Heart of a Champion

12-25-10

Today as I got the opportunity to relax and hangout with my brother and best friend Curtis Washington due to him getting 2 days off from Ball at USC I began to wonder, what I could say or do, to help describe to him, what kind of drive he will need to make it to the next level of Ball the NBA. We were watching the Miami Heat vs Los Angeles Lakers and my friend Thomas was dogging Lebron by saying " He could never amount to MJ due to the fact, if he won 6 championships he would always be known for "joining" Wades team in order to do so." That opinon help spark this idea in my head, that its not just about Winning Championships, or trying to become the greatest of all time, or even trying to be the best player on your team. It is truly about working everyday, as hard as you can. to become the best YOU can do and never being satisfied, always being hungry to never accept 2nd place. Its about giving everything you got, then spitting blood to give more. its about knowing what gifts you have been blessed with and learning to play the game with the pride and determination that you should yourself in EVERY aspect of your life. MJ wasn't the best because he won 6 championships. He was the best for refusing to lose. He lead by example, giving everything he had night in and night on and still refusing to accept that as his best. He resized that he couldn't accomplish what HE wanted or be the BEST that he could be without team work and taking the same approach with his team as he did within himself. demanding perfection, and nothing less.. Jordan once said.

'There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and
never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren't willing to
sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in
the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual
goals more difficult to achieve. One thing I believe to the fullest
is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades
will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and
intelligence win championships.”

He discovered, that he couldn't be the best by just doing what he could with his God given talent but he had to take it to the next level. Sacrifice what ever he had left to accomplish being the best that HE could ever do. Lebron isn't as good as Michael Jordan not because of lack of talent, or personal determination, the mistake was he wanted to be as good as MJ to live up that expectation. That is settling for 2nd place, to try and be as good as someone else, is irrelevant.

To have the Heart of the Champion takes more then having the talent or desire. Its being the best that you can on and off the court whether people are watching or not. Giving it all every free throw , every warm up, every practice and every game. Dreams are Just dreams until YOU do something to change it. The most important thing is when you look back at your life, instead of saying maybe I could have, or I should have, you get to look back and say I gave everything I had. Maybe it was enough maybe it wasnt. But NEVER leave anything back, live in the now. But Most importantly, Never underestimate

The heart of a champion.



'I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.” -Michael Jordan

NCAA Expansion WHY?

In response to recent conversations about NCAA Div 1 basketball Tournament Expansion from 64 teams to 96 I figured I need to voice my opinion on the matter.

Did anyone watch this years tournament? Was it not one of the most entertaining with the most OT games and the national championship coming down to the last shot with a Horizon League. school vs a Power house from the \ The Argument is well if a Mid Major school like Butler can make the National Championship then why couldn't some 2 and 3rd place finishers in other conferences also compete against the top competition. Let me shoot this down with two facts.
First Round(power vs Auto bids)
Duke 73 - Arkansas-Pine-Bluff- 44
Kansas 90 - Lehigh 74
Syracuse 79 - Vermont 56
Kentucky 100 - East Tennessee State 71

In all of those games, the power school could have ran the score even higher.. Having the smaller schools against power houses isn't a solution it will just cause me to wait to fill my bracket out when it gets to 64 teams again.

My other reason against the gives the Cinderella more of a chance is the fact that when it comes down to it, do you think that its going to be the smaller schools getting the automatic bid or lesser power conference schools with money getting in. Illinois, Virginia Tech, Michigan, South Carolina from power conferences like the ACC Big Ten and SEC or the little schools Cleavland State, Princeton,TCU, or Utah (Horizon League, Ivy League, and Mountain West conference.) The truth is, all it would accomplish is more money for the power conference teams.

Another reason that the NCAA is exploring this is to give us more Cinderellas but I would love to take this time to point out that Butler was ranked 11th Pre-Season and has been in the NCAA tournament 5 of the 10 years and sweet 16 in 3 of those seasons. There are a mid major team that has earned the right to be placed into the tournament and have been consistently good this past decade. Its teams like George Mason in 05-06 season, who deserve the Cinderella title while teams like Gonzaga,Butler, and Xavier who are consistently in the Sweet 16 or better that should be considered in with the big dogs, and I think they will be from now on.
If the NCAA follows through with this nonsense, those teams may have never got the chance to earn their sports as contenders and mentioned with some of the best teams. They earned it by winning when it mattered EVERY Div 1 school has that same opportunity, its capturing it and making a tournament run that makes the field of 64 the most exciting thing in sports for fans and players. I personally will not be setting my schedule around the tournament in the field of 96 nor should anyone else, it would run into mid April which is just utterly ridiculous. There is absolutely no reason to fix what isn't broken except to fill the pockets with a bigger budget to presidents of power conferences.
-Jake McCleerey

My Top 10 Sports Moments of the Decade!

1. The 2007-2008 Boston Celtics win NBA championship.
-What started with one of the most dominate off-seasons in NBA history, the Boston Celtics managed to put together one of the greatest, most determined teams in the History of the sport. They brought in veteran PF Kevin Garnett who's resume was only missing a championship ring and SG Ray Allen, a vet looking to end his astonishing career with a championship. The team did not disappoint, winning 41 of their first 50 and finishing the regular season 66-16. But a team consisting of 3 extremely motivated fascinating veterans in Paul Pierce KG and Ray Allen were not concerned with that, they had one goal and it showed on the court. During the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs winning in 7 games the Hawks, the Celtics showed their dominance but couldn't seem to come together on the road losing all 3. Which took the Celtics to play King James and Co. Boston came out as they had all year in Boston, winning the first too, but continued to struggle on the road, the series went to game 7 in Boston. Where in my mind the true team came out. Paul Pierce came out and challenged LBJ and scored 41 to lift the Celtics to the conference finals. After beating the Pistons the lights were on it was time to shine. Lakers vs Celtics, a rivalry reuined. a media heaven, Kobe vs the Vets. Boston came out as they had in all the previous series...A win in Boston. and with a 2-0 lead Boston showed how determined they really were, but once again they struggled on the road losing to LA in game 3. but with an amazing performance in game 4 down 14-35 they came to back to beat the Lakers in Los Angeles. The Celtics suffered a game 5loss to LA and the series was coming back to Boston, up 3-2 in the series and a 35-49 lead at the 1/2 chants of BEAT LA, BEAT LA echoed at the Garden even with the game 5 loss, everyone knew.....even the Lakers knew....That the series would be ending in Boston.

2.