ZAGS: An honorable example

I, like many others, have enjoyed watching the NCAA Tournament. We have followed the “Zags” for 30 some years as a pretty short list of strong coaches have brought the basketball program into a fairly dizzying degree of national notoriety. The picture on the front page of the Sunday sports section says it all for me. The joy, the camaraderie, the sense of team, all of it, is in that picture.

It made me think about what has been going on in politics in America for a long time and how stuck we have been. It made me think of sports as a metaphor for life, and the ways in which what is true have implications beyond the arena.

The very best teams have great players and lesser players, big ones and small ones, those who sit on the bench during games but work their tails off in practice to help make the front line players better. The team can’t win without a coach mentoring them through their development, not just as players, but as people. And the coaches cannot win without talent, “buy in,” and work ethic. There has to be a commitment from the school, and support from a community of people, including parents and fans.

The one ingredient that is always there with the teams that win the most is a characteristic we seem to lose sight of when it comes to our national and local politics. They play for each other.

The mirth you see in that picture of three Gonzaga starters is not just for themselves and the game they have in hand. That picture is taken as they watch their bench player teammates finish the game out on the floor, getting their brief minute in the spotlight, sharing in the public side of the victory. They play for each other.

We need more of that as a country.

STEPHEN D. BRUNO

Coeur d’Alene