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I Forgive You J.R. Smith
Brain farts, mental lapses, or whatever you want to call them, things like what happened in Game 1 of the NBA finals happens to the best of us. I think many of us may want to cast blame on J.R. Smith for what he did(or didn’t do) in the final seconds of the game and rightfully so. When you are a professional basketball player criticism is justified. It was not the correct basketball play. However, how many of us have called our kids by the wrong name or went searching for the car keys only to find them in the refrigerator? Maybe the stage is not as large, but the concept is the same. I think moments like what happened to Smith is less about his mistake and more about our society. We need to be more forgiving.
Steve Bartman made a mental mistake once and became persona non grata in Chicago. He was ostracized to the point that he didn’t even attend the 2016 Chicago Cubs victory parade. He was called stupid for his mistake and received death threats…over a baseball game…that he didn’t even play in. Did he deserve that? Chris Webber made a mistake once, and he was a kid 19–20-year-old kid who just so happened to be amazing at basketball. People in Michigan still blame him for that 1993 NCAA championship game loss. Does that nullify a fantastic NBA career?
Professional sports as in life are a series of moments. Was it one moment that created the outcome or was it a series of…
