Monday, April 25, 2011

The magical 3 year plan

Nearly three years ago when Mike Heisley announced that he had a three year plan to get the Memphis Grizzlies into the playoffs, most people, including myself, thought he was crazy. But here we are three years later, and the Grizzlies are in the playoffs. Better still - they're winning in the post-season. Tonight I watched them win their third post-season game against the team ranked number one in the Western Conference.

Some are classifying their success as a miracle. I think it's a combination of hard work, smart decision making, and unwavering support. The franchise began this journey by building itself up slowly with better players who worked well together. In turn, the support of fans grew and grew. The players took the support offered to them and worked for small victories. Eventually, those victories got bigger and harder to achieve, but they kept pushing forward. And here we are tonight - the Grizzlies lead the Spurs 3-1 in this round one playoff series.

After Saturday's game and again after tonight's game (both sell-outs), the forum was overflowing with pride. Both nights as the crowds were leaving, everyone was chanting and yelling for their beloved Grizzlies. I, of course, was right in the middle of it. But I kept having these moments of clarity where I felt like I was really deep into the scene, observing everything and taking it all in.

It occurred to me that we - the fans - had played a very small role in their success. After all, we believed in them. Then I realized what these playoff victories meant for the city of Memphis. This basketball team had begun to unite our city in a way I had never seen before. Everyone was coming together, and for once, we all wanted the same thing.

After spending a few minutes thinking about all of that, my thoughts got deeper. What if someone who really cared about this city and knew what they were doing made a three year plan for Memphis? What if we brought in people that REALLY had some skills and allowed them to change up our city's game a little? What if we all got behind them, volunteered in our communities, and created positive changes in our city's game ourselves? What kinds of wonderful things would happen if we had our own three year plan?

Then my mind posed another question - what if we were to quit waiting for some specially-trained superhero to come save our city and just start doing it ourselves?

Everyone points out where we fall short, but only a few courageous people ever step up and take a shot at changing things.

1 comment:

  1. 100% on the money, P. It was always about Memphians making up their minds to work for the city they wanted to live in. When that fails to happen, "Bosses" step in to run it; some with no vision, no leadership and others for their own gain. The ppl must step forward & sacrifice, if necessary, to make Memphis a REAL City of Choice. And we need "a plan & some hands"...

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