Lessons Of The Father

My father would often dispense little bits of wisdom to me growing up. Some things I took to heart, other items went in one ear and out the other. Those are the ones which would later on in life come back to haunt me. This won’t be eloquent, as he’d say, nor will it all be nice. I wanted to take a moment and share a few.

Lesson 12: Winning Doesn’t Exist and Sticking With The Pick

I recall being introduced to sports one Sunday afternoon. Well, it’s actually just my earliest actual recollection, but I watched the team whose helmet I had sitting out in the backyard and played with everyday, the Dallas Cowboys. The year is 1978 and the Boyz are in the Super Bowl playing the Pittsburgh Steelers. My father explained some of the rules to me, but I recall being lost as I watched on. As the game continued, I saw my team in white lose to the ones in black. The following fall as would be the traditional location for years to come, my father was planted in front of the television watching NFL on Sunday. The Cowboys were not playing until later, but I wanted to stay and watch with the old man. I would ask who was playing and he would tell me.

“The Chicago Bears vs the Oakland Raiders.”
“Oh, where are they playing?”
“Out in Oakland.”
“Oh… what is that??”
“Oakland is a city like Dallas, but far away from here.”
“Oh. where is it?”
“Look it up on the globe over there son. Find California and I will show you.”
“Ok. Who is winning?”
“Oakland is ahead in the 4th quarter.”
“Oooh so Oakland is going to win!! Ok, goo Oakland!!”

At this point my father shot a look at me as though I had just spoiled the end of a book he was reading or given away a surprise ending to a movie.

“No son, being ahead doesn’t mean winning. You haven’t won until the clock reads 0:00. Then you have won. There’s no such thing as winning a game. There’s either being ahead or behind. You either win or you lose in sports.”

He went further.

“You pick your team from the beginning and you stick with them through the game. Picking a team because it’s ahead is not very sporting. Pick the team and stick with them.”

I chose Chicago that day because I liked their uniforms. Oakland did go on to win and this interchange began a series of Sunday geography lessons (“You want to know where the Cleveland Browns are?? Go look it up”) and sportsmanship tutorials (“Taunt me today if you want, your team will lose one day and you won’t like someone sticking a finger in your face now will you?”). I would watch the Cowboys pull out wins in the closing minutes of games as well as watch them lose leads. The second part of what he said held true as well as the Cowboys stayed my team through the lean years as have the Los Angeles Lakers (1979), the New York Yankees (1981)/ the Mets (1986), etc.

-J

RIP Fellas

Today, I want to state, it’s been a great season. One filled with surprises and unexpected greatness. Yet, on this Father’s Day, my dad would have enjoyed the events which are about to unfold in the Los Angeles Staples Center in a few hours. No, this is not a salute to him, but to the hometown Lakers who are about to break the hearts of millions of fans and bring to an end a season which went well beyond anyone’s expectations. It’s the unexpected winners of the NBA Western Conference who are about to walk out on the court for the last time this year to mercifully bow down to a powerful Boston Celtics team and hand them yet another championship.

My father would love the irony. His adult son and diehard Lakers fan dealing with the angst of Lakers fans during his early to mid 20’s when each summer it seemed, the two teams would do battle. Each time, my Lakers would come out on the short end of a Bill Russell led Celtics team. He was the one he reminded me it was a long seven game series in the mid 80’s when the two basketball titans renewed their rivalry. My early celebrations or dejected looks after series openers have given way to a semi-ambivalence to early games in a series.

It’s with that, I watched this team walk into Boston and contend with fast whistles from refs and cold shooting to lose. No panic, this was not my team playing at it’s best. Game two I had hoped might be a steal, but again early whistles seemed to hamper their play early on. A fast and furious comeback allowed them to save a little face and head back to LA with some hope. Their best basketball was yet to be played.

Game 3. The announcers say it, the Analysts say it, the old man used to always tell me Game 3 is the make or break game in a series (actually he said 3&4, but I am being dramatic here). Indeed these Lakers came out and.. squeaked out a win. Then Game 4 and the real Western Conference Champs appeared… for all of the first 20 minutes of the game. With a foot on the throat of the Celtics and finally some even calls, I recall tuning out of the recording I made of the game thinking it was over and was off to bed. It was a click on to the Washington Post’s website which sent me spiraling. They f*n lost??? WHAT?? Indeed, this last four minutes of the first half I believe showed why Boston won (aside from the momentum changing fraudulent blocking foul on Bryant against Pierce in the closing minutes).

1) The G-Force : Garnett became the number one option when the Celtics went into their half court set. Guarded by either Gasol, Turiaf or Odom, KG abused his defender and got to the basket or found the open man on a slow double team by the Lakers defense. I suspect tonight will be much more of the same as the Lakers only hope to stopping this…

2) Bynum: Has FINALLY had surgery on his knee. I am not sure what the trainers/medical staff for LA has been doing the past few months, but to wait until the playoffs to diagnose the true severity of Bynum’s injury is nothing short of amazing. The ONE person this team has who is young enough, talented enough to keep KG at bay is sitting on the bench in street clothes. And…

3) Gasol: Has shrunk from being a solid number two option in the Western Conference playoffs to a matador. His lack of speed shows as he can no longer get open anymore and unable to rebound. Not sure but this sounds a lot like…

4) Odom: who like the above mentioned Gasol, has turned into a big pumpkin before our eyes. Saddled often with fouls due to his reckless ways when driving to the basket and lowered scoring production… is it just me or does the man just not want to dunk the ball?? His flipping the ball in is the most frustrating things.. noo.. I take that back… the MOST frustrating part of this team is…

5) Jumpshot-itis: against an opponent that does not give hard fouls and is consistently collapsing down on Kobe, this team finds it faaar more rewarding to settle for a 20 plus foot jump shot or unnecessary three pointer attempt than to drive in for the easy basket. Lacking the rebounding presence of the foul plagued and star struck Gasol and Odom, this team continues to shoot up miss after miss after miss. Against a slower Celtics team, these Lakers seem content to stay as far away from the basket as possible. Sure Jordan Farmar and Kobe drive to the hole with success. But others seem far more concerned with chipping a nail or getting bumped around. The more you drive, the more likely you are to get calls as you initiate contact with the defender. Also, just as the old man tried to teach and Shaq & Bynum love to show off, the closer you get, the higher you percentage of shooting is.

All I can say is… it has been quite the season. I look forward to watching KG or Pierce being named Finals MVP tonight after two very long and distinguished careers. Kobe will get his gold medal this summer completing two thirds of Michael Jordan’s league MVP, Finals Championship/MVP and gold medal season. Bynum will hopefully recover in time for the start of the season and this team will start the new season as favorites to win it all. However, tonight… the Celtics will dance.

Fellas, get your fishing hats ready.

Not The Same.... Tim Russert

I am not a long time subscriber to the Church of Russert as some are every Sunday morning. The Church being NBC’s 60 year old news show Meet The Press. Tim Russert, the show’s host of nearly 20 years, passed away earlier today from a heart attack. The news of his death caught me (as well as I am sure many others) off guard as I was looking forward to seeing him on the show this Sunday, a Hallmark holiday I dread, Father’s Day. During his time, Meet The Press maintained semi objective manner with Russert skewering and seeking answers from guests without playing partisan politics. Democrats and Republicans alike had to not only answer for current deed/misdeeds, but Russert also would call on them to expound upon prior comments made in other venues or on other shows.

I recently came to subscribe to watching the show earlier this presidential primary season. His direct yet not “in-your-face” manner of questioning was refreshing. Unlike McLaughlin or This Week where the host put themselves in front of the issues, Russert was about giving the viewer the truth and the show’s name continued to stand for that, the truth, not hosts ideology. One Fox News colleague likened him to tv lawyer Perry Mason with his dogged manner for getting answers. His appearances on various other NBC and MSNBC shows brought instant credibility to the segments as his political knowledge and love of politics often shown through. At times this spring, he seemed like a kid in candy store when discussing primary results and what came next for the candidates.

As I watched the numerous accolades being lauded upon him by journalists on all networks (including Fox and CNN) I was touched for reasons I really wasn’t aware of. Saddened by this man’s passing whom I never met and had only come to really know of within the last few months. The man was like a pseudo “tv dad” for me. Much of what Russert said reminded me of listening to my own dad talking to me about politics.

It was his manner of taking either side and asking the questions to get to the core of an issue that reminded me of my father. Probing and seeking answers rather accepting half truths and letting sleeping dogs lay. My dad would often sit my brother and I down at the kitchen table and ask questions about what we learned in school, had read in the newspaper or just our opinion on news events. We often were called upon to not only explain aspects of our views, but to back up things we said as well. Site them our sources. He had his views as well, but made it a point to get us to truly explain what we meant and see if we truly understood the issue. What he thought was secondary to getting us to explain what we truly meant or thought. I often saw that in Russert on Sundays.

Tim Russert, you will be sorely missed.