Having never been able to cheer for a hometown team (recap: New York, Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, Minnesota), the concept of hometown pride didn’t really register with me, except as related to college sports. Having those boys in blue play in my town, five miles from where I work, is thrilling. Reading articles praising the Thunder and especially Kevin Durant strike up a pride in me that I have never experienced, even as an ardent fan of the Green Bay Packers. Those are my boys.
But what’s special about the Oklahoma City Thunder is the fact that they are rock-solid under pressure. They conduct themselves with grace on the court and grace in the press conference that is almost unheard of in professional sports. For example, schoolyard bully Phil Jackson made it to the playoffs again with his Lakers. The man is a good coach when it comes to basketball; when it comes to PR, he’s an awful person. He tries to rattle players, teams, coaches and even referees. He gave the treatment to Kevin Durant at the beginning of the playoffs, insisting that referees were giving him preferential treatment in free throws.
Scott Brooks, the NBA coach of the year, could have ripped ol’ Phil a new one for trashing his star. There are plenty of people in professional sports (Kevin Garnett, old-school Ron Artest, all-school Mark Cuban, most of the football coaches in the world) who would have done just that. Scotty “Ice” Brooks, as I’m now calling him, instead said this:
“I have read about it,” Brooks said before the Thunder opened their first-round playoff series against the Lakers at Staples Center on Sunday. “But not one guy in our organization, players or coaches, we haven’t even talked about it. We understand that you have to play.
“There’s nothing that you can say in the paper that should affect you. Mind games to me are overrated.”
Wait. Did you just shove Phil Jackson to the section of your brain reserved for the grocery list? And get your team to do the same? Yes. That just happened.
But wait! There’s more. Kevin Durant, current NBA scoring champion and youngest scoring champion ever (yeah, at 22, I’m older than him), has humility. Yes, go back and read that sentence again. Then read these next ones:
“We don’t have guys like Kobe Bryant that can just go off for 30 points in the fourth quarter to win the game or hit a fade-away 3-pointer and win a game. We don’t have people like that.
Reminded that as the NBA scoring champ who averaged 30.1 points a game, he would be cast as that guy, Durant shook his head.
“I’m not there,” he said. “I wish, that’s where I’m trying to get to, but I’m not there yet.”
You are the best scorer in the league on the most improved team in possibly the history of sports (note: the series with the Lakers is, in fact, 2-2), and you have the humility to admit that you probably aren’t going to nail a pressure shot every time?
I think my heart glowed a little bit brighter with pride. I don’t know about Mr. Durant’s religious affiliations or lack thereof, but his amount of humility humbles me as a Christian. I, for one, would probably not be that gracious. I would probably shoot my mouth off. Because I’m awesome. Yeah. What now?!
This means that being a card-carrying Thunder fan has made me a better person. I feel kind of hokey saying it, but it’s honestly true. I am proud of the fact that the entire team works hard in the gym every practice (according to “Ice” Brooks). I am proud of the fact that they never quit playing in games, even when behind (there’s a certain defending champion basketball team that can’t say the same). I am proud of the fact that they respond to criticism graciously and don’t get rattled.
And once I realize how proud I am of that, I realize how I could be proud of those things in myself, if I had them in the same quantities.
But it’s so different when people are attacking me unjustly! I’m right! they’re wrong!
But Mr. Jackson lashed out incorrectly not only personally, but personally at Durantula in public. And Kevin Durant took it in stride. Again. I am not that good at life.
So, while I love the fact that the Thunder are underdogs (phew! avoided a thunderdogs joke!), local, talented and winning, I most love the fact that they have character. And their character challenges me. And that is very, very unusual in a team.
Go Thunder. Beat LA.
(all quotes from ESPN Los Angeles.com’s “Brooks: Durant deserves calls”)
