Yesterday I went to a JV basketball game. I sat next to the parent of a player on the other team and overheard how proud he was of his kid. This being a Christian school basketball league I was happy to hear how hard this kid worked, he was dominating scoring more than half of the 44 points their entire team scored. Even though he was bigger than everyone else on his court, hit 4 threes in a row, got his own rebounds and just dominated overall, I had respect for him. Until he started doing some weird NBA-like celebrations every time he made a shot, pretended to rip off his jersey and celebrations of the like. And then I heard that he wasn't just the best kid on their JV squad, he was the best kid in their varsity squad as well, and their coach wanted to make sure they won so he put him in both.
This made me furious, it made me realize that first off I would not want to be that parent. I would not place my kid in a situation where he thinks he's unstoppable and that he's that good. Because one day reality is gonna hit him, and he'll be humbled. One day when he realizes that he can't just beat up on middle schoolers. But more than not wanting to be that kind of parent, I don't want to be that coach. I had just read about the coach that scored 160-2, and I have more respect for that coach than the one I saw yesterday. I don't think it is right to tell your players to give less than their 100%, but when you play your best varsity player on the JV team... come on man.
Lesson #2
Today, I walked out to my car where I found my drivers side mirror smashed. I had my first hit and run, on the 1 year anniversary of my new car. I was furious, and I even spent 30 minutes driving around the neighborhood looking for the red Honda with a missing right side mirror. When I called my mom and told her what happened, she totally humbled me and told me that it was just a mirror. "thing happen, don't let such small things affect you, just be thankful for what you have."
So humbled. That while I was looking at all the negatives, there were so many more positives to be seen, I just wasn't looking.
