Maybe you were picked late for kickball. Maybe the Science Bowl coach put you on the B-team. The details change; the feeling is familiar. Someone looked at the options and chose you second.
There is a particular pleasure in making that judgment look premature.
It is part of what made Jeremy Lin’s run so electric. A player people had overlooked stepped onto the floor at Madison Square Garden and scored 38 against Kobe Bryant’s Lakers. “Linsanity” became a name for the joy of watching expectations fail in public.
Let the moment belong to someone
I feel something similar watching Damian Lillard pull up from the logo. “Dame Time” is a way of appreciating what is happening right in front of us. It does not require a ruling on whether he is better than Steph Curry.
A moment does not have to belong to the greatest to be great. Dragging every performance back into a permanent ranking makes it harder to enjoy anyone’s work.
That matters to those of us who have spent time on the second team. We can do something worth watching without first becoming everyone’s obvious choice.
A moment does not have to belong to the greatest to be great.
The opening
Being underestimated can give you room. Fewer people are waiting for perfection. You get to work before anyone has decided what your success is supposed to look like.
That is how I want to see the second pick: a starting position with space to surprise people. You still have to practice. You still have to earn the moment.
But the team sheet is not the ending. Give them a reason to look at it again.