If you're like me, you love sports and everything about them. Even if you're not like me in that regard, you can still appreciate the things that sports can do for us. Throughout my life, I've learned so many life lessons through the different sports I've played. In the past week, we've seen what might be the biggest meltdown in The Masters' history, the NBA record for most wins in a season be broken and one of the greatest NBA players play his final game. After watching all three of these events, I realized that everyone can learn lessons from each one of them.
Firstly, in regards to The Masters, I'd like to say that watching Jordan Spieth, one of my favorite golfers, have his hole 12 quadruple bogey was extremely tough to watch. I honestly think that a lot of us felt some of what he was feeling during his meltdown. That's hard for anyone to go through, especially at 22 years old. He was in the lead the entire three days leading up to Sunday's final round. However, after watching him put the green jacket on this year's champion, Danny Willett, I noticed something. Jordan Spieth handled that situation better than almost anyone could have. He had nothing but class throughout the whole ordeal. I also learned a lesson from watching this happen. Everyone has their own Hole 12 in their life. What's life without the occasional meltdown and an eventual loss? Sometimes we need our own Hole 12 in our life to give us some perspective in our life. But, when we do have our meltdowns, we have to pick ourselves back up and handle the situation with class and sophistication in order to get through it. I thank Jordan Spieth for that.
Second, many of us saw or heard that the Golden State Warriors broke the 1995–1996 Chicago Bulls' record for most wins in a regular season, with 73. At the beginning of the season, I would never have thought that a team could possibly have a better record than the Bulls' 72–10. To maybe put that into perspective, that's a 0.878 winning percentage. For example, that would be the same as the St. Louis Cardinals having a record of roughly 142–20. It's almost unfathomable. However, Steph Curry and the Warriors taught me that, as cliche as it is to say, records are meant to be broken and nearly anything is possible. What that team has done is completely and utterly amazing. We have to work toward our individual goals no matter how far-fetched they may be, because who knows, we might just reach them and surprise everyone.
Lastly, many of us know that all-time great Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe Bryant is retiring at the end of the NBA season. Personally, Kobe has never been one of my favorite players, but I respect the heck out of that guy. For one, his work ethic is impeccable and unmatched. Also, it's just hard to not respect a guy who has five NBA titles and has been elected to the NBA All-Star Game 18 times. At age 37, Kobe knew that it was time to call it quits. He's been in the NBA for more than half of his life. However, in his final game, he did what nobody expected. Kobe Bryant scored 60 points. I know — if you have to read that previous sentence a couple more times, I understand. Nobody has scored 60 or more points over the course of the whole season. After watching the celebrations and the finale of Kobe's career as a Laker, I realized something. Kobe Bryant showed everyone that you're never too old to do great things, and that even if there's doubters, it's perfectly fine to prove them wrong. This ties in to what I said about the Golden State Warriors, but if you want something, don't ever be afraid to go get it. If there's something you want to accomplish, don't let anything or anyone hold you back.
Sports are an amazing thing. Any given team or person can beat any given team or person on any given night. That's the beauty of it all. Sports are so unpredictable. Seriously, who would've thought that Jordan Spieth would lose a five-shot lead in the final round of The Masters and fail to repeat as Champion? Who would've thought that Steph Curry and the Warriors would've broken Michael Jordan the the rest of the 1995–1996 Bulls' record? I don't need to ask who would've thought that Kobe Bryant would score 60 points in his final NBA game because I highly doubt anyone did. The best thing about sports is that there's always going to be absolutely no way of anyone knowing what will happen. However, among all of the chaos that is sports, there are always lessons to learn, whether it comes because of a loss or a monumental win.
