“What we have is much more then they can see.”
– Jeffery Osborne/L.T.D. – Love Ballad
The above quote is from a great 1970s soul song that I discovered in the twilight of my undergraduate life in the middle of the Illinois cornfields. This is a love song. The line above plays until the song fades out. Such as simple line, but it hinges to what I feel alot in when of starting something new or failing at new things right away.
In essence, your qualities, your joys, what makes you you, may never be seen by others. The peope you want to impress and get to like may always fall short for them. But that’s ok. What is important is finding the value and worth in yourself and with others your close with.
The mantra of sucking at something new is the start of getting good at something. That’s word to Adventure Time. But what you have in terms of qualities, skills, abilities to learn something and go forth and do well in it and continue to grow.
I had this wierd experience I had between the summer between 7th and 8th grade where I was completely not good at something that I intially thoguht I would be good at. I was at a basketball camp. Let’s say It was a rough experience. I was missing my shots, getting blocked. It got so bad the other guys I was playing with were calling me out and I was panting down the court. It got me thinking, man am I cut out for this. After getting in my head about my playing ability a couple more times, the coach to the basketball camp had pulled me aside continuously over the summer to speak about this unsung basketball player from the 1980s. The lesson through this is to give your all no matter the situtaiton.
He talked about Kurt Rambis. Rambis was part of the Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s that won five championships under Ervin “Magic” Johnson the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Often called the “Showtime” the Lakers of the 1980s were known for flashy plays and attaching large celebrity presence when they played home games such as Jack Nicholson sitting courtside. The HBO show Winning Time, covers this era of the LA Lakers for anyone that wants to know more about a moment the Lakers be came the poster child for LA and a new generation for the NBA
Rambis is a white guy with very distinct look always having eyeglasses and long brown hair when he played. If we was not in a Lakers jersey one would think he is more of a college professor that drinks IPA beers after work than a basketball player. If you ever take a chance to look at old videos, you can tell his hustle and scrapiness in every play when he stepped on the court. He would dive for ball take heavy charge fouls, all for one rebound or a steal. This made him a fan-favorite player In one play in the 1987 NBA finals Rambis took a hard foul against Boston Celtics Power Forward Kevin McHale going for a layup a fell to the ground hard. This led to a bench clearing brawl with both teams.
In learning more about Rambis, my basketball coach said Rambis was never the greatest player on the coach. It was his hustle and drive that made one of the hardest players out there. My coach succulently said there are 9 out of 10 basketball players are better than you on the court. But you must have the hustle and drive. In the last video, Rambis got knocked to the floor but got up and to fight back. I always figured maintain that energy in anything I do.
For years these conversations on Rambis have stuck with me. While basketball currently for has be reduced to watching NBA and college basketball, we all need opportunities to peruse things we may not be the best in in fact we may not be best starting off.
Whether this is starting a new hobby, new job, career path, activity, wanting to building a community, starting off dating, moving to a new city, we all will face inherit roadblocks in starting new things. Sure in our moments of uncertainty and doubt we will encounter people that will be more skilled, smarter, funny, handsome, athletic, than what present, but in the reality, none of this matters. What is important is that we rely out skills and abilities to rely on others for support to build the skills we need to succeed. When the fail, we burn or ball or fall, we pick ourselves up and push forward.
Rambis never had the flashy plays of Magic or Kareem, but he fought for his position by making hustle plays, being an excellent defender and being a key role player for the Lakers in the Showtime era. For non-basketball fans, Rambis name may not register when people think of the Lakers, but he was an integral part of the Laker in the 80s where he was on 4 out of 5 championship winning teams.
A lot of time to learning new things and building upon new hobbies it takes being scrappy and having the hustle to drive to learn fast to build experience. Being unassuming in new arenas of life takes drive and will to move from underdog. Somtime, you have to start over and learn to be a beginner.
My self this played out in differnet facets of life in my teens and my 20s. I picked up Track/Cross Country in my Sophomore year of High school. I started learning how to dance Salsa and Bachata within my late 20s. In both endeavors, I was never the greatest starting out. In fact, I had my doubts, and compared myself to other believe believing the lies I could not be a greater runner or dancer. Nevertheless, I continued to grown in both areas learned to build my skills and from the people around me. I had Rambis drive of doing the work keeping my head and diving into thins I may not have comfortable withi men initially, but learning and growing to contribute not only to myself in learning a new hobby and growing with the people around me. Just as Rambis supported the Lakers, I contributed to the work of building lasting friends with the people I ran with and a great group of people I take dance classes currently.
To bring it back to basketball, I continued to show up to the camp that summer to continue building on what I had. I may not have been the best player on the court, but I gave it my all with what I had. Just like Rambis did for the Lakers. All this to say, if your wanting to learn new skills of go for that new position or hobby, you want to get into, but are unsure of youself, do it anyway. You may feel unassuming uncertain at first, but continue to show and prove to others that you belong and that what you have is something no one can create but you.
The Typecaster 