beat Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas. And of course, just this year the NY Giants dismantled the previously undefeated Patriots. Who would have expected that? Well, for the last two nights I experienced and witnessed unexpected victories and losses from teams that weren't expected to win or lose. How does this happen? Who knows? But once again, I have learned that when it comes to championship games always expect the unexpected.
3. White men (boys) can't jump. One of the things that I love to see, especially from affluent churches in southeast Charlotte and Weddington, is racial diversity. In fact, the ideal for our church to me is that we would be a highly multi-cultural group of people. But anyway, last night I saw quite a few African American boys playing their hearts out and as I watched, something that became abundantly clear is how high and how fast many of those boys could jump and run. One of the questions that I have always had is why African Americans seem to run so fast and jump so high? I still don't know the answer and definitely don't want to speculate. But the fact still remains, compared to African Americans, white men (boys) can't jump. Sorry guys!
4. Attitude is everything. I can't stress this enough, but a positive attitude and the belief that you can come back or that a ref's call wasn't all that bad makes a huge difference in the outcome of the game. Attitude coach Tom Newberry says this, " thinking, talking, and worrying about what you don't want can never bring you what you do want." So many times over these last two days I saw coaches and players alike arguing about and worrying about what they didn't want rather than focusing on what their goal was. That is a huge mistake! No area of our lives is untouched by our attitude and thoughts and when they become negative, performance generally follows the same pattern. Attitude is a crucial ingredient for winning.
5. Losing is hard but it's not the end ! Let's face it, if you are competitive like me, losing is one of the hardest things you will ever have to do. I am still feeling the effects of watching my team fall Monday night. At the same time, I am already thinking about how we will win it next year. That to me is what makes coaching and life in general fun. Sure losing stinks, but knowing there is always tomorrow to start all over again helps me keep hope alive. Today's losers may be tomorrow's biggest winners. I hope that is the case in my life. Until then, I will just keep on trying.
We would have won on Monday if you would have let me call the shots like I did in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Posted by: Brett | March 05, 2008 at 01:08 PM