We watched “Rise” with our kids recently. It is a wonderful movie about the 3 Antetokounmpo brothers who grew up as illegal immigrants in Greece to win NBA championships. It is one of those stories that sparks conversations that give you perspective. It also explain why Giannis Antetokounmpo is such an inspiring person.
There’s adversity and strife behind all that insight.
The movie reminded me of an exchange between Giannis and a reporter at the end of last season that went viral. The reporter asked him whether he considered the season a failure?
The whole response is worth watching in full. Here are the highlights –
Do you get a promotion every year at your job? No, right? So every year, your work is a failure? No. Every year, you work towards something, which is a goal: It’s to get a promotion, to be able to take care of your family, provide a house for them, or take care of your parents. It’s not a failure, it’s steps to success. There’s always steps to it. Michael Jordan played for 15 years and won 6 championships. The other 9 years were a failure? That’s what you’re telling me.
There’s no failure in sports. There’s good days, bad days, some days you are able to be successful, some days you’re not, some days it’s your turn, some days it’s not your turn. That’s what sport’s about. You don’t always win, some other people are gonna win. And this year, someone else is gonna win. Simple as that.
So 50 years from 1971-2021 that we didn’t win a championship, it was 50 years of failure? No it was not, there were steps to it, and we were able to win one, hopefully we can win another one.
True story.. and hard earned insight.
