A Hard Lesson in Greek Philosophy
Our Greek hero, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the Milwaukee Bucks won’t be playing in this year’s NBA Finals. What lessons can we learn from it? American society pressures us to take the easy route – to sacrifice the meaning of our journey to arrive at our destination as quickly as possible. But when our situation becomes tough, what if we can get better by focusing on our mental toughness like Miami’s Jimmy Butler?
The LA Lakers and Miami Heat are in the NBA Finals. Those of you that have listened to the show for a while or interact with me in person know that the Milwaukee Bucks are my favorite team. Giannis Antekounmpo is my favorite athlete. You can go back to episode 16 to hear more about why.
I haven’t talked publicly about the Bucks loss yet, so I’m going to take this opportunity to. I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed. This was supposed to be the year that Giannis, our Greek hero, triumphed over past obstacles and took the crown from Lebron and win his first title. I went to seven Bucks games before the stop, including one in Paris. The Bucks and Giannis were the main reason I visited Paris back in January. I enjoyed and savored the journey of the season, knowing in myself that this would be an epic season.
So it didn’t happen that way. In my own life, the things I expected I’d experience in 2020 didn’t happen either. Most people probably feel the same way. So what? That’s life. You can either let it bring you down or you make adjustments and get better. We are entitled to nothing.
Last year when the Bucks lost to the Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals, I stopped listening to Drake’s music. The whole series he pranced on the court during the games and I found him rather insufferable. In my control, I haven’t listened to a Drake song. After this year’s loss, I’m going to work even harder on my mental toughness, thanks to Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat.
The Bucks had home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Only the games were played in a neutral site because of COVID. One can certainly point to that as a reason for their earlier than anticipated exit. The bubble Finals would be determined by who was the most mentally tough as a team. Jimmy Butler is that dude. He’s scrapped his way to Marquette and then to the NBA, where he embodied the Grit and Grind character of Chicago as a Bull. He then bounced around on soft teams until landing with an organization that respects that hard work ethic attitude he brings.
Honestly, after the Bucks lost I haven’t tuned into any NBA sports talk shows, podcasts, or articles about Milwaukee. I feel like I already know what they’ll say: does this mean Giannis will leave next year? National sports media is insufferable. They sacrifice integrity for clicks and ad revenue. Worst off, people devour their hot takes and sensationalism, just like other media. And in my opinion, the media lacks the values and perspective of the Midwest.
A hero’s journey isn’t easy. There is an obstacle or many obstacles the protagonist must overcome. Giannis is 25 years old. He’s still learning (well we should all continue to learn) and is not at all close to what he’ll become. The narrative in America is quickly becoming one of entitlement and short-term thinking. Do what is easiest. Do what others tell you to do. Strive for what others value. Sacrifice the meaning behind your journey to get to your destination as quickly as possible. Americans abandon the immigrant values that brought us here because things are tough. Giannis is the anti-American. The anti-AAU. The anti-Lebron. The anti-KD. Giannis is cut from the same cloth as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. And I hope Jimmy Butler.
We can all use some of that mental toughness right now. You can’t always get what you want –right now. COVID’s been hard on everyone for different reasons. It takes focus to block out the negativity that people and media are spewing all around us. Fear must not consume us. It takes patience to make decisions today for the long term than submit to instant gratification. It takes guts not to complain and point fingers. It takes courage to take it upon yourself to get stronger and elevate your community. It takes foresight to believe and hope for a better future.
So what’re you going to do?