With the use of social media devices increasing at a staggering rate amongst professional athletes, fans have become privy to a dialogue that was for years reserved for none other than those directly involved. Athletes regularly use their Twitter accounts as a way to effortlessly interact with one another, no matter where they are at the time. It not only allows them to keep in touch with teammates, friends from other teams and their inner circle of friends, but it also gives them the opportunity to build themselves as individual brands by promoting products they endorse.
However the way in which these players interact is rather interesting. If you are able to wade through the pile of abbreviations, slang terms and colloquialisms, an interesting trend emerges no matter who the players in question are. They view each other as part of the same proverbial family. Athletes, primarily a certain three basketball players who decided to team up in South Beach, have received a bad rap this summer due to their perceived selfishness and apparent disregard for the teams that left. But something that has been routinely overlooked is that these players have trained at a very high level for their entire lives to reach the point of physical perfection that they have reached. There are many players who still have the skills to play amongst the pros, but simply fall through the cracks and are unable to secure a contract. So those who are lucky enough to maintain their position in the most competitive leagues in the world feel as if they are blessed to be able to do so.
Very few professional athletes in todays day and age take what they have for granted. They generally train twice a day during the off season, and are constantly striving to get better. Even the best players in the world are in the gym working to further master their craft. Kobe. Durant. LeBron. Carmelo. They train hard, and they understand that they make up an extremely small group of players in the world who compete at such a level. The days of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson competing against one another, and wanting to do nothing more than beat each other are gone. Many of these players have been playing with each other in some capacity since their early teens, whether it was at one of the many prep schools, such as Oak Hill Academy and Findlay Prep, or on the AAU circuit during the summer months. They have all seen players with all of the potential in the world have their careers ended too soon due to injury, and they are thankful for everyday that they get to continue competing at such a level.
Whether these players are able to translate their gratefulness into 140 or characters or less depends on the individual player, but what remains consistent is that are thankful for the opportunity that they have been granted, and the brotherhood of professional athletes is alive and well. There is routinely highly touted high school recruits interacting with college stars, and professional players chatting with players from their alma mater, home state or just ones that have met along their travels. Aside from the players that entered the NBA directly from high school prior to the 2005 one-and-done rule was implemented, they all went through the college recruitment process and the subsequent jump to the professional ranks. It is easy for the media to criticize these players for the decisions they make along the way, but it must be kept in mind that these kids are being recruited from the age of 16, if not earlier, and potentially playing in the pros by the age of 19. They require a support system that the academic institutions that they attend are unable to supply them with. It is difficult to relate to what these players are experiencing unless you have been through it yourself.
Many basketball purists wish that we could return to the days when players did not talk to those on the other team, but the system that has been created makes it necessary for them to maintain close relationships with one another over the course of their careers. For the highest level players in the world, no matter what professional team employs you, there is the chance that you come in direct contact with the rest of the upper echelon players numerous times during the season. There are numerous off-season camps and promotional appearances with shoe companies. All-Star Games. National team training for the quadrennial Olympics and FIBA Championships. This is only at the highest level, but they actually do even more of this type of activity with one another while in high school and college, with multiple player showcases and then the inevitable workouts for NBA teams. They must go through this process together, and no one is given a free pass to the pros, so they all have to work equally hard to achieve the ultimate goal.
There are even relationships formed amongst players across sports, where they who are able to find common ground in the way they have been treated by the media, the public and their roles within their respective organizations. When you are unable to relate to anyone within the sport that you compete, being able to interact and find common ground with a player in another sport is understandably comforting for these athletes. Some may ask why these players need comforting when they are amongst the best in the world and they make millions of dollars, but they are still people who human emotions. While they surely do not read every article that critiques their behaviour, they are at least aware that they exist and that the perception of their actions is being spun in a certain way. Few members of the public and the media respect that these friendships are necessary for the NBA, and other major professional leagues to operate. We always want them to go out there and want to rip each others head off, and while this may be the base in the heat of action, it simply is not when they are off the court.
There are players such as Shaun Livingston, the 6’7′ point guard out of Peoria, Illinois that was supposed to revolutionize the way the position was played. He was selected 4th overall in the NBA Draft in 2004, but after a horrific injury, he has never been able to return to form. He will be playing for his fifth NBA team, the Charlotte Bobcats, and will likely never reach his full potential. When maintaining a source of income is directly correlated with staying healthy, it is not soon forgotten that the body must be taken care of. As a result, a brotherhood has been created that is just now coming to the attention of the general public. Players on different teams, from different countries who play different sports regularly interact with one another in an attempt to keep themselves grounded and remind each other that there are other people going through the same situation as they are.
We often forget that professional athletes are people just like us, but don’t think that they have forgotten. Many of the most famous athletes in the world are the same age as the average college student, so this must be taken into account when criticism is raining down upon them. They are a family.
Editor’s Note: Lawrence Dushenski is a Toronto Raptors fan. You can follow him on twitter @LD10. Read more of his articles by clicking here.
