San Antonio Spurs--the Great Under-Appreciated

Well, our Spurs won the NBA finals, but you likely won't hear a whole lot of people going on and on about it outside of San Antonio and Charles Barkley's house.

You see, the Spurs are frequently overlooked when it comes to kudos from non-SA fans. And why is that, you may ask (or, if you are like most people, NOT ask, since you don't care)? Well, let me tell you.

What happens with the Spurs is the same thing that happens with lots of other people. They suffer from that lovely American habit of ignoring the nice guys in favor of the turds, act-ups, morons, and bad boys.

Yep, this lovely country is filled with many, many people who just can't be bothered to watch or root for anyone who is decent and hard-working. You see it all the time--recognition going to the people who act up the most, who throw tantrums, who make nasty comments, who spend their time finding ways to be obnoxious. Remember all the press Dennis Rodman got when he was with the Spurs? Oh, well, bad example, since people ignore the Spurs, generally speaking. But what I'm getting at is that we had this team largely filled with hard-working guys, guys who put time, money and effort into the community here, but the national papers were more concerned with whether Rodman was showing up for practice, whether he was wearing any make-up that week, or dressing ridiculously, or cutting/coloring his hair in some bizarre way. Meanwhile, David Robinson is doing his level best to have a positive impact on his community, but it's freaking Rodman getting the press.

Sucks.

And now--what is this team like? Well, let me tell you. These guys work damn hard together, rarely make nasty comments about ANYone, least of all each other, and are known for their selflessness. They're not perfect guys; that's not what I'm getting at. They have all the usual flaws, I'm sure. But you won't see them in the papers for sneering at each other, or talking about each other's wives in ugly ways, or for getting caught with their pants down amidst a sea of groupies, or the like. They're not likely to be labeled as "bad boys" by anyone. If one of them stumbles in a big way, THAT will stick out because it would be so rare for that to happen.

Tim Duncan? Talk about a gracious guy. In interviews--gracious and quietly funny. In person--gracious and a little shy. On the court--selfless and focused on the job he has chosen to do, on the responsibilities he has a leader of his team. If you read articles written about him, you see the same words used over and over: reliable, responsible, dedicated, determined, selfless, "fundamental," relentless. You read that he is friendly with not only his teammates but with the opposing team's players, but then focused on annihilating them on the court (and I don't mean "annihilating" in the sense that he's likely to flagrantly foul someone into a terrible, season-ending injury; I mean "annihilate" with his skill and determination). Coaches, players from other teams, sports writers--all of them respect this man. And they should. He's very young, and he's one of the best players any of us is likely to see.

But.

He's not flashy. He's not controversial. He doesn't give good interview, if what you mean by that is that he will say raunchy, controversial, insulting things about someone else. He's more likely to be self-deprecating than anything. So if you want a sound bite that will make people cringe or laugh nervously? Don't choose Duncan for an interview. By THOSE standards, he is indeed boring.

And the rest of the team? Very similar in the way they interview and play: dedicated, relentless, committed, quietly funny, unlikely to provide major soundbites you'll see repeated over and over on national TV.

It might surprise you to find that people in San Antonio look at these guys and their families as part of OUR family. David Robinson, now retired but still living here and contributing to our community in myriad ways, still gets treated like a brother when he gets spotted. You're likely to see him shopping at Borders, talking easily and kindly with fans who stop him and ask about his family as though they were sorely missed at the last backyard barbecue.

When this team wins, the city goes nuts because FAMILY won. Riverboat parades--yeah, baby. Why are those so cool? Well, because we get to cheer for our FAMILY. We get to see them at the huge celebration held at a local auditorium, and each time one of them holds up a trophy? It's like our cousin holding it up. Of course we go nuts.

But respectfully. Because hey--you wouldn't trash the place while celebrating with your cousin, would you? Heck, no. You'd party hard, but with respect. No overturned cars. No burning property. No major incidents to mar the celebration for your family members.

And we'll be the only ones celebrating because across the country? Everyone else is yawning and wishing something spicy/nasty/controversial had gone down.

Just like at work: you ignore that hard-working guy who comes in each day, does his job to the absolute best of his ability that day, is pleasant to everyone, and doesn't require people to constantly pat him on the back for him to keep at it. Oh, yeah, you ignore that guy. Admit it. The guy your eyes are drawn to is the slimeball who sleeps around, periodically makes nasty comments about the boss/supervisor/his co-workers, and comes in late all the time. Yep, that's the guy you talk about, the one you want to watch. He's INTERESTING.

And in relationships: women say all the time that they want a nice guy, but I can't tell you how often I speak to my nice guy friends and hear this from them: you women say you want a nice guy, but in the end you gravitate to the scumbags who have already PROVEN that they're slime.

Yep.

We love wickedness. We want to see bad guys more than we want to watch the good ones. And when the good ones win? We give lip service to how cool that is, but we really mean "I wish they could have shown a little 'badness' in the process of winning! Man, those good guys sure are BORING!"

And that's just wrong. Valuing people who are nasty, raunchy, disrespectful, arrogant--just plain wrong. And worst of all? We show our children every day that the good guys only get lip service respect while the bad guys get our ATTENTION. Hey, parents, good onya! Way to set the future up as a disaster zone (or rather, more of one than the present is).

Good Mornin' to Ya!

It is going to be a stinker of a day, temperature-wise. San Antonio is not a city to which people should flock in the summertime. No, lads and lassies, head for cooler environs. This place becomes a freakin' oven. Oven, I say to you. Oven. When you wake up, and it's already almost 80 degrees before 7am? You know you will need to steel yourself lest you become a small sweat spot on the concrete just walking to the bus stop an hour later.

So have you ever wondered what it is about some human beings (I have it on good authority that not all people are like this, but I'm waiting for evidence I can point to; so far, still waiting) that they have to be incredibly, ridiculously judgmental? I mean, someone walks on a bus wearing some goofy shirt, and I feel compelled to tell him/her to go home and change. Really. Why is that? I mean, the person's shirt is not going to negatively affect MY day. I'm not going to have to stare at it for hours on end or anything. If I don't like the shirt, I can just (radical concept, I know) LOOK AWAY. But in my head, this really snotty voice says, "oh, yeah, THAT'S a good look for you."

Or I'll be sitting somewhere, book in hand, basically minding my own business, and then someone will say something and I'll think to myself "that's a stupid comment!"

Each day. Judgement after judgement. What is up with that?

I can go through all the usual explanations/justifications/rationalizations: it's my own self-esteem problem that leads to this (and yeah, I'm fairly certain this is the core of it), or it's what my parents were like and I'm just the product of my environment (nurture, man!), or it's human nature to establish hierarchies of all sorts and I'm just more in tune with this part of my human nature than most people! Uh huh. Right.

Do you? Judge people all the time? If so, can you pinpoint why that is?

I catch myself doing it, and lately, I stop myself. "Jingles," I say to myself, "what the hell is wrong with you? You don't get to critique everyone else! You're just as effed up as the next guy/gal!" And mostly that works, but hey--either I'm excruciatingly slow at changing my behavior patterns, or this is more deeply ingrained than I can even guess at, because this is taking for-freaking-ever.