Dealing with Success
- Wade
Wednesday, August 4th. Cologne, Germany. In preparation for the 2004 Summer Olympic games in Athens, the men's teams representing the United States and Germany play a tune-up exhibition game. The teams couldn't be more different-- the U.S. team features the young, up-and-coming stars of the National Basketball Association. These players have been hand-picked by NBA execs and, for better or for worse, the best we have to offer-- especially considering the athletes that backed out
reasons both legitimate (their safety) and not so legitimate (their leisure.) No doubt, there is a lot of raw talent on the U.S. team; along with a lot of gold chains, tattoos, and attitude. The German team? They have Dirk Nowitzki.
The German team did not qualify for the Athens games, and Nowitzki is their only true star. How many people think "great basketball" when you think about Germany? The game came down to one final desperation shot by Allen Iverson at the buzzer to pull out the victory. Subsequently, the American team, our team, piled on top of A.I. at center court as if they had just won the gold. Tim Duncan raised his index finger to the sky, indicating that this team is, in fact, number one. Iverson is later quoted as saying "That's what basketball is all about."
Saturday, August 7th. San Francisco, California. Chicago Cubs starter Greg Maddux takes the mound against the Giants in his second attempt to notch career win number 300. He didn't pitch great, certainly not up to his standards, but well enough to get the win. Maddux became the 22nd major leaguer in history to win 300, and the first National League pitcher since Steve Carlton in 1983. Maddux's achievement is especially noteworthy in that he is the only pitcher to achieve 300 wins without ever winning more than 20 games in a single season.
Quoth Maddux, "When I'm done playing I'll look back. I'm sure I'll pat myself on the back then." Again Maddux: "Obviously, to win 300 games, you've got to have a lot of help. I've played on a lot of teams, and you're only as good as the guys behind you. Today was an example of that."
This dichotomy is a great example of how I feel about these two sports. Certainly you can find examples of hubris in baseball (Clemens, Rickey Henderson, George Steinbrenner) and modesty in the NBA (umm... Mark Madsen?) but for the most part these two reactions represent the majority of each league's player base. When basketball finds itself looking up at hockey in TV ratings, I hope it knows what to change. If not, David Stern is free to give me a call.
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