You gotta love pro athletes, or at least athletes who are of the mindset to become pros one day. They possess a certain quality that you or I just can't understand. That mentality that, no matter how good things are, there are a phalanx of hateful people waiting just around the corner waiting and wanting to see you fail. Those people drive you. They consume you. You spend every moment of your career proving to them that you are better than they say. Even though once you do, those people just keep talking or find something else to criticize you about.
Here's the funny thing though...I'm fairly certain that those people don't exist. At least, there isn't actually some kind of secret society dedicated to trash-talking you, the athlete in question. Pretty sure it's all just a mental construct, not unlike when people say that "Hollywood" has an agenda or "the media" is doing something wrong. It's much more likely that there's a handful of independent people involved, rather than a collection of Borg-like naysayers following your every move.
But don't tell that to athletes. And don't tell that to Syracuse freshman Brandon Triche.
"I don't think people respect me," he said. "People say, 'He's not fast enough.' So I'm gonna go out there, get on the track, do sprints, get faster. You can't really make everybody happy. But the things they say, if I work on it, it's gonna make me better."
Who are these people? Where is the Brandon Triche Hate Society headquartered and how does one become a member? Not that I want to join, just curious.
Donna's got a great rundown on The History of Brandon Triche over at Syracuse.com, not only breaking down how he got here but also how he plans to play for the Orange. Speaking of, playing for the Orange was never really a question, at least according to Jim Boeheim:
"I think that was one of the main reasons Brandon chose Syracuse," Melvin said. "Boeheim cared about him as a person."
"He made it clear to us," McKenney said, "that they had to get him."
Boeheim acknowledged he courted Triche "as hard as anyone I've ever recruited." He wanted Triche in a Syracuse uniform "from Day One."
What does that tell you about the point guard that Jimmy said was better than Jonny Flynn "by a long shot?" Even if that's not true (yet), Boeheim has faith.
Triche's goal for the season? "I want to be the best player on the team." Good deal. Triche is slowly but surely becoming our own personal Tony Montana. Before he's done here, I'm 75% sure that Brandon Triche will climb on top of the Hall of Languages, semi-automatic in one hand, ringing the bells with the other hand, screaming "I'm Brandon Triche! You fuck with me, you fuckin' with the best!"
Just a hunch.