I’m gonna ramble a bit about it, and since I didn’t have time to follow a script its gonna be messy. Sorry about that, in advance.
As you may probably ignore, I’m a huge basketball fan. And when I say huge, I mean “stay-up-all-night-to-watch-games-even-though-you-live-in-Europe” huge. Yesterday night one of the most credited contenders for the 2023 title was eliminated, and it came as a shock: they had qualified as first in the Eastern conference and, as such, played the eight-ranked-team in a seven-games series. They lost 4-1.
I’m not a huge fan of theirs, and since my team is another Eastern Conference contender I can’t say it wasn’t a relief to see them go. But the video below almost made me lose it.
Not the Antetokoumpo’s response, that was perfect, if you ask me. And I get that the journalist have to tell a story and to embellish it as much as they can, but hearing them imply that this year’s team was a failure was a terrible thing to hear. Yes, they were a contender, with an unplayable star in their roster and several other key pieces. Sure, they couldn’t imagine such an ending.
Aside from the common people insane enthusiasm in seeing the big guys struggling, the thing that I found unbearable, as the interviewed player did (please, it was hard to spell it right the fist time), is how quick we are in labelling every bump in the road as a failure. Your team was supposed to win it all but was eliminated by a man on a mission and a team that is pretty much everybody’s nightmare in the playoffs? You’re a failure.
You didn’t finish your studies on time, or you graduated with an average grade? You’re a failure? You can’t fit work, family, health in an unrealistic schedule? You’re a failure. You finally publish a book, but only your parents and your significant other buy it? You’re a failure. You plan on publishing a book, but it’s taking forever and it’ll probably take even more? You’re a failure. (I might or might not relate to this last point).
I’m sick of hearing and reading people claiming that you don’t win it all you’re a nobody. Even worse, that you didn’t work hard enough to get it. I’m sick of people overlooking how the struggled you faced improved you as a person even if you didn’t get the big prize.
Time is a peculiar dimension, because it’s one that we can experience only in one direction. We can’t go backwards, and we can’t even remain where we are: we’re constantly moving forward. Someone takes the high path, someone takes a bumpier road, and if you take it with the right attitude they can be equally challenging.
Ok, I think I’ve said enough. I don’t know how effective my rant has been, but in case you want to read something in a slightly better English I’ve also written about it on Medium a while ago. I’m looking forward to hear what you think about it.
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