Never Underestimate the Heart of a Champion
In sports
it’s rare for a player to have a killer instinct or to be gain motivation from
being slighted or looked over but when it happens, look out, because there is
no stopping that player. The prime examples of this are in basketball due to
its more one on one aspect of play. Michael Jordan was cut in high school and
to this day probably wouldn’t throw water on that coach if he was on fire. He
used that motivation of being told he wasn’t good enough to make it to North
Carolina. While there James Worthy was the more prominent player but Jordan got
his chances to shine. After being drafted he wasn’t the Bulls go to option yet
and was being dominated by the Bad Boys of Detroit. He used this as motivation
to elevate his game and become the greatest to ever play the sport. Same goes
for Kobe Bryant. He’s heard about living in Shaq’s shadow, he’s heard he’ll
never be as good as Jordan, he’s heard the boos and the hatred from the fans.
Most guys would wilt under that scrutiny. Speaking of Wilt’s, Chamberlain got
dominated by Russell because all Russell heard was how much better Wilt was.
David Robinson got abused by Hakeem Olajuwon in the 1995 playoffs because
Hakeem felt disrespected by the fact Robinson won the MVP Award and was being
called the best center in the league. Shifting to football, Aaron Rodgers fell
in the draft and has played with a chip on his shoulder for the whole league and
most especially the San Francisco 49ers, his hometown team who passed him up.
Derek Jeter has dealt with scrutiny and hatred before and exceled because of
it. This time will be no different.
Derek Jeter
was being projected as a number one pick in the 1992 draft, a pick that was
held by the Houston Astros. Houston passed on him out of fear for the money he
would be asking for. Four other teams passed on him as well, allowing him to
fall right into the laps of the New York Yankees. Jeter has never forgotten
this and it is one of the main reasons he has been the player he is. Another
factor is all the shortstop talk he heard early on. He couldn’t hit for power
like other shortstops (Nomar Garciaparra and Alex Rodriguez), he wasn’t even
the best shortstop in New York because he had no range, unlike Mets shortstop
Rey Ordonez. Well a funny thing happened because of all that talk. Rey Ordonez
never materialized to much of a player at all, Garciaparra had a decent career
but nothing to write home about, and that Rodriguez guy, the one who was
supposed to be the greatest shortstop of all time, Jeter started seeing him
every day to his right playing third base. See A-Rod agreed to switch positions
to third to accommodate Jeter, knowing full well the Yankees were his team and
also knowing there was no way in hell Jeter would switch positions especially
for Rodriguez. That right there is the fundamental difference. Guys like
Rodriguez will do whatever they have to in order to feel liked and to fit in,
whereas guys like Jeter or Jordan will tell their team to f**k off. Their
competitive nature and their willingness to be the best doesn’t allow them to
work that way.
Many people
will laugh and challenge Jeter’s claim that he will be back and be the same
player he always has been. The joke however, is on them. He hears every single
one of you loud and clear and when he’s hitting game winners, leading the
Yankees to the playoffs, and possibly another World Series win or two, you’re
comments and jokes will be running through his mind fueling his performance.
Me? I’ll be sitting there with a huge smile on my face reaping the benefits of
having one of the greatest play for my team.
No comments:
Post a Comment