I can’t help myself. This is part of who I am. There’s some dreamer in me even though I can’t vote for Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. I voted for Barack Obama twice and then wrote in John McCain in 2016. Who else in Oklahoma did that?
My mother had me reading Richard Bach when I was a youngster. I bet no one else in Oklahoma can even name three books written by Richard Bach. That part of me can’t be removed…. and quite frankly I don’t want to remove it.
Why can’t in the mercenary world of professional sports we dream from time to time?
To me, it’s why we teach, coach, and play sports. It is the interwoven fabric of our humanity which makes us want to play the games in the first place. But not only play the games, but play the games the Right Way. With our hearts.
In the end, does it make any difference whatsoever LeBron James won those two rings in Miami? No, it doesn’t. But it means everything to me as a fan he went back to Cleveland and won a ring for his home city.
Does it make difference to me Kevin Durant took the easiest path to two rings in Golden State? Not really. But I would admit I’ll never view Kevin the same either.
I could never view Kevin Durant the same way.
So why do play sports?
We play sports to dream of finding the best in ourselves. We play to compete within ourselves and against others. We play to elevate the human bonds between all of us. We play to make ourselves better and stronger as humans.
So I’m sitting here today in Oklahoma wondering why the Oklahoma City Thunder can’t just go ahead and dream big this season?
Why not dream big?
If they fall short–so what.
Why shackle ourselves with preconditioned thoughts of failure and falling short of the limits we all place on ourselves from time to time?
I wish Sam Presti would call me from time to time and allow me to share my thoughts with him and his ball club.
I really do. That would be cool.