If you've been living under a rock the past few days, let me fill you in: the Cavaliers are down 3-2 to the Warriors in the NBA Finals. After going up 2-1, they lost two straight games, and are now heading back to Cleveland for Game 6. They've certainly faced staunch adversity, and possess a plethora of reasons to explain their current situation. Injuries. Exhaustion. Steph Curry. But they're playing for a championship. The city of Cleveland is depending on them. And now, I'm going to tell you a small anecdote of something I was once told that I think they need to hear. That the whole city of Cleveland needs to hear.
Back when I played football in high school, our team was continuously faced with adversity. But in the beginning of my senior year, we were faced with a gigantic challenge: we bumped up a division. Now, the OSHAA division system today is different (thankfully) than a few years ago, so I'll just quickly explain how moving up a division affected us. A team was placed in a certain division depending on a few different factors, most namely the amount of men in grades 9 through 11. Divisions are restructured every two years with the idea that the more kids there are, the more talent there is with which to draw from. We had one more man that the max limit for Division 4 and, therefore, we had the exact minimum requirement to be a part of Division 3.
Even though a few guys moved out of our district, and even though we begged for a restructuring in order to get bumped back down to Division 4 where we belonged, we were stuck in D3. At the start of the season, everyone had already seemed dismal and defeated. After going to (and losing in) back-to-back state championships in D4, we thought that our third chance had been taken from us. We thought that we couldn't stand up with the big powerhouses in Division 3. At that point, one of our coaches brought us together and made two little words transparently clear for us.
Win anyways.
"But Coach, they're going to be bigger!"
"Win anyways."
"They're probably going to be faster…"
"Win anyways."
"They have guys for each position and most of us have to play both ways!"
"Win anyways."
Almost four years later, those two words have still echoed on in my head. In every situation in life, not just sports, there's excuses for everything. But you have to be able to get the job done and be successful regardless of the hinderances. At the very least, you have to give it your best shot.
So now, the Cavaliers. Here's what I have to say:
Kevin Love is out? Win anyways.
Kyrie Irving is done? Win anyways.
You each have to play an exhausting amount of minutes? Win anyways.
Steph Curry and Klay Thompson have been dropping threes faster than you can count? Win anyways.
The referees have been making some spotty calls? Win anyways.
Warriors are playing small ball, taking you out of your game plan? Win anyways.
No matter what the reason is, WIN ANYWAYS. 51 YEARS IS TOO LONG. THE CITY OF CLEVELAND IS DEPENDING ON YOU.
