Speaking of Sports Column Archive

Speaking
of
Sports

by
Bernie
Fratto

In the end, they
couldn’t stand
the Heat

6/5/06

“Your opponent is never really the player on the other side, but rather the internal negative forces that reside inside yourself”

Now that the Piston’s championship hopes for 2006 are dead, everybody seems to want simple, bite-sized reasons as to why they lost. Coach Flip Saunders is a convenient target…C’mon shut up with that, they loved him all year, what changed?

Bad system? How did they win 64 games in the regular season, and 6 of their first 7 in the playoffs? Let’s just stop there. No more speculation, no more innuendo. Sure it didn’t help they shot about 33% when it mattered most, and they couldn’t throw a pea in the ocean when it came to making free throws, but everybody is avoiding the obvious.

…Pat Riley’s Miami Heat were the better team. Period. They were hungrier, more driven, more focused. They outplayed the Pistons in every facet, even though Detroit’s defense surrendered less points in the series, than they did in 2005 when Detroit prevailed.

I have a hard time believing the Detroit Pistons respected any of their playoff opponents this season, including Miami. They wanted a coveted rematch with San Antonio, because they respected them, and they felt the Champion Spurs stole some of their ‘cred last year.

Sometime in 1972 between the ‘Godfather’ and “show me respect”… and Rodney Dangerfield’s “I get no respect,” that seven-letter word seems to be the mantra that so many teams and individuals pine for.

How do you get it? That’s different for everybody. But you never get respect, without giving respect. Not respecting your opponent is learned at a young age and it can carry well into adulthood for people, not just in the field of sport, but in the world of business and beyond.

How much respect has anybody given the Heat? They did a great job, but all people feel is that the Pistons lost…Miami couldn’t have possibly won, could they?

There are no guarantees in sport, or ‘guaran-Sheeds’ as many found out, but I guarantee this: The best athletes, the best teams, the best Coaches, all respect their opponents.

It’s never too soon learn, but sometimes it’s too late to remember.

___________________________________
Bernie Fratto is a freelance writer, radio personality, and motivational speaker. His passion for sports comes in part from his experience as a former Cincinnati Red farm- hand. "Behind every sports story lies the hearts and minds of real human beings" said Fratto. "These athletic endeavors often serve as a metaphor for the game we call life."

Bernie is also on the broadcast team at Live 97.1FM talk-radio, and is a frequent co-host on the popular "Parker & The Man Show," a nightly sportstalk show which airs Monday-Friday from 7-11pm.