Friday

LeBron's Teachable Moment

I can't count myself as one of the legion of super-knowledgeable sports fans. I don't follow drafts and picks. I can't rattle off rosters, nor do I know any teams salary caps and so on and so forth. For whatever, that's just never been my thing. If I'm not competing I've always had a hard time immersing myself in the life of another athlete.

But that doesn't mean I'm not a sports fan (to my wife's chagrin), and that doesn't mean I don't get excited to see true warriors emerge, be it on a basketball court, tennis court, football field, track or in a swimming pool (sorry Golf, I'm not including you).

I was very excited going into the contest between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics --- a team I've passionately hated since the age of ten. A darling of the Jordan era of the Bulls, there was no way I can ever support them. "It's the principalities of the matter."

Instead of a contest where the supposed warrior god LeBron was expected to move into the next round I perplexedly watched him and his team implode and then appear to be surprised about it. What I was treated to however, was the amazingness that is Rajan Rondo.

"Next year, other teams looking, what it's going to take for him to win a championship, blah, blah, blah." The experts and super fans can argue themselves silly over this. What I will say however is that no man is a team, and no man, no matter how talented should expect things to go their way without effort. Game 5 was an effortless performance by the man dubbed the best basketball player on Earth. Maybe currently, but until Michael Jordan passes on into the next life, LeBron shouldn't be burdened with this mantle. Did he think it was going to fall out of the sky? Did he honestly believe an older, harder team was going to hand it to him? In the end only he knows what was going through his mind and not driving him.

And here's the lesson: talent without effort is nothing. Skill without discipline is wasted skill. The Celtics knew LeBron was better than each of them individually, so as a team, they combined, quadrupled effort and worked harder to defeat him and his Cavs.

For all of you out there with sons who have dreams of being this new Number 23, please instill in them that effort is everything. A hard worker can spot a person more talented than them a mile away and if there is any chink anywhere in their armor, the hardworker will cut that person off at the knees and shove their talent right down their throat --- each and every time.

I'm no Ph.D. is sports. But that's just my two cents.