Number One, Big Deal

I noticed a list of the top ten best college basketball uniforms. Can you believe that somebody would waste their time, and the intelligence of would be readers with nonsense like this? Maybe this list has some social benefit that might change our lives; I don’t know because I didn’t read it. Could it be that we have become overly concerned about being the best? Over the years I have watched parents push their children to accomplish just that, being number one. I have seen dads make their sons endure hours of practice in a particular sport, thinking that someday that kid will become the next Babe Ruth or Michael Jordan. I have seen so much pressure placed on a student to be the best that if he or she scores anything less that an A they almost have a nervous breakdown. Wanting a child to do well is one thing, but to drive them to become the absolute best in some endeavor maybe beyond their ability is not healthy. As parents we can expect too much from our children.

As far as sports are concerned I have watched dads and mothers act like fools at their child’s sporting event. Even in little league or T ball parents sometimes behave like idiots. In high school sports it even gets worse.  I coached high school basketball and baseball, and several times I was cursed out by a parent because I wasn’t letting their son or daughter play enough. It all goes back to wanting to be number one, the best.

Dare I mention college basketball or football? Many fans expect their team to be number one. The administration expects their primary money making teams to be number one. They pay their coaches millions of dollars to make sure that happens at least every few years. If not the coach is fired. Tremendous pressure is placed on coaches, and some coaches will do anything, legal or not, to try and make it happen. Being number one brings in the big money for the university, and a lot of administrators don’t care how that distinction is achieved.

Maybe I don’t understand. I was never number one in anything. I haven’t been the best player, teacher, coach, preacher, writer, husband, parent, or person. I have no idea what it is like to be the best. I haven’t even made the top ten or top twenty list on any of these things. I’ve been happy, and enjoyed what I’ve done these 70 years. I am proud of my daughters and my grandchildren. It has been a joy watching them grow. I do have the best wife ever, of course that is just my opinion, and I have a bias about that. No, I am not the best, but you know what? When I leave this world I will go to a place where I will be treated like I am the best because I am one of God’s children. He is number one and the fact that he is my Father is all that matters when all is said and done.