KD, my hero

I just watched the MVP acceptance speech of Kevin Durant (the star player of the Oklahoma City Thunder) and it had me in tears. He is so beautiful. He is rich, famous and oh-so-very humble. So I am now an OKC fan. I watched the LeBron biography on TV, and that had me rooting for James. I liked the feel of his life. Now after watching Kevin talk about his teammates, and about himself, I am an OKC fan. Oh, dear… If it is OKC and Miami in the finals, I have to decide which team I will cheer on.

It is interesting to note that two of the top teams have really “good” star players on top — “good” in terms of personality. That says something about character and sports, right? Yes, one has to be physically capable, but character has a huge role to play in performance — especially if it is a team sport.
I want Miami to run a back-to-back three-peat just because it is an achievement. I like the fact that LeBron left a higher paying job just to be with his friends.
But Kevin Durant is such a beautiful soul.

So as you can see, my basketball determinants are so… un-basketball. I am just learning the game from my kids, because they eat and breathe basketball, especially the NBA.
What made an impact on me was Kevin’s humility. He unabashedly admits that he started with nothing. They were two kids and a single mother and they moved from place to place until finally they got their own apartment. So sitting there in this room without any furniture at all, they hugged each other — and felt so blessed. He choked up while saying that, and I choked up with him. What he really wanted to do was coach: to teach kids how to play because he could connect it to his faith. Here you have a man at the apex of his career, in a very macho sport, yet feeling so much, in front of millions. I loved it. He told his mother, who was brimming with pride and feeling, “You are my MVP.”

Then he talked about his teammates, saying how he loved them. Straight from the heart he said “I love you, man.” And his teammates wiped away tears. These are people I see doing unreal things on court, and they deeply feel for one another. That is the essence of the sport. That is what makes a team successful: how people feel.

That is why when the owner of the San Francisco Team fired his coach for what I feel are shallow reasons, like “The coach was outshining him” (That is from my son, who read it on the net), I thought: Huh? What’s that all about? He fired the coach even if his star player, Stephen Curry, said that the coach was the best ever and that through the coach, he became a better player and even more importantly, a better person. The second star player validates that. The whole team validates that. How can you fire a coach that the team likes? Or because the coach refuses to relocate so that he can continue do pastoral work in another place? Very immature owner.
One does not make decisions on just technicalities. I am finding that out in the ABS-CBN Foundation. You can’t hire people just because of technical skills. My mentor, Professor Ed Morato, who was the dean of the Asian Institute of Management and is now president of Bayan Academy, shared this one piece of advice which I always remember: “When you hire, the first thing you look at is the person’s heart. Secondary are skills, because skills can be learned. But it is the heart that moves things. It is the heart that makes things happen, especially in a foundation.”

On reflection, I would say that thinking holds for life itself. The most important thing is the heart. If you look at your life, you probably gravitate towards people as friends because your hearts resonate. It is key in life. I would say it is key even in team sports, in any kind of team play. When decisions are made without recognizing this very important feature, then that decision lacks depth. It is one-dimensional.

If you are interested in exploring ways to further deepen your insight, you can attend a meditation workshop in Tagaytay — or if you want to go all the way, attend a seven-day intensive session from August 24-25 for meditation and August 26 to June 1 for clearing the subconscious intensive. The gunk we have in our consciousness affects the way we feel, the way we receive. Spring cleaning is always a good thing. If you can’t make it for May or June, you can book for the one in September. Call Rochelle Obleno at 0917-6240790 / 0917-5823358 or email at r.obleno@yahoo.com.

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I can be reached at regina_lopez@abs-cbn.com.