Same Flight/Different Landing --- Day 14/134

 Walk: T Joe's

Distance: 2.5 miles

Jimmy Butler

So, one of the things Ciwt admires about many elite athletes is their ability to stay focused on winning right to the very last buzzer - no matter how harrowing the circumstances.  A few of her favorite examples are Joe Montana calmly surveying the field for a receiver with less than ten seconds on the clock, and Rafa Nadal throwing himself entirely into every shot after hours of playing.  

And last night, the aging Golden State Warriors winning game 7 of the playoffs.  Throughout the series there were the inevitable newspaper headlines about how unfair the refs were to the Warriors or how brutally guarded Curry was by the Rockets or how punishing their schedule was with all the plane rides.  Poor, poor Warriors.

But, as always,  the players themselves were having none of it. The best of them are not looking for excuses or handouts.  They know winning is up to them and they take full responsibility for - actually seem to look forward to -  the challenge.  When some reporter started down the 'terrible schedule' road with Jimmy Butler the other day, he brushed him off completely:  

“We’ll be all right. I’m 35, I can’t remember how old Steph is, Dray is 35, too. Everybody’s got to travel the same distance. Ain’t like we’re going to go around the world and land in Houston and they got only a five minute flight to Houston. They’ve got to travel just like we’ve got to travel.”

She also Loves! die hard fans - no matter what the team.  Last night's game was out of town and televised.  But  lots of Warriors fans weren't sitting at home watching it.  Instead they came to the stadium, set themselves up in their portable chairs, and cheered for their team.  Wonder if the closed circuit tv worked in reverse so the players could see their fans supporting them.  Probably some people were sending iPhone videos.