How about a Game of One-On-One?
I have loved basketball since I was a little boy. I haven’t really liked watching basketball, I have just enjoyed playing it. I probably acquired this love of the game from my father. He was on a basketball team when he was younger. Those days seem to be some of the best days of his life because he talks about those “good old days” all the time.
Basketball also taught me a trait that I have carried to adulthood. That is the spirit of competitiveness. You really can’t think about basketball without competiveness being right there beside you.
There is no point in playing a game of one-on-one in basketball if you don’t want to beat the other guy to the basket and score. There is no better feeling than hitting one of those “Wow!” shots that amazes everyone. Why? Because it is one of the best shots anyone has ever seen, that’s why.
Who can’t think of the word horse without thinking of basketball? Seeing your opponent rack up an “H,” then an “O,” then an “R,” then a “S,” and finally an “E,” because they missed the shots you aced, preferably without you getting any letters because you missed one of their shots, is a tough feeling to beat.
When I was younger, my father never “let me win” in basketball. How do I know? Because when I was finally able to beat him, he stopped playing me. I guess to some people the love of the game only exists when you can be competitive at it and competitive means there is almost always a good chance you are going to win.
Chances are that you have never heard of Reggie Love before. Reggie played football and basketball for Duke University. Like my Dad, Reggie has many stories about his sports playing days. To play two sports, he also had to be competitive.
Reggie played for Coach K, Mike Krzyzewski, during his years on Duke’s basketball team. Like many of Coach K’s players, Reggie has a very high opinion of Coach K. In the 2004-2005 Duke basketball season, Reggie was the captain. On Duke’s football side, they didn’t win too many games, so he doesn’t talk about that coach as much.
Reggie did go to the New Orleans Saints’ combine to train to try out for that football team, but his grandmother died and he decided not to pursue a professional football career at that time. He was hoping to play football in either the NFL Europe or Arena League when fate stepped in and headed him in another direction.
It was probably Reggie’s basketball talents that stand out most of his athletic abilities, though. Reggie Love? You might think, “I’ve never heard of him.” Sometimes the greatest players in the game just might be the ones you have never heard of.
Reggie’s path was crossed by another basketball wannabe. You see, Reggie’s athletic career was really going nowhere, but he needed a job. I don’t know if he really thought he needed a job at the time, but his mother thought he needed a job at the time. So Reggie started looking for a job.
Reggie sent off his resume to a mentor of Alan Hogan. Alan was one of his Duke teammates. Alan’s mentor was named Andre Buchner. Buchner was close to Sean Richardson, the chief of staff of Representative Patrick Kennedy. They were all hoping to find Reggie an internship on Capitol Hill.
They found a Senator, a Senator from Illinois, who had an opening. Although Reggie might not seem like the ideal candidate, he caught Pete Rouse’s, the Illinois Senator’s chief of staff, attention because he was young, African-American, had graduated from Duke with a political science degree, and he loved sports just like the Senator.
Reggie got ready for his big interview. He had a gray suit, which was at least a size too big and it was sloppy and untailored. He rounded it out with a beige tie and some squared-toe shoes. It was a cold winter day when he arrived at the Senator’s office for the interview. He had borrowed his father’s Volvo S80 to make the trip from North Carolina. He would have a minor fender-bender on the way.
When one thinks of being competitive, this Bible character is probably one of the last ones you would think of. Although the Bible doesn’t say exactly, he might have been born in Gibeah, because that is where it says he was from.
I just picture him as a young boy as a lanky, somewhat clumsy lad. You might remember the type when you were growing up. He was probably a head taller than the rest of the boys, but he probably unsuccessfully tried to not stand out. But when you are physically bigger than everyone else, it’s hard for anyone not to notice all your awkward moves.
Despite all this, our Bible character did the best he could not to stand out. When he got a little older, the Israelites were crying out for a strong leader. They had Judges that acted more like rulers that were leading them. They wanted something and someone more.
There was a wise Prophet at the time who tried to talk the Israelites out of this desire. But a rowdy crowd gathered and they demanded that the Prophet anoint them a king like all the countries around them had. The Prophet was none too happy about this rebellious attitude, but he went to the Lord with their request. God was none too happy with their request either, but He said, “If it’s a king they want, then it is a king I shall give them. It will be a decision they will regret.”
Like almost everything, or maybe I don’t even need to throw in the “almost,” God does, He would be right about them regretting asking for a king. But in a country that really hadn’t had a king before, where does one go to look for a king? Leadership must have been lacking, because if there was a strong individual to lead them they would have suggested someone to the Prophet, which didn’t happen.
Guess who the Prophet picked? Yes, he picked the tall, lanky lad that pretty much tried to stay out of the spotlight. In fact, when he announced his choice, the lad was hiding and didn’t want to even come out. So, as the young lad gets dragged out of his hiding place, we get our first glimpse of the new king. Not much competitiveness there.
Reggie’s Duke Basketball team won the National Championship in 2001, which might explain some of the naïve arrogance that Reggie might have been carrying into his interview with the Senator. He would explain his waiting for the Senator to arrive as: “… too stupid to be nervous, just giddily eager, like a dog in cold weather.”
When the Senator arrived, they shook hands and sized each other up. There was some small talk. Then the Senator asked a few personal questions, like if Reggie had any political desires. Reggie stumbled over his answers and could tell the Senator was unimpressed. Reggie described his performance as: “Man, did I suck.”
Reggie was shocked when he received a phone call five days later from Pete Rouse stating that they would like him to join their team. Reggie would become the Senator’s personal assistant. Reggie would call his job the “bodyman” or the Senator’s “touchstone for normalcy.” He would also say, “I was his DJ, his Kindle, his travel agent, his valet, his daughter’s basketball coach, his messenger, his punching bag, his alarm clock, his vending machine, his chief of stuff, his note passer, his spades partner, his party planner, his workout partner, his caterer, his small forward, his buffer, his gatekeeper, his surrogate son, and ultimately, improbably, luckily, his friend.”
When the prophet Samuel anointed Saul as the first Jewish king, I’m sure many questioned that choice. But Saul became quite a good king. He must have surprised everyone with his competitiveness. I say he was competitive because the Bible states he would win one battle after another. You don’t go to battle unless you think you have a chance to win. In order to win at anything, you have to be a little competitive.
But Saul had a great downfall. That downfall was what you might call a built-up ego that believed that victory no longer belonged to the winner, but belonged to him because of who he was. Little by little that ego would erode his confidence and trust in those around him.
The peak of Saul’s downfall would come when he decided that no one could be a star except him. The talent around him was not allowed to shine because he felt it might cast a shadow on him. Most kings have a hard time living in the shadows, even if living in the shadows makes them or their country greater.
David, a young superstar, was even more victorious than Saul was. Instead of having pride in what the young lad brought to the kingdom, Saul got his feelings hurt because someone else was receiving more applause than he was. Saul’s jealousy would get the best of his competitive spirit.
Instead of focusing his competitive spirit on defeating his enemies, Saul used his competitive spirit to try to destroy David. He became upset with David and ending David’s life became the only option he could concentrate on. He generated a competition out of something that really wasn’t there.
Saul would try to send David to a battle he knew David could not win and he thought David would probably die trying to win. David won the battle anyway and received even more praise. He would then throw a spear at David, when David was just trying to calm him down with his music. David would have to flee.
When Senator Barack Obama was running for President, one of the things his personal assistant, Reggie Love, did was to organize basketball games for Obama to participate in. Sometimes those games were just between the staff and sometimes those games involved locals in the area where they were trying to solicit votes.
Reggie and Obama were very competitive. When they played one-on-one this was great because it brought out the best in both of them. Reggie was not the type to “let” Obama win and Obama was competitive and would never let up on Reggie either. The competitive natures worked great when they played each other or when they were on the same team facing other staff members.
But Reggie’s competitiveness presented a problem when the staff would organize a team to play a team of unorganized locals. Reggie was all in and would do all he could to help his team score and to keep the other team from scoring. Nothing would be better to him than to beat the other team 100 to 0.
Obama had to talk to Reggie. He told him he really appreciated his competitiveness, but maybe when they played a team of locals, they could dial it back a little bit. They didn’t have to purposely lose, but maybe they could at least “keep the game close.” Obama went on to tell him that their games were actually goodwill missions and one of the goals of them was to get the other team’s player’s votes. He continued by saying, if they made the voters and supporters look bad, by blowing them out, it might not leave the desired effect with the audience.
On another occasion, Barack went to one of his daughter’s, Sasha’s, basketball games with his wife Michelle. Barack was getting very upset with their poor play. He would say things like, “They should be playing zone,” or “They need to run a play on offense.” Fed up, Michelle turned to Barack and said, “Why don’t you teach them how to play basketball?”
Before you knew it, Barack and Reggie were coaching Sasha’s basketball team. Although their team was never really the best team, they did have a very bright moment when they did play the best team in their league. They would beat the other, “better” team, 12-10.
What Reggie admits learning through these adventures was “…nothing connects people like athletics. Being on the same team wipes away all pretense. It gets to what’s real, real fast….You invest in other people. You work hard. You net measurable gains. Sports accomplishes all of this, whether you are tossing a ball in the backyard, swishing three-pointers in the league, or clapping like a maniac for a group of little girls as they race down the court.”
King Saul’s enemies would finally catch up with him. Although he would probably never admit it to anyone, as he entered his final battle, he was probably wishing he had David beside him helping to defeat the Philistines. As an all-star commander, David would have helped even the battle scene and there was probably a much better chance that King Saul might have been victorious.
As it was, King Saul and his army were so overwhelmed in that battle, that the battle ended up being a blowout. The competitive king would see no more battles. Death and defeat were all around him. He knew it was just a matter of time before his enemies would be taunting him because of his defeat and then he would have his life taken from him by them. He chose to fall on his own sword instead, ending his life.
I think God builds inside each of us a spirit of competitiveness. I can think of no one who really likes losing. Some may take a loss better than others, but no one really likes losing. Competitiveness drives us to do better and to be our best.
The problem with competitiveness is that it sometimes drives us to think of nothing but winning. But real winning is in the eyes of the beholder and sometimes the ultimate victory takes time. The old expression, “You may have won the battle, but you lost the war,” comes to mind.
God wants us to be on His team because He knows that the ultimate victory will be His. He’s competitive like that. He also knows what it takes to get to that victory. The problem is, we want the immediate victory. We want to win every game by a blowout. We forget that our victory might lie far beyond the scoreboard.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, Boy, does victory feel good! But let me never forget that I need not see victory through my eyes, but Your eyes. Help me be one of Your best team members because I really want to be a member of that ultimate victory team. Amen.
