Don't Give Up, Don't Ever Give Up

Happy Birthday Tom Izzo. I dedicate this post to you. But more so, I dedicate it to the love of the game. Warning- I’ve got a snow day, warm cup of coffee, cloudy skies, and I’m feeling sentimental. 

This past week has been marked in the records book as a W and L. Those two letters, though, do not summarize the heart of the week. They do not depict the churning stomach, racing heart, and triumph. Note I did not mention the emotion of disappointment. As the last seconds of the game again Indiana wound down I was of course clinging to the hope of a buzzer beater miracle. I wanted a win for the rankings and to stay on the top of the Big Ten. Mostly I wanted a win for the players who put on a physical show worthy of being compared by CBS announcer Greg Anthony to a Final Four game! I was never once disappointed in MSU. 

My cable company decided to finally end the service that was canceled 8 days prior at approximately 5 minutes before the tip off against Wisconsin on Tuesday. So I went old school. I listened to the game on the radio....well streamed a radio station through my iphone. One would think that I’d be less emotionally unstable if listening to a game vs watching it. That’d be a mistaken assumption. The blood still pumps. The stomach still aches. You’re still exhausted at the end buzzer as if you were the one running the court. As I turned off my “radio”, swallowed a Tums, and completed my multitude of texts to fellow MSU alumni, I was left with the nagging question of why do we (or I) love the game so much? My answer came on the window of Dusty’s Cellar in Okemos and right in time to put Sunday’s loss into perspective. 

The sign itself stated nothing profound. Just an announcement that Dusty’s Cellar was participating that evening in a fundraiser for Coaches vs Cancer, the charity in honor of Jim Valvano, from which Izzo was awarded the Coaches vs Cancer Champion Award in 2009 (see it all connects to the birthday man).  Now if anyone one could answer the question of why a person loves the game of basketball, it would be Jim Valvano. Or Dick Vitale, but I don’t often completely understand what that man is trying to say. So I, being my nerdy self, of course wept a bit while watching Jim Valvano’s 1993 ESPY Speech and researched him via Sports Illustrated (inspiring article here). Within my reading I found a vast amount of life motivation, quotes to live by, and YES, the answer to why we love the game. Sports Illustrated described the moment when Valvano himself discovered the answer while searching for his own meaning for life as he faced his mortality. 

He jumped form his seat one day not long ago....A paragraph had jumped into his eyes from a book he was reading. “That is why athletics are important,” wrote British sportswriter named Brian Glanville. “They demonstrate the scope of human possibility, which is unlimited. The inconceivable is conceived, and then it is accomplished.”

“That’s it!” cried Vee. “That’s why we strive! That’s the value of sports! All those games, they mean nothing- and they mean everything.”

Don’t take this as sacrilegious. Valvano developed a deeper understanding of love, family, and God as well throughout his search. But this understanding of the power of sports is what helped create his legacy. And so simply summarizes why fans face the ulcers and heartburn for two plus hours as they cheer on their team. It’s like the fairytales from days of old on our own flat screen TV.....or iphone radio station. It’s for the opportunity to see men rise up in the face of defeat and ridicule to be a knight in shining green and gold- ugh Nike uniforms. (Harris scored an unbelievable 21 points in front of a booing and jeering Indiana crowd, rising up from a low scoring night of 6 points against Wisconsin.) It’s to cheer on the rewards of a player who you never thought you’d be able to view as a rising hero. (Yes, I’m talking about Nix here. His free throws have become a thing of beauty and vital during the close games in the Big Ten. In addition, his intelligent ability to know when to create an assist and when to attack the basket, along with a strong defensive performance against Zeller, kept us in the game against WI.) It’s because no matter how a team or favorite player performs in a given game, there’s always the next game. They may be the victor upon the fans’ shoulder in one game and sit in defeat on the sidelines due to fouling out in the next. But we still love the anguish because it’s only a game and we know they will receive the chance to try and conquer again that we so often feel is lacking in real life. We love the opportunity to glimpse a demonstration of the scope of human possibility. To see the rise and falls, the tough lessons, the never ending fights for a “win” and confrontations with defeat. To hopefully view the joyful unexpected. 

So until my imaginary therapist tells me to end this emotionally unhealthy relationship, I will continue to diligently watch and love the game of basketball. Even though it means nothing. The win Thursday, the loss Sunday, it truly does not matter. But apply the reasons WHY we love the game to your life as Valvano did, and it can mean everything. Or at least to that child benefiting from the advancements of cancer research since 1993, it means a lot. And it’s just plain FUN.

The MSU Basketball Team has until Thursday to prepare to rise up from a close (but “good”) loss, place the past behind them, and strive to slay their next dragon. They face Illinois at the Breslin on January 31 at 7pm.  And I look forward to seeing them demonstrate their own human possibility on the court!

“Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding.”

“Don’t give up, don’t ever give up!”

 -Jim Valvano

Izzo turns 58 on January 30th. Happy Birthday to a coach of integrity. I’m thankful he knows that the game doesn’t truly matter, but he continues to work at making what he DOES matter to his players and the community. To review how he has used the game to “matter” click here.

http://www.cracked.com/funny-4688-tom-izzo/