Following up on a recent post about how as a child, I began gravitating towards sports over music, in part as a way of fitting in and being considered “normal” among the other kids. There were other factors that drew me in, such as growing up when the Chicago Bulls, led by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, dominated the NBA for a decade.
I may have also mentioned some time ago on this blog that
sports has been a way I’ve been keeping in touch with a couple friends from
college. For the last month, conversation on our sports email thread has been
dwindling, but there’s no shortage of interesting stories (or at least, stories
I find interesting). One current storyline has been the resurgence of the
Golden State Warriors. (My one California friend I visited on my “epic” trip 11
years ago that I still keep in touch with and who I converse with via these
sports email threads is from the Bay Area and consequently a fan of all San
Francisco teams. Needless to say, he’s been excited by the good play of his
teams this year.)
One topic of interest: recently, Stephen Curry became the all-time leader in 3-point shots made, passing Ray Allen, who previously had
held the record. While I did not watch the game (I almost never watch any of
the games, as I don’t have a TV), I got to see video clips of the highlights
via ESPN.com and via YouTube. Reggie Miller, the previous record-holder prior
to Allen and who now sits third all-time in 3-point shots made, was also on
hand at the game, by virtue of his current job as an analyst for TNT when they
broadcast basketball games. It was really cool to see both Allen and Miller on
hand for the occasion, not only being great sportsmen but also encouraging
Curry and celebrating the event with him. They each presented him with their
jerseys from when they played (Allen gave Curry his jersey from when he was
with the Boston Celtics; Miller gave Curry his jersey from when he was with the
Indiana Pacers), and they also presented Curry with a unique jersey. This jersey
had his name and the team he plays for (the Warriors), but in place of the
jersey number it had the number 2,974, which is the number that broke Allen’s
record of 3-point shots made.
I previously mentioned about how my sports fandom has
changed. I still root for my teams: right now, the Chicago Bulls are exciting
and perhaps the most exciting they’ve been since the late 1990s, and that’s no
knock on the Derrick Rose-era Bulls. This group, led by Zach LaVine, DeMar
DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, Lonzo Ball, and Alex Caruso, are incredibly fun to
watch. While I personally don’t think they’ll get past Giannis Antetokounmpo’s
Milwaukee Bucks in the playoffs, I still enjoy watching them.
One difference though is that I can still enjoy watching
them play (when I watch the highlight videos, that is) and be ok understanding
that it’s unlikely that they will beat every team in the playoffs. Another
difference, remarking on how my sports fandom has changed, is that I have
tended to root more and more for athletes that appear to have good character. On
the one hand, I do tend to think it’s unfair how much better Curry and the
Warriors appear to be compared with the rest of the league (and while he has
recently taken first place in the number of career 3-point shots made, he still
has at least 5 years left in his career, meaning he is likely to put this
record out of reach in ways that Miller and Allen didn’t). On the other hand,
Curry and the Warriors generally tend to have good character. Even teammate
Draymond Green, historically known for running his mouth sometimes, has shown
personal growth. (He still speaks out, but how he has spoken out has
changed to reflect maturity.) And so on.
As such, my Bay Area friend has many reasons to be excited.
The San Francisco Giants also had a very good season in 2021. They finished
with the most wins in baseball but lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first
round of the playoffs. However, my friend claims a moral victory from such a
loss in that he believes the Giants took the Dodgers down with them, as Los
Angeles lost in the subsequent round against the eventual baseball champion
Atlanta Braves. Still, a good season for the Giants.
My 2021 season as a fan, Bulls aside, hasn’t been so great.
After the Blackhawks’ most recent championship in 2015 I’ve returned to my
previous pattern of almost not following them at all. From what I understand,
they’ve been horrible, and they continued to be horrible in 2021. The Bears
apparently have also had a bad season, after being a playoff team two (?) years
ago. I expect that the ownership group will fire the general manager and the
coaching staff once the season is over. Historically, the Bears have rarely
been well-run, and I think for them to succeed they will need to find another
group to build a championship contender.
The White Sox made the playoffs, but, like the Bears, they
historically have not been run well, even when they’ve had good teams
(something that occurs on a “few and far in between” rate). And then the Cubs –
well, I’ve talked about their season here. They are
at least honestly trying to reboot, which I respect. Time will tell to see how
that goes. I still see hope, though.
My predictions for champions in 2022 are as follows:
- NFL: Tom Brady’s Buccaneers over [OK, I admit I have no idea who is good in the other football conference. It goes to show how much I follow the NFL.]
- NHL: no idea. (see above)
- NBA: Golden State Warriors over Milwaukee Bucks
- MLB: Los Angeles Dodgers over Houston Astros
I’ll admit, considering that I follow the NBA and MLB closely,
I expect that as we approach the playoffs for each league, I’ll re-predict the
champions (and runners-up), and they will likely be a little different from my
current predictions. Predicting and re-predicting is something I enjoy doing,
specifically for the sports leagues I actually follow. At this point, I do it
purely for the joy of predicting. I always have a reason for predicting, and it
isn’t necessarily always because of stats or numbers (in fact, it often isn’t),
but rather a read on interpersonal relationships within a particular team. I
can tell when a team is on the same page vs. when a team isn’t. I enjoy
predicting based on these types of storylines.
Speaking of storylines, there are two more that I wish to
offer my two cents on. One is currently unfolding, and the other is more a
revisitation of what I had long believed and assumed about retired players who
played not only on the teams I rooted for, but also on our rivals. The first storyline
is Kyrie Irving. Recently, my respect for the man grew. For many years, my
opinion of the man was that he was talented but selfish, a man who would say
one thing and then change his mind later, a man who would sign a contract with
a team and then say he “needed a break from basketball” and just up and leave
his employer without proper notice, let alone adhering to the terms of his
contract.
He kinda-sorta did that again this year, in response to New
York City’s vaccine mandate, and also in response to the Brooklyn Nets’
subsequent response to suspend him from all activities. In another case,
another player, Andrew Wiggins, whose employer (the Warriors) also is in a city
that has a similar mandate, caved. Like Irving, Wiggins held beliefs that the
vaccine was not the answer. (See my previous post on my thoughts about
mandates.) Now, before any of my readers brands me as an “anti,” note carefully
that I never said it was wrong for anyone to get the shot. I explicitly said
“to each their own” in regards to it. I still stand on that.
Another player, LeBron James, apparently only recently
received the COVID vaccination, after holding out himself. As far as I’m
concerned, that’s his decision. From what I could tell, both his decision to
wait and his decision to receive it was entirely voluntary, without any
pushback or pressure. Wiggins, however, caved. The reason he gave was “it was
either the vaccine, or no basketball.” The article also said that no one else
in his family received the shot. These things tell me that he was heavily
pressured, in part because of San Francisco’s mandate, but also that, while he
complied, it was not entirely voluntary. (It was voluntary only inasmuch that he
had an option to not play basketball if that was the route he wanted to go, but
that’s it.)
It is for this reason that my respect for Irving has risen
exponentially in this time. He was the one willing to take a firm stand for a change and
back it up. He has refused to cave. For someone to risk not playing basketball,
to risk his career, his stats, any other professional accolades, let alone to
continue being able to earn a living, because he felt strongly enough about the
research he has done to take a firm stand, I respect that. He decided he wasn’t
going to be pushed around, not by the New York City government, and not by his
employer, regarding a conviction that he had.
Of course, it was a gamble. But interestingly, it has paid dividends. The Nets recently caved and invited him back to the team on a
part-time basis (allowing him to play with them for road games). This happened
because, although apparently everyone else on staff (players, coaches, training
staff, front office staff, etc) has been vaccinated against COVID, it still
didn’t stop an outbreak among the team. I am also aware that Irving apparently
also tested positive for COVID along with the others and had to be quarantined.
But the fact remains that Irving refused to let himself get pushed around to do
something against his convictions, and he won. I suppose it also helps that he
is as talented as he is.
Perhaps this is what buried Wiggins. While Wiggins clearly has
been instrumental to the Warriors’ success this year, he’s not a superstar like
Curry and therefore doesn’t have the same leverage. Without Curry, the Warriors
would likely be terrible; without Wiggins, it’s possible that the Warriors
would still be good, albeit perhaps not as good as they have ended up being. On
the other hand, Irving is a superstar, and in a sport where the presence or
absence of a superstar has a much larger effect on a team’s overall performance
(compared to baseball or football, for example), I suspect he was also able to
rest on the leverage he had. As such, I respect Irving for recognizing it and
using it. And now, once he has cleared the COVID protocols, he will indeed be
cleared to play.
I find it sad now that so many people have vilified Irving.
Perhaps some of it is deserved. Seemingly he’s broken every unwritten rule of
“loyalty” that we have come to expect in sports. And I agree, it did not look
good when he pledged his “loyalty” to a previous city (Boston) and previous
employer (the Celtics) on the eve of the beginning of his last season on the
contract he had at the time, only to reverse it during the season, and
ultimately signing his next contract elsewhere. I will also admit that there
are times when I don’t fully understand Irving’s thought process on things.
But, like the rest of us, he has the freedom to decide what he wants to do with
his life.
I am on the fence regarding whether he truly has an
obligation to us, the fans, in anything that he does. On the one hand, because
he is such a public figure thanks to his talent, anything and everything he
does is front-page news, whether on the court or off the court. On the other
hand, we are adults ourselves and therefore hold personal responsibility
regarding whether we place Irving as a role model (or teach our children to do
the same), or not. I’m not going to argue one extreme or the other, because one
the one hand, I agree with Irving: he’s not responsible for our idolization of
him or other athletes; on the other, because he is such a public figure,
everything he does will affect us, whether he likes it or not. That’s simply a
natural consequence of fame.
Weighing these two perspectives, I still find myself respecting
Irving’s decision regarding the COVID vaccine. It is indeed his personal
decision, and it should stay that way. At the same time, because his decision
is public, like everything else in his life, it also offers hope for anyone who
has felt pressured to get the shot against their convictions. If such a high-profile
individual can continue to stand on his convictions and win, then that in
itself offers hope for others who don’t (or appear not to) have the same
leverage that they too can stand on their convictions and win.
Finally, to end this post, I wish to share a perspective
that has been growing over the last few years. I didn’t follow the Bulls’
rivalry with the “Bad Boy” Detroit Pistons, but I’ve read about it and I’ve
certainly heard about it. I’m familiar with how the Pistons used physical
intimidation to bully the Bulls into submission, a tactic that worked for a few
years, anyway. I’m familiar with the Pistons’ reaction when the Bulls finally
broke through and swept them out of the playoffs en route to their first
championship. I remember later watching the Bulls’ playoff battles with Reggie
Miller’s Pacers. In all of that, I recall growing up with the belief that
Jordan and Pippen were “good” and that guys like Isiah Thomas and Reggie Miller
were “bad.”
However, in following more recent conversations around not
only Jordan and Pippen, but also watching clips of retired NBA players talking
about their playing days, I’ve come to found that guys like Thomas and Miller appear
to be genuinely good human beings. In his playing career, Thomas evidently made
many enemies, including with some guys that he had previously been friends
with. Since then, he’s made up with some of them and now is considered in a
more favorable light in retirement among his peers. Just as importantly, he is
seen favorably among younger, more-recent retirees who played after he’d
retired. Miller was the guy that I considered a jerk when he played. But, as I
commented earlier in his post, he was genuinely happy for Stephen Curry setting
the new record for 3-point shots made. Like Thomas, Miller seems to also have
respect and admiration among his peers (and among those that came after) in
retirement that he may not have had when he played.
Getting to hear Thomas and Miller’s stories, especially from
a reflective perspective, helped me start to see them in a new light. I’m still
grateful for what Jordan and Pippen did for the city of Chicago in the 1990s. I
will be grateful for their hard work and accomplishments for the rest of my
life. And yes, Thomas and Miller were rivals to my teams. But I would probably
enjoy chatting with them more today over Jordan or Pippen, if I ever were to
get the opportunity.
I suspect I will always remain a sports fan, chatting with a
few of my friends that I know I can connect with on this topic. I also think
that having friends who root for different teams than I do helps me gain
perspective about athletes in other cities, past and present, and it strengthens
my interest in sports on the whole. At the same time, considering my recently
growing interest in music (see previous recent posts), as well as other things
on my plate, I expect that my sports fandom will continue to develop into an
overall appreciation of the game, both within the game itself as well as its
role in our country and our world. I know what it’s like to live as a crazed
fan, idolizing my teams of choice as if every success and failure was akin to
life and death. Unfortunately, I have found that such idolatry in such fleeting
things such as personnel on a team (and their successes) takes its toll. I
cannot tell you how many years I experienced depression in August, September,
or October (or all of the above) due to a disappointing (or occasionally
heartbreaking) Cubs season. The truth is, every team has disappointment and
heartbreak at different points. It comes with the territory. The reality is,
sports is fun but it’s also really just entertainment. It’s a diversion from
our day-to-day lives.
I’m learning how to put sports into a more proper
perspective, not only in context with everything around it, but also in context
with living a life of faith. The Bible makes it clear that idolatry is wrong. I
know I’ve been guilty of it, and I know what idolizing teams and athletes has
done to me. I’m learning to appreciate the teams I root for, and the athletes
who play on my local teams. I’m also learning to appreciate athletes that play
on other teams as well, and to enjoy their success even if it doesn’t benefit
my city, or worse, comes at the expense of one of my local teams. It’s hard.
But as I’ve said in a previous post, just like any other person, these athletes
need Jesus. Unfortunately, fame and riches, and everything that comes with it,
are such powerful snares. Of course, I’d love to be rich and set for life, but
what I’ve also been learning is that idolizing money and possessions
(specifically gobs of it) is vanity. I need to remember that athletes are
human, sinners just like me and everyone else around me. In the same way that I
need Jesus’ forgiveness and mercy, so do they. And just like me, they’re trying
to earn a living, even if the living they are earning is much more immediately
rewarding than what I am currently doing.
I suspect I will always remain a sports fan. It’s what I’ve
been doing for a long time. But as I grow in my faith, I can learn how to not
only put sports in its place but also encourage others to do the same.
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