Swami, what’s your take on the case of Waukegan High School basketball star Jereme Richmond who was kicked off the team last week after lots of previous run-ins with the coach? Signed: Bedeviled in Beach Park.
Ah, where to begin?
The L’Infant Terrible of local basketball was a landmine waiting to blow up in the face of Waukegan coach Ron Ashlaw and left a nasty scar when the inevitable occurred.
These verbal explosions happened with all too frequent regularity and with no identifiable penalty for Richmond before the latest eruption prompted his final exit from the team. And because Richmond has been rated as the top sophomore basketball player in Illinois, it’s big news everywhere.
The very talented, especially those with athletic skill, are given every preferential treatment in this life (Michael Jordan’s kid got a free pass into a Chicago magnet school without passing go at the entry test phase), so kids getting a free pass because they have a skill is hardly an unusual event these days.
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Like Mozart running amok in the royal court, we have a high tolerance for aberrant youth if they have a pleasing abilities. So Richmond is a good player. But it seems to Swami that every adult in his life is doing him an eventual disservice.
When you hear his parents being quoted, they bear the distinct ring of pro agents sizing up the risk or benefit to their client. They talk more like spokesmen than parents.
To this point , here’s what most of the adults in his life have taught him. Whatever he wants, he gets. If he is playing on an organized team, the rules of that team are for him to determine. If he disagrees with an adult in nominal charge, he can veto any decision he doesn’t like.
And while this might seem a cynical calculation only because someone thinks he eventually will be a millionaire NBA star, not everyone with NBA-level skills actually gets to play in the NBA and make a kazillion dollars. Some wind up working in car washes and playing on city park asphalt.
What Richmond hasn’t learned yet is how to be a grownup or even that being a grownup is a good thing. Seeing the models around him, you can understand how he’s missed that lesson.
How putting ego aside for the greater good of others can actually enhance your value to them and to yourself. How showing respect can earn respect. How modesty and humility are not just for suckers, but actually reflect the underlying traits of great achievers.
How sharing works better than demanding.
How a team sport played a high level actually has subtle dynamics that empower those who want to share in the great achievement of a team.
How there’s always enough glory to go around for those who earn it and hardly ever enough for those who demand it.
Maybe Jereme Richmond will grow up one of these days. Maybe not. He’s been burdened by a bevy of hindrances, not the least of which is his own unchained, unchallenged arrogance.
Tell this kid to memorize these 5 simple words, he will need to. "Would you like that supersized?"