Nothing irks sports fans more than an phenomenal athlete who fails to reach his perceived potential because of laziness. If you need proof, talk to a Knicks fan about Eddy Curry or anyone who ever rooted for Derrick Coleman; Then look for cover. It agitates people that players who are so gifted could not fulfill their promise due to a lack of competitive fire. They think to themselves "If I had his athleticism I would be in the Hall of Fame". And that may well be the case. A person with even average ambition and Derrick Coleman's talent would have been a perennial All-Star. But what if the ability to stay motivated is a talent, in and of itself?
(With the science background of your average Hutu) I hypothesize that an individual's level of ambition is nearly as innate as their intelligence or athleticism. A large percentage of the remainder of one's drive is developed in early childhood. Perhaps due to factors completely out of his control, Eddy Curry is simply incapable of getting his competitive juices going for more than a game or two. If this is the case, then hating him for his lack of motivation is as ridiculous as hating Chad Pennington for his weak throwing arm. Or Bengie Molina for his lack of speed or even Nate Robinson for his shortness.
I'm not saying you should want lazy sacks of shit on your team. Just that the lazy shits should be treated with the same disdain that players with more obvious physical shortcomings are treated.
Give yourself a Barry Horowitzesque pat on the back if you inferred that this was a thinly veiled justification of my own failures in life.
7 comments:
The Bulls management forgot to let you in on our little secret.
oh right, poor people are innately lazy, and just can't seem to do well in school. Schucks!
Loved the Barry Horowitz ref...
rock on,
aitch
I'm too lazy to think up a good comment
You should have seen Eddy Curry lose to a bunch of skinny white kids from the suburbs of Chicago in the state championship game his senior year. He was truly a man among boys, so I would agree with your post that the rich kids from Schaumburg got much more motivated because of their richness.
This is a good point. My guess, based on a similar understanding of science, is that most character traits are out of our control, and positive changes in people do not occur willfully but as a result of a change in their environment and/or brain chemistry. But our society does not treat mental shortcomings the same as physical ones, which is probably for the better.
So I can use the ramp? Sweet.
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