Hard Work Can Out-Play Talent

Posted by Brian McCann on January 27, 2009

What a rough weekend to be a Jazz fan. I thought Saturday’s outing against the Cav’s was a great game. I thought Sunday’s game against the Thuggets was a waist of time. The Jazz showed a lot of heart against a Cav’s team that is having a breakout year. They fought back several times, and I thought they really might pull it out. When the final buzzer sounded, and Cleveland won, I was proud of the boys for putting up a good fight. I watched the game with my friends in-laws (who are also huge Jazz fans), and his mother-in-law made the comment that she would rather see the Jazz just get worked (basically), than to have them be in the game the whole time, play great, and lose. Not me. I would way rather see the Jazz play their guts out and lose, than to see them go through the motions (or play motionless, and emotionless), like they did against Denver. It was the tale of two teams: the one that says “you might beat us on our home floor, but not until we have given you everything we have”, and the team that says “we are on the second night of a back-to-back…we’re tired and would rather be at home. We’re injured, and haven’t played well as a team all year because of it. We can’t win on the road, and somehow we have no energy outside of Salt Lake City. The best we can do is spot you 10-15 points in the first quarter, play even in the second and third, and then try to go full throttle in the fourth, but we will probably lose”.

I am a firm believer in the power of positive thinking. I don’t want to be negative-my friends and family (especially my wife) will tell you that I am the most optimistic person they know (sometimes to a fault), but I am also a believer in hard work. I wake up every morning at 5:30 am, go to the gym, shower, and go to work. I get off work at 5:30 pm, go to school, and don’t get home till nearly 9:00. I eat dinner, spend time with my wife, watch a little basketball (that my wife Tivo’d) and go to bed by 11:30. I follow this schedule five days a week. On Saturday’s, I spend the whole day doing homework, housework, or yard work. On Sunday’s I do church work. I am not complaining, I love my life, and I am sure that a lot of you reading this post have similar schedules. It is just life, and as an adult in my mid-twenties, most of it involves some kind of work. So when I see guys that are getting paid a whole lot more than probably every one that reads this blog combined, going through the motions because they are “tired”, it makes me want to drop kick my basketball through the TV. I can understand being physically worn out, but sports are 90% mental, and the guys who make it to the top figure that out. Back-to-backs, getting in late to opposing cities, and losing sleep because of delayed flights, are all part of the game. You are not being treated unfairly if you experience these things. Every team in the league has to go through it, yet some with a whole lot less talent and ability than the Jazz have figured out how to win under these conditions.

I guess I just need to vent a little. Are the Jazz expected to win every game and be ‘on’ every night? They shouldn’t be, not by me as a fan. Should they expect it of themselves? You bet. Every game. No matter what. As a fan, all I expect you to do is act like you want the win every night. Play your heart out, and let the better team win. If you can’t hang with that expectation, maybe you shouldn’t ask for more money next time around.

I am a huge Deron Williams and Paul Millsap fan because they come to play every night. Are there players out there with more talent? Sure. But they seem to understand that talent only makes up part of the equation. Hard work and leaving it all on the floor when the final buzzer sounds is what makes good players great. In my job, I am expected to work hard. If I don’t, I might not have a job the next day. I have to live with the fact that there are more talented individuals out there that would love to have my job. So every day I am expected to show my employers that I am the best person for my position by laying it all out on the table every day. Does that guarantee me anything? No. But at least I can say I gave it my all. I’m sure that’s how a lot of us feel.

Sports figures in America have become iconic. They provide us with a form of entertainment that allows us to step out of the normal stresses and pressures of every day life and into something different. They allow us to believe and follow something that doesn’t really matter, but at the same time can still encourage the best things in all of us. I think that is why we tend to like the underdog so much; they give us something to believe in. They inspire us to believe that we too can become a little better and rise above mediocrity. And yet nearly every time a team does something they weren’t supposed to, they accredit most of what they have accomplished in some form or another to hard work.

As a Jazz fan, I just want to see my team compete. They may lose a game here or there, but I want them to bring their all every night, whatever their all may be. That’s all I’m asking. I am still optimistic for the rest of this season, because I know there are individuals in the organization that have the type of attitude I am talking about-I just hope that vision can be conveyed to the rest of the team sooner rather than later, because we have the talent, but to put it frankly, the effort is lacking.

4 Comments

Ramin on January 27, 2009 said:

I agree wholeheartedly…

Mal on January 27, 2009 said:

Amen!

xbyronx on January 27, 2009 said:

Wow. Well put.

Linda McFarland on January 28, 2009 said:

Your blog is great and I agree . Have yiu noticed the we, (meaning the team) act like they have the world on their shoulders. Do you ever see a smile from them like it used to be? I realize that it is easier to smile when you win than when you lose and probabley a little harder for DWill to smile with the way the officials have seemed to be on him, but it looks like none of them are enjoying what they are doing. On the days when I was at work I found the day much easier to get through if I had a little fun and enjoyment and a smile on my face. Don’t they even like each other? That’s the way it looks. Where is some enthusiasm and smiles so it at least gives the appearance that they like what they are doing. They have gone through a lot this year but so have a lot of other teams and I still see them laughing and talking among their team mates. I love the Jazz and always will, but they are a lot like my kids in the fact that I love them all the time but at times I don’t like them very well. Go Jazz and quit waiting for Boozer to come back!!!!

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