In My Write Mind

It was something simple. A hot-shot rookie with five tools, loads of potential, didn’t even think before he did it.

He certainly deserved it after smacking a game-tying home run to keep the game going. To keep his team in it. So, innocently, instinctively … he did it.

And got chastised by his manager. Strongly. And he had to understand that it wasn’t so much what he did, but when he did it. The timing of it all.

The motto for this year is “The Team. The Time. The Mets.” Not yet.

As well-timed as the home run was, the reaction to it, the time of year it was, made it suspect at best. The rookie did what most of New York can’t do. What they know better than to do so early, before the fat lady singeth, before what Yogi Berra and Lenny Kravitz said actually happens: when over is really over.

The rookie messed up. He exhaled.

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[This article will appear in the June 2006 edition of Black Sports The Magazine.]

It didn’t take long. It never usually does with the great ones. All it takes is growth, along with opportunity and a willingness to outpace your opponent. To go above and beyond.

Jordan had it. Kobe wants it. That ability to will themselves to the next level, that work ethic that carries over to those around them. Forces them to raise their game.

And now there’s LeBron. He’s got it. And this spring, he’s grown immensely. Out of Jordan’s, or anyone’s shadow. Now, he’s out of this world — with a potential for greatness never before seen in someone so young. He’s only 21. And no one let’s him forget that.

What those same people won’t forget is the way he carried his Cleveland Cavaliers on his back as they proceeded to make the Washington Wizards disappear, and take the defending conference champion Detroit Pistons to the brink.

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This … is my time of year.

A time of renewal, of daylight savings, of warmer weather, cherry blossoms and walks in the park. This is the time of year when you start thinking about vacation, when ambition takes over and you start looking to set yourself up for advancement, both at work and in life.

A time when you look forward to showers in order to get to the flowers. But this is really the time of year when sports rules, when all that you could wish for takes place, rises like the temperature. This time of year is all about the games.

Yup. It’s April, and I’m a fool for it.

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