Today we examine the underrated greatness that is Bill Russell. We learn about sacrifice and winning and how being patient is fundamental to success.
“The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.” Bill RussellYesterday marks the birth of the most underrated athlete of all time. He isn’t the biggest, or the most famous, and he isn’t even the best at selling shoes. He is only the best at one particular thing that all athletes claim to be solely interested in. For every speech about “winning isn’t everything, it is the only thing” or “you play to win the game” there is only one team sports athlete that has figured it out. This man understood team dynamics, how and when to sacrifice himself for the good of the team, how to make your teammates better. That isn’t done by making a career out of scoring 30 pts or bouncing the ball the entire shot clock despite what they media tells you. This person let his teammates be stars, become hall of famers, and make more money than they should have. He sacrificed his own glory because he knew the real reason any team sport athlete plays the game: to win. He did it better than anyone else, and it isn’t close. He did it in college, the Olympics, and the pros. He was unequaled. The unequaled doesn’t remind you, he doesn’t have to. He’s a genius and he just realizes that people forget. Well, here we don’t forget our history.
When was the last time you heard any of today’s athletes talk like that? Bill Simmons in his “Book of Basketball” that Russell scouted his own teammates. He identified their strengths and weaknesses so he could help them be better. He could cover for them on defense better, throw them passes where they would be more successful, push them or back off when he needed to emotionally. Russell studied this like no one else before or since with the exception of Kobe Bryant who reached out Russell and asked for his advice much to Simmons and his Celtic loving chagrin, also in his book. They approached it differently, but what made Russell so different was his mental understanding of the team dynamic. He understood sacrifice which in chess is defined as “a move intended to allow the opponent to win a pawn or piece, for strategic or tactical reasons” and he would allow himself to lose face in a battle to win the war later, but in the end the result was the same. They won the championship 11 of his 13 years in the league. He has as many rings as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant combined.
Let.
That.
Sink.
In.
He has as many rings as Michael and Kobe combined and yet his name is around the conversation but never at the top where it rightly belongs. Other players might be more skilled or bigger or faster. That isn’t what counts. The San Francisco Dons won national titles his last two seasons in college. The Celtics started winning championships when he got there and they stopped when he left. When his coach retired, he became the coach and won titles his last two seasons in the league as a player/coach. He merely figured out the secret sauce, the magic mixture, the maintaining of chemistry and harmony of a winning team better than anyone else.
Sacrifice- an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy
People use the word sacrifice wrong all the time. It isn’t about giving something up, end stop. No, a sacrifice is giving up something valued for something more important or worthy. Last week we worked on being a little more kind and I hope that it worked for you. Did you feel some satisfaction? Were you able to find joy in doing something that nobody noticed? See? Being kind is its own internal reward and we control that.
This week I would like to combine kindness with this week’s word sacrifice. This is how they are linked. When we sacrifice, we give up something, but we can gain something more. For example, someone sacrifices where they want to go to dinner for the place that their friend wants to go. Just notice how much joy they get, how much better their mood is, and how appreciative of you they are when the dinner is over. You have just won by having a better time than getting to go to your restaurant and having the other person complain, and gripe, and be sullen. This is winning at life-sacrifice and win, sacrifice and win, and soon you will realize that the only way to win is to sacrifice. No one knew this better than Bill Russell, but very few have ever done the same. He let the others shoot, score baskets, and get the glory; he just made sure the other team didn’t. For all his sacrifice on offense, he was dominant defensively.
Bill Russell is widely regarded as the finest defensive player to ever play the game. He was a superior athlete, in 1956 he was ranked as the 7th best high jumper in the world despite not jumping in the Olympics as he was captaining the basketball team to a gold medal instead, winning by an average of 53 pts a game. His ability to play defense changed the game as his “help” defense was only effective at winning and not garnering accolades or press copy. His “help” defense consisted of coming to the rescue for his teammates if their opponent had beaten them to the basket and blocking their shot and securing the ball. He didn’t block the ball out of bounds to make himself look better, Russell kept the ball in play and started the offense for his teammates. He blocked so many shots that eventually teams didn’t try to go to the basket because they knew Russell would always be there for his teammates. He again sacrificed to make his team better. 11 times Russell was faced with a deciding game (when both teams were faced with win or they lose the series), in those games he was 11-0. Sacrifice and win. Sacrifice and win. That was his secret sauce. I challenge you to figure out a way to add this magic mixture to your life so you don’t lose.
The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I’d made my teammates play.
Bill Russell, the greatest winner ever.
Sincerely Yours,
C Thomas Printer
Also born on this date:
Abraham Lincoln,
Charles Darwin,
Lee Byung-chul.
As promised from last week we have breaking news here at the C Thomas Printer Cooperative-
Ecclesiastes chapter 3 tells us that there is a time for every activity under heaven so while I will offer you a chance to practice grace, kindness, and sacrifice and remember great men and women of the past. I realize that there are some of you that would like proof that we can be entertaining here at the C Thomas Printer Cooperative and by proof you mean 80 proof with a splash of ginger.
It is without further delay that I introduce you to our first contributing author. Known as golf’s greatest fictional contributor, the inventor of the Crown and Ginger casino game, the man who is such a hit with the ladies that they renamed Michigan’s Kinac Island, Mackinac Island, in his honor; ladies and gentlemen please welcome G Spot Johnson.
Unfortunately, it is at this time that I would like to announce that I am suspending him for two weeks without pay for conduct unbecoming a gentleman and he hasn’t even started yet. G Spot’s first piece “Is Debauchery a Good Thing?” for our cooperative will drop on February 26, fittingly on the last Mardi Gras weekend, if we can get clothes back on him and get him sobered up in time.
This week as we progress through the Have More Grace Challenge:
Be patient (let that car merge in front of you because in the grand scheme of things you arriving at your destination two seconds sooner isn’t that important).