AS SOME OF you may know, I also write a column for another publication, one in which I dispense pithy advice and throw out clever bons mots culled from my 12-plus years in the trenches as a stay-at-home father. One woman wrote a letter to the editor and actually referred to me as the "Dr. Spock of my generation." Unfortunately, upon checking we found that she meant "Mr. Spock" because she found me to be completely humorless.
Now parenthood is one thing and sports is (are) another (while the ability to know whether sports is singular or plural is still another), but the intersections of the former two are becoming increasingly more frequent as I try to steer my children down the path of righteousness using sports as the vehicle.
I'm one of the few people left in America who still believes participation in sports is a truly positive thing. Basketball, not school prayer, will be the salvation of this next generation. Sportsmanship leads to good citizenship. And the dedication and hard work needed to succeed in sports carries over to all other facets of kids' lives, making them better students and better people. On this matter, I kid you not at all. I truly believe.
Therefore, and toward that end, I offer this suggestion to all those parents with young kids who have shown an interest in basketball. I know there are lots of them out there, because during the summer I work at basketball camps and there seem to be enough of them to keep Lute Olson in $100 haircuts long after the rest of us have gone the way of Bruce Willis.
My message is this: Make sure your kids become acquainted with Steve Kerr. If they don't know the name or they shrug him off as not being cool enough, strap the little suckers in a chair, get one of those devices to keep their eyes open and make them watch game films until they see the light.
Steve Kerr is a Bad Man. In deference to Muhammad Ali, who coined the term and used it exclusively in the first person, Bad Man is the ultimate compliment. And Steve Kerr has earned it many times over.
The story of Steve Kerr is well known to adults in these parts. He was a scrawny kid who attracted almost no attention when he came out of Palisades High in L.A. Lute Olson spotted him in a summer league, offered him a scholarship, and the rest was amazing. He played on a World Championship team with Sean Elliott and David Robinson, came back from a devastating knee injury to lead the UA to its first-ever Final Four, and now has made a career for himself in the National Basketball Association, the greatest collection of athletes in the world.
And he has done all this with below-average height, foot speed that you could time with a sundial, and really average base physical skills. Heck, if jumping ability was required for playing in the league, they probably wouldn't let that dude buy his way into the arena.
But he has persevered. He has worked his butt off and look what it got him. There he is, in the NBA playoffs, playing side-by-side with the greatest basketball player of all time. That's got to be one of the greatest lessons any kid could learn.
Unfortunately, a lot of kids today are blinded by the flash of the NBA and don't get to see the light. They all want to be Shaq or Mike or Webber. They think the sport is all about dunking and swatting away shots. They don't know the first thing about screens and help defense and making that extra pass.
At Brian Peabody basketball camp over at Salpointe High, every summer we get some kids who think they're all bad. They haven't got a clue. They think the sport is all about being intimidating. They'd rather humiliate an opponent on one play than actually win the game. Of course, we show them the error of their ways in a friendly and constructive manner.
Now there's nothing wrong with idolizing a great athlete. I like to witness super-human feats just as much as the next guy. I love big dunks and long three-pointers, but I also appreciate the nuts-and-bolts that go into making a team a winner and not just a pathetic collection of individuals.
I could tell a million kids they're not going to grow up to be Michael Jordan and I'll be right a million times. But I could also tell a kid that with determination, some luck and lots of hard work, he has a chance (albeit a real small one) of growing up to be like Steve Kerr and maybe playing alongside a Michael Jordan.
I'm so proud and happy when I see Steve Kerr (and former UA and now Chicago Bull) teammate Jud Buechler on the court in the NBA playoffs. It proves the good lessons are there. They just need to be sought out and recognized for what they are.
