A few words regarding yesterday’s blog. I mentioned that I closed the gap on Tony and ran by him at the end of our 14 or 15 mile run. He told me later that he let me stay in front of him. According to him, his choices included passing me by running in the grass and weeds alongside the footpath or simply staying behind me. He translated that to mean “I let you win”. I told him that I don’t want him to let me win. I either want to win or lose. I would rather lose than knowing he let me win. I made that clear to him. I know he is faster than me at these less than marathon distances. On Western States 100 Memorial Day weekend training run, we are going to run from Forest Hill to White Oak Flat a distance close to 20 miles. This run is by far our longest distance. After that run, I’ll have a better idea of what distance I have to run in order to beat him. Let’s suppose for a moment that I never beat him. Is that going to diminish my accomplishments, who I am, or my legacy? I doubt that it will. However, if the national media is covering us, then it is talked about, as one of their ridiculous talking points.
Darren Everson wrote an article titled “The Fab Five Takes One More Shot “in the May 18, 2011 Wall Street Journal. In case you don’t know about the “Fab Five”, then you probably don’t follow college and professional basketball. In 1991, the University of Michigan’s coach Steve Fisher recruited one of the most talented groups of freshman. These five kids included Juwan Howard, Chris Webber, Ray Jackson, Jimmy King, and Jalen Rose. According to those people that rank the recruiting class, I believe Chris Webber is rated number one and Juan Howard number four or five. The other three are in the top 25 or so kids coming out of high school. These five freshmen within a month or so became the starting five for the University Michigan. Prior to that season, I remember my cousin Fred Minkow, an alumni from Duke, telling me that Michigan hit the jackpot with this recruiting class. Fred is right, since this group became celebrities. They wore long baggy shorts that became popular, played spectacular basketball and went to the NCAA tournament. Well, this group played in the championship game but lost.
The second year as sophomores this group again went into the NCAA tournament. Again, they played for the championship but lost that title game. Well, Chris Webber left Michigan in his junior year for the pros. The other players followed and I don’t remember if any of the other four graduated. The article presented few statistics that included that these five made $431 million in career salaries, played 2,991 NBA games,had a winning percentage of .496, and won 0 NBA titles. In smaller print beneath the title reads “if Miami’s Juwan Howard Wins an NBA Title, It Would be the First Championship for a Member of the Heralded Crew”.
This article presents an old story. The story is if an individual professional doesn’t acquire a championship ring then there is a question mark about his or her career. It seems that these sportswriters are obsessed with the winning of a championship. Individual greatness is measured by the number of championships even though the individual may play in a team sport. I guess one could talk about Tiger Woods and his number of championships since he plays golf. However, Kobe gets compared to Michael by the number of championships even though they play in a team sport. These sport people are always talking about who is the best at the sport and use statistics to make their point. Is Jim Brown the best football player ever or is it Jerry Rice? My point is simply, beating Tony at running or Juwan Howard being on an NBA championship team does not define us. Who we are as people and how we are remembered is important. What is more than the number of victories, championships, touchdowns, home runs etc.? It is the person’s character and ability to give that is important. Read my book and you will gain insight and learn about and from the character of the athletes interviewed.
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