Lessons for Writers from the Spurs’ NBA Championship
June 15, 2007 by Lillie
I am not a sports fan. Even when I was in the high school marching band and attended every football game (about a zillion years ago 
), I had no concept of what was happening on the field. Furthermore, I didn’t care. Sure, I wanted our team to win, but beyond that I had no interest in the game. The only reason I was there was to march in the half-time show. The rest of the game, I chatted with equally uninterested friends … or sat in the bleachers totally bored, wondering when the game would end.
The only time I ever pay any attention to sports is when the San Antonio Spurs are in the finals. Even as oblivious as I am to sports, I see what the team means to our city. As David Flores of the San Antonio Express News says: there is a love affair between San Antonio and the Spurs. I watched the last quarter of the game and got as excited as the rest of the city when the Spurs won their fourth NBA championship in nine years.
Listening to the commentary and the interviews after the game gave me insights into what writers (or anyone striving for success in any field) can learn from the Spurs.
- Experience counts as much as, or more than, raw talent. Commentators along with players and coaches from both teams spoke about the poise that came from the Spurs’ experience - they are a mature team that has been in the championships before. No matter how much raw talent a writer has, she will get even better with experience.
- Teamwork is critical to success. The Spurs have “The Big Three” star players, yet they could not have won the game without the other players. Each team member had to perform their role effectively for the team to succeed. No writer can succeed alone - he needs the help of mentors, teachers, agents, editors, publishers, booksellers, publicists, and others … including readers.
- Perseverance leads to achievement in spite of obstacles. The season started badly for the Spurs, and no one expected them to have a good year. The Associated Press reported: “The Spurs weren’t the Spurs earlier this season, and Popovich, ever the task master, criticized his squad, calling it the worst defensive one he had coached.” Writers may receive numerous rejections and spend years learning their craft and submitting before they achieve success.
- Nice guys don’t always finish last. “{Coach} Popovich is ingenious when it comes to adding players high in character and talent,” according to Jemele Hill, ESPN.com. Spurs players support their community and don’t make headlines for bad behavior. I don’t know anything about the Cleveland Cavaliers, but they were gracious in the interviews I heard after they lost the game, which leads me to believe they’re “nice guys” too. Writers don’t have to put success in their careers above being “nice guys” - mentoring other writers and contributing to their community doesn’t take away from their own achievements.
There are probably many more lessons to learn from the Spurs and the NBA championship, but for now I’m returning to my non-sports-fan writing life.
Congratulations, San Antonio Spurs!
[tags]San Antonio Spurs, NBA, writing[/tags]
Hey, awesome way at looking at things
Thanks, Alicia.
You’ve done it again! A wonderful piece. The teamwork is a lot like all of us who support each other in the blogosphere, working together…. and having fun.
I touched on this very thing in my post today.
You’re so right about the teamwork in the blogosphere. Since I was trying to keep each point short and focused on writing, I didn’t specifically mention it, but I think it’s broadly included in “mentors.”
Your post on the blog tapestry in your corner of the blogosphere is great!
Once again, yet another great post! You certainly are an effective, interesting writer. I am like you in that I do not get into sports. I would do the same as you, sit there and look for analogies in what the team represents in life rather than worry about the plays. I love to analyze and I am not sure where that skill came from in me. If we look hard, we can find life lessons in everything.
Hummie,
Thank you for the compliment. Being called an effective writer means a lot - I used to want to be an eloquent writer but have come to realize it’s more important to get my message across than to impress readers with my great vocabulary and beautiful writing.
Your ability of find life lessons in everything and share them makes your blog a favorite of mine even though I’m not a digital scrapbooker and didn’t expect to find it interesting the first time I went there.
Lillie, I don’t get into sports that much, either, but this post was awesome. I agree that there are a lot of lessons that can be learned like this — for me, perseverance is the most important. I’m determined to keep at this blogging thing until I build up more readers, get more work, etc. I know it’ll come in time, but thanks for this post. It helped to remind me that I’m doing the right thing.
Perseverance is key - I’ve heard so many success stories of people who kept working in the face of seemingly impossible obstacles.
A friend of mine did some research several years ago when she had her first romance novel published. She looked at all the books by first-time authors published that year by the major New York romance publishers. She discovered that the authors had been writing for an average of seven years and had written an average of seven novels before they made their first sale.
Your success with your blog and freelance career will come much faster than that, but it just demonstrates how important it is to keep at (whatever). Most people give up too soon - when with just a little more effort they would have broken through.
Another writer wrote for something like 20 years, had numerous manuscripts written, and had collected hundreds of rejections. Then she found an editor who liked her work and within a year had contracts for several adult books and a series of children’s books. That was several years ago, and she’s had a lot of books published now with good sales.
So to use a couple of cliches: Keep on keeping on. A big shot is just a little shot that kept on shooting.
Thanks for your post, Lillie. What a great analogy between sports and writing. Success is indeed a matter of perserverance, experience and teamwork. That’s true no matter what career path you’ve chosen. I have a writer friend who doesn’t go to conferences or classes or workshops and won’t read any writing craft books. She says she knows all she needs to know about writing. I think she’s missing out on a lot. I love learning new things, having new experiences and meeting new people.
As usual, you’ve made some excellent points here, Lillie. The Spurs have a great deal to teach the rest of us–and specifically, the rest of us writers–about the personality traits necessary for success in any “field.” And while, I, like you, am not much into sports and certainly not much of a football fan–I understand baseball much better–all your points are well taken; and I, too, congratulate the Spurs on their win!
Jeanne
Helen,
I agree that your friend is missing out on a lot by not doing anything to learn and network.
Thank you for helping the readers of your blog and newsletter (as well as your workshops and other events) to learn more.
Jeanne,
Thanks for the comment. I’m glad that another non-sports-fan found my analogy helpful.
This is really funny.
To be honest I love sports: I like the competition and the concept of fair play. This is something you should include in your list.
Good point, Mig. As a non-sports-fan, I missed the obvious.
What a classy franchise. Tim Duncan should go down as one of the best players ever. The team might be struggling right now, but come playoff time, they will be the force to reckon with. The only other athlete that has the class of Tim Duncan is Cristiano Ronaldo
Great post. Now if only the Bulls could take a lesson from the Spurs and put together a similar team. We’ll see how Derek Rose and Vinny Del Negro can change the attitudes around here. What works in sports often works in life!
NBA Ticketss last blog post..311 with Snoop Dogg Tickets
Responses to this post: