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Carmelo Anthony is now officially a member of the Los Angeles Lakers and was introduced to the media on Monday where he was asked about aging and how the Lakers have gotten considerably older with some of their moves in the offseason.
And you know what? He had a perfect take on it.
Anthony, who’s 37 years old, said:
“We don’t care. We don’t care. We make our own narrative.”
As an oldish person I find that one quote so inspiring and it was something I needed to hear after I limped my way over to the coffee machine before writing this here Morning Win.
Too often we worry about our age, or have athletes told how old they are and how they should be concerned about that and their old age is going to lead to doom and gloom. It really is a narrative that can mess with your head if you let it. And it’s also a narrative you can flip around like ‘Melo did.
Anthony added:
“I like when people talk about the age. It gives a better story. I think it gives a better story. I think people forget, at the end of the day, it’s about basketball. You got to know how to play basketball. You got to have that experience. I think that’s what we bring at this point and time. Our talent, our skill, but also our experience.”
Look, the Lakers do have some “old” guys on their team. LeBron James, who recently deleted a fiery tweet about this age thing, is 36. Marc Gasol will turn 37 in January. Trevor Ariza recently turned 36. Dwight Howard will be 36 in December.
They also have some really good younger guys named Anthony Davis (28) and Russell Westbrook (who will turn 33 in November).
Yes, they have have oldish guys on their team and in sports that can sometimes lead to injuries and diminished play and bad seasons.
But we’re also seeing this age thing in sports not mattering as much as it once did.
Heck, Tom Brady is 44 and won his seventh Super Bowl last season.
LeBron has played in a million basketball games and is still one of the best players in the league and one of the best to ever do it.
Too often we look at age and say “well, that person is old and won’t be able to get it done.”
Anthony’s positive outlook on age is refreshing. Is he saying it just because he hopes it proves to be true and he’s trying to speak it into existence?
Maybe.
Probably.
But I don’t care.
It’s the pep talk I needed today. Who cares how old you are. Just go out there and be yourself and do what you do and things will work out the way they should.
Now let me go limp over and make some more coffee.
Quick hits: One fantasy bust for each NFL team… NBA fans don’t fall for a new Ben Simmons video… Guy Fieri’s apple pie hot dog for MLB game… And more.
– My pal Charles Curtis is back with his NFL fantasy advice and he kicks things off by listing one bust for each team and explains why you might want to pass on Derrick Henry this season.
– A video emerged of Sixers guard Ben Simmons nailing jump shots and NBA fans had feelings about it.
– Guy Fieri has created a wild apple pie hot dog for the “Field of Dreams” game between the White Sox and Yankees and I don’t hate it.
– Jeopardy! legend James Holzhauer took a funny shot at Joe Buck and why he’d like to see Buck become the show’s full-time host.
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