Sportsmanship

I hope this message motivates you.

My Grandfather was a Browns fan, he died of lung cancer.

His words for his offspring were, “Never give up.”

My grandfather had a wild mind but he suffered in order to save a teammate.

Like many men and women, he was introduced to athletics early in life and he became crippled playing the sport of football while trying to protect another teammate. He spent the rest of his life with one leg shorter than the other.

My grandfather was always quiet, never said a word and when he did speak he hardly gained anyone’s attention but he loved sports.

I wrote this piece for the young man and the young woman.

I personally took my grandfather into chemotherapy quite often before he died. I can still remember him in his Cleveland Browns jacket.

My message to you, friend, is learn to lose.

I know this sounds crazy in today’s world but I mean this personally.

Learn to take a beating.

My personal resume is filled with disappointments, on my first encounter with the sport of basketball I was literally kicked off of the basketball court as a child because I never played and no one took the time to teach me; therefore, I had to learn everything by myself.

On my quest to become a winner, which rarely happened, I had to learn that winning is an illusion, it creates too many false ideologies but to win I first had to lose. My grandfather never got to see his team win a title but technically he did. Every week he tuned in, watched them join hands, pick each other up and play the game. There are millions of people who invest in sports but the true magic happens when a player falls down and the world helps them get back up.

I am not a professional athlete, but I enjoy seeing people do extraordinary things.

I enjoy watching people fall down, passing out, doping scandals, and even being persecuted only to learn the hard way.

Drilled into a one word lesson that we all must learn.

“Sportsmanship,” if you thought winning was everything, you’ve been fooled, a true champion dies a thousand times only to learn one lesson from John Wesley West.

Encourage your teammates and—

“Never give up.”

Sportsmanship 

It will turn you into a real champion.

I promise.