I recently watched the
Netflix special about NBA icon Bill Russell. Despite all the things I didn't
know about him that I thought I knew, one of the things that I didn't know was
that while K.C. Jones was a teammate of his during his pro career with the Boston
Celtics, he was also his teammate (and roommate) during his college career at
the University of San Francisco.
For me, sometimes it's the
little things.
Aside from his civil rights
"career" that I also learned about him, another thing that I learned
was his passion for winning. I know, easy to say for a guy that won a combined
16 championships at the collegiate, Olympic and professional level during his
career.
This caused me to reflect on my
own perspective on the concept. While I choose to be on the "half -
full" equation of the concept, there are others who are on the other side.
To be clear, I have no stones to throw at them. The phrase "point of
view" comes to mind.
In fact, they have somewhat of
a point. In my life career record, while none of the championships that I have
won will not even come close to any of the big record books, they did help me
develop as a person. While my ego (or lack of one) prevents me to note some of
my accomplishments, what I will say is I’m sure that I have not won most of the
time. I understand what greats like Mike and Kobe said when they did not
make the game winning shot.
But what I do get from winning (or lack thereof) is my spirit of competing. Whether on or off the sporting field, it helps to bring out the best in me. To paraphrase Sam Rothstein from the movie Casino, “When you’re in a competition, you are trying to win. Otherwise, what’s the point?
