CU athletes can learn from attitudes of pros

I’m going to be honest—I can count the number of truly insightful and praiseworthy comments by an athlete or coach on one finger. Even the greatest players in the game tend to say the same old rehearsed lines about giving 110 percent to win the game. Yes, LeBron, I understand you only care about helping the team win. However, Derrick Rose, in a media day interview in September 2010, gave the greatest response to a reporter’s question that I have ever heard. In fact, it is so great that every athlete, including those competing in Morningside Heights, should be forced to watch the clip every day.

Wearing his Bulls home jersey, Rose was answering question after question when one reporter brought up the upcoming season. After prefacing the question by saying that Rose had already won Rookie of the Year and was an all-star, the reporter asked what Rose’s expectations were going into his third year. Rose’s answer gives me chills every time I watch the clip. “The way I look at it within myself, why not?” he said. “Why can’t I be the MVP of the league?” Rose continued by saying that he works hard, sacrifices a lot of things at an early age, and that if he does what he has to do good things will come. His answer is so good I don’t know where to begin.

Rose, in two words, exhibited the type of confidence and drive that every athlete should have and that all great athletes must have. Why not? It is so simple but it speaks volumes. Rose believes to his core that there is no outside force capable of stopping him from being the greatest player on the court every night. This is evident in a very important omission. Not once in his entire response does Rose mention his own abilities or those of perennial MVP contenders. He believes that being the best isn’t about natural talent, it’s about work ethic. If you want to be the best, you have to work harder than everybody else. Rose has done just that. Over the offseason, he improved every aspect of his game, from his handles to his three-point shooting, and as a result is among the top two players mentioned in the MVP conversation (Rose has my MVP vote).

This idea of hard work trumping all else is used so often that it has become a cliché. Players, coaches, and fans alike don’t believe it. It’s too easy to dismiss individuals or teams because of a seemingly insurmountable gap in talent. It happens everywhere, especially here at Columbia.

The entire Columbia campus could learn a lot from Rose’s comment. Sit in the bleachers at a football or basketball game and you will undoubtedly hear a least a half dozen fans voice their doubts and low expectations. Unfortunately, it’s not just the fans, but players as well. Players know, or at least they think they know, when they’re outmatched. Take swimming and diving, for example. Every year at the Ivy League championships, the teams that aren’t Harvard or Princeton essentially compete for third place. The Crimson and the Tigers are so much better than the rest of the league that they battle for first while the third-place finisher ends up at least 300 points behind. It’s been happening for so long that swimmers from the other six Ivies know that their team won’t take first or second. They resign themselves to that fate. There’s nothing wrong with taking third against such tough competition (Congratulations to the Lions for a great third-place finish this year), but why can’t Columbia finish first in the future? A similar situation occurs in wrestling, where Cornell, one of the best wrestling teams in the nation, has a stranglehold on the Ivy League. I know Cornell will most likely win the league every year—but why not? Why can’t the Lions upset the Big Red and be the best?

I know from experience that it is easier said than done to believe that one can overcome an opponent that seems unbeatable, and then pull off the upset. Doubt is a mental barrier that 90 percent of athletes—or people for that matter—are not able to overcome. I, for one, didn’t have that drive in high school, which is probably why I’m writing instead of playing. Those who do believe in their core what Rose believes, the Jordans of the world, end up being described as greats. Their greatness does not stem solely from their natural ability—although it certainly doesn’t hurt—but from their drive and their desire to sacrifice whatever it takes to be the best. It sounds corny and overly optimistic, but it’s true.

I have no doubts that some athletes at this school have a similar drive that Rose has, but some is not enough. Columbia can compete for a title in every sport, every year. Why not?

Bart Lopez is a Columbia College senior majoring in economics-mathematics.
sports@columbiaspectator.com