 |
| Kevin Garnett (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Competitive fire is back baby! Kevin Garnett showed how competitive he is last night when his old teammate and one of the original big three, Ray Allen came over and tried to pat him on the back. Kevin Garnett didn’t even acknowledge him.
Now people are saying he went too far. Are you kidding me? What happened to the days when the opponent was something you despised and hated? Now before the game, everybody is slapping hands and making jokes. During the game, players are treating each other like they are best friends.
All they preach these days is sportsmanship and how everybody wins. There is a difference between sportsmanship and being a push over. Sportsmanship is treating the game and the participants with class. Not spreading pixie dust and sharing lollipops with each other. You can still show sportsmanship and be a fierce competitor.
When you step on any playing field you are no longer my friend, my brother, my anything. You are something that I am trying to beat and beat badly.
This is where sports and the real world have something in common. When you try to preach everybody wins, you are losing the competitive field and losing any reason to get better. We are losing the desire to push ourselves.
So, I thank you Kevin Garnett. I thank you for still showing me that there are some competitors out there. The people who have the desire to win so bad, there are no friends on the playing field, only your teammates.
Anthony Wiber is a columnist for StlSportsMinute.com and is a main contributor on the Cruddy Show (@CruddyShow), a St. Louis sports talk show that airs on Tuesdays and Fridays at 9:30 pm CT. You can follow Wiber on Twitter as well (@AWibes).
