Championships: Earned, Not Deserved

Charles Barkley, Karl Malone/John Stockton, Dan Marino, Ted Williams. What do all these amazing athletes, at the tops of their respected sports, all have in common?

No Championship. No Title.

Highly considered some of the best players ever to play their games, they have never reached the highest pinnacle, the top of the mountain.

Somewhere along the way, sports fans across the country have made a grave, grave mistake. One that still bugs me to this day, and seems to never go away. Why do people believe, simply because players have great talent, that they "deserve" a championship? No! Championships aren't deserved because of individual talent. They are earned, earned by hard work when no one is looking. Putting in the extra hours, day in and day out, and playing with a chip on your shoulder. You don't just show up into any professional sports league, anywhere in the world, and deserve something. People aren't going to give you anything. It must be taken. It must be earned.

For example, let's look at the Mav's NBA Championship, the first in franchise history, and the first championship for every player on the current roster. A roster filled with veterans such as Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, and Peja Stojakovic, great professionals who have garnered great respect in the NBA and are guys that have gotten so close to a title, but never won one. Never got over the hump. Never did the things, big or small, in a 7 game series to hoist that O'Brien trophy over their head. And going up against "Miami Thrice", "The Super Friends", or "The Big Three" wasn't going to be any easy task either. Maybe even their toughest challenge of all.

But championships, in any sport, even in life (working hard for that promotion, studying hard for that exam to get that A, etc.) are about hunger. It's about who wants it more. Not about who has better talent. Nothing in life is deserved. Everything must be earned. If you want something, go out there and get it. Instead of doing photo-shoots and taking pictures with Jay-Z, get in the gym and shoot jumpers, catch footballs, and take batting practice. Because that is how you win championships. Very few players in the world have been able to have their cake and eat it too (meaning they are the total package: Great players, Champions, who also are socialites and media figures). Michael Jordan, and Tom Brady come to mind.

But one thing that is being missed on this road to winning a championship is something that I believe almost all athletes must endure in order to achieve greatness: they must take their lumps. They must battle hardships. Because that is how you learn. That's how you grow. Michael Jordan didn't make his high school basketball team. Tom Brady was drafted in the 6th round. Because of these things, these events in their lives, these guys play with a chip on their shoulder. Nothing is ever good enough. They are out to prove everyone wrong, everyone who said they couldn't do it.

Which brings me to Dirk. A mini superstar (not by stature, but by attitude), Dirk had played well enough with his teammates to earn a chance to play in the 2006 NBA Finals. We all know how that ended. Because of that series, Dirk and the rest of the Mav's have been the face of ridicule for the last 5 years. Soft, choke-artists, one-and-done, and my all time favorite "same-ol Mav's". But Dirk said it best with this quote,"If I would have won one earlier in my career, maybe I would have never put all the work and time in that I have over the years". And that's the key point.

Not to say that other players in the league don't work hard. I know LeBron James and the Miami Heat work hard. But it is so much more than that. But in order to have that killer instinct, that feeling you get when your so close to something, something that is so important to you, and you look around at your teammates and say,"This is mine," you have to have been there before. You have to have been close to it, and then have it ripped away from you. Because that is how you get hungry. That's the only way.

The Texas Rangers, who we all love so much, don't deserve a title. The Dallas Cowboys, "America's Team", do not deserve another title. They have to earn one. LeBron James doesn't deserve a title. And maybe, just maybe, after this playoff series, he realizes that nothing is going to come easy for him, even if he is the "King". Even if he is "The Chosen One", like the tattoo on his back proclaims.

LeBron is going to have to work for his championship, perhaps harder than anyone in professional sports right now. Because no one wants him to succeed. He brought it upon himself. The ridicule, the scorn, the delight everyone is taking in his failure to finish.

So I will remind you LeBron, remind you of something you made clear a long time ago:

We Are All Witnesses.

Still watching, and still waiting.

-Taylor
TAG Radio Founding Father