June 9, 2015 at 5:18 p.m.
Value every chance
Rays of Insight
Wait ’til next year?
No thank you.
Why not?
Because there’s no guarantee next year will ever come.
The NBA Finals brought that to mind after Kyrie Irving suffered a season-ending injury in overtime of game one and Cleveland went on to beat the Golden State Warriors in game two despite not having its star point guard.
There was a time when it seemed like winning an NBA Championship, or several, was a foregone conclusion for the Cavaliers. They had LeBron James, a kid from just down the road in Akron who was the best player in the league.
Then, after a couple of disappointing playoff exits, he left for South Beach.
Sports is full of examples of teams and players who seemed destined for championships that never materialized.
Not long ago the Indiana Pacers seemed like the team most likely to benefit from a break-up of the Miami Heat. But Lance Stephenson left, Paul George got hurt and Indiana missed the playoffs.
Dan Marino is the prime example in football, having led Miami to the Super Bowl in his rookie season. The Dolphins lost that game to San Francisco, and Marino never made it back again.
At the local level:
•Jay County’s Brandon Reynard placed fifth in the 300-meter hurdles in 2008 and was the only non-senior to finish in the top nine. He easily won the regional as a senior the following year, but was disqualified on a highly-questionable call. His time was the fastest in Indiana that night. He would have been the favorite for the state title.
•The Patriot boys basketball team’s sophomore-dominated squad won the sectional title in 2011 and seemed likely to take two more. But the juggernaut that is Class 4A, specifically strong teams from Wayne and Homestead, kept JCHS from putting together another tournament run.
•Just this year, Jay County’s gymnastics team was full of promise after earning a state berth in 2014. The Patriots had a strong season, but hopes of a return to Worthen Arena were dashed when freshman Courtney Miles suffered a foot injury that is dogging her to this day.
It’s that simple. Officiating, injuries or even simple circumstance can take away what once seemed certain.
That’s why, in sports and in life, we must make the most of every chance we get. Opportunities do not come along every day. There’s no guarantee that a door that is open now will remain open in the future.
We can all look back at opportunities not jumped at and days not seized.
Does it seem like the Cleveland Cavaliers are destined to be back to the NBA?Finals in the next several years? Sure.
But nothing is written in stone, so they should fight, undermanned as they are, with everything they have to get the job done over the course of the next two weeks.
It’s a lesson we would all be smart to learn.
Forget next year. The time is now.
No thank you.
Why not?
Because there’s no guarantee next year will ever come.
The NBA Finals brought that to mind after Kyrie Irving suffered a season-ending injury in overtime of game one and Cleveland went on to beat the Golden State Warriors in game two despite not having its star point guard.
There was a time when it seemed like winning an NBA Championship, or several, was a foregone conclusion for the Cavaliers. They had LeBron James, a kid from just down the road in Akron who was the best player in the league.
Then, after a couple of disappointing playoff exits, he left for South Beach.
Sports is full of examples of teams and players who seemed destined for championships that never materialized.
Not long ago the Indiana Pacers seemed like the team most likely to benefit from a break-up of the Miami Heat. But Lance Stephenson left, Paul George got hurt and Indiana missed the playoffs.
Dan Marino is the prime example in football, having led Miami to the Super Bowl in his rookie season. The Dolphins lost that game to San Francisco, and Marino never made it back again.
At the local level:
•Jay County’s Brandon Reynard placed fifth in the 300-meter hurdles in 2008 and was the only non-senior to finish in the top nine. He easily won the regional as a senior the following year, but was disqualified on a highly-questionable call. His time was the fastest in Indiana that night. He would have been the favorite for the state title.
•The Patriot boys basketball team’s sophomore-dominated squad won the sectional title in 2011 and seemed likely to take two more. But the juggernaut that is Class 4A, specifically strong teams from Wayne and Homestead, kept JCHS from putting together another tournament run.
•Just this year, Jay County’s gymnastics team was full of promise after earning a state berth in 2014. The Patriots had a strong season, but hopes of a return to Worthen Arena were dashed when freshman Courtney Miles suffered a foot injury that is dogging her to this day.
It’s that simple. Officiating, injuries or even simple circumstance can take away what once seemed certain.
That’s why, in sports and in life, we must make the most of every chance we get. Opportunities do not come along every day. There’s no guarantee that a door that is open now will remain open in the future.
We can all look back at opportunities not jumped at and days not seized.
Does it seem like the Cleveland Cavaliers are destined to be back to the NBA?Finals in the next several years? Sure.
But nothing is written in stone, so they should fight, undermanned as they are, with everything they have to get the job done over the course of the next two weeks.
It’s a lesson we would all be smart to learn.
Forget next year. The time is now.
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