Phil is only 14 years old. And the best around here.

Marv, One of our neighborhood basketball coaches, had said it. And I knew more of new his stuff. I was still shocked when I heard it, though.

Not because Phil wasn’t good. Phil was REALLY good. It was because I was 14 years old. And Phil was so damn good, I would have bet money that he was 18 or 19 years old at the time. Phil was only 14?!?!?

If I had kept Phil as the skill standard for basketball players my age, I probably would have given up on basketball around age 15. Phil was physically built, an automatic outside shooter, and super-confident to go with it. I had no quantifiable basketball skills to measure myself against Phil with. Next to him, I might as well have not even existed, at least as far as basketball was concerned.

Good thing I’m not a reasonable guy.

Today, it’s not about the other guy or a girl. It’s not about what anyone else thinks you should be doing or where anyone else thinks you should be by now. Today, it’s all about YOU.