the greatest lesson sports ever taught me
a bite-size thought on what the knicks, sports and a few comeback wins taught me about hope.
Hi friend,
The NBA Finals are coming to an end soon. I feel like it just started, but we’re approaching the final games of the Knicks vs. Spurs series with Game 5 happening tomorrow at 8:30 EST.
I already have my pre-game Knicks-themed cookie recipe in flight and i’m looking forward to seeing if the Knicks can close this one out since they have a 3-1 lead.
I’ve probably said it so many times before, but whether you’re a sports fan or not, it has a funny way of reflecting life lessons right back at you. And this year, the lesson that stood out to me most was hope.
Hope is a beautiful thing.
But there’s a Bible verse that says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.”
For New York, hope had been deferred since 1999 so a moment like this was decades in the making. Even longer if we’re talking about championships.
And I think that’s part of what makes just being in the Finals feel so special.
Most reflections happen after we know how the story ends, but I don’t want to meet you there. I want to meet you right here in the middle, where the outcome is still a little uncertain. Because that’s where hope lives. Not after the championship trophy is handed out. Not after the parade. Not when hindsight makes everything obvious. But in the waiting. Because that’s where most of us spend our lives.
No matter what happens during the next few games, one of the moments I’ll remember forever was from Game 4 when the Knicks were down by 29 points.
By every logical measure, the game was over. People had already started counting them out, and to be honest, who could blame them? If I had paid $100,000 for courtside seats, I'd have been drafting my refund request by halftime.
By the end of the game, though, I would’ve canceled it.
Because what happened next was the kind of moment sports fans spend a lifetime hoping to witness.
What shocked me wasn’t just the comeback itself. At some point, when you’re down by 29, you have a choice. You can accept defeat. Or you can leave room for the possibility that things might change.
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In a matter of seconds, the team that’s behind can suddenly be ahead. The story everyone thought was over can take an entirely different turn.
OG had no idea if that tip-in was going to work. But he still sprinted the floor, chased the rebound, and gave his team a fighting chance.
Without that belief, there is no moment. No comeback. No historic run.
Sometimes hope isn’t just a feeling. It’s the thing that keeps you in the journey long enough to see what happens next.
But before this incredible moment, Josh Hart missed an open layup that would have given the Knicks the lead. And during the post-game conference he said that OG saved him from a lifetime of regret.
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You could see the disappointment on Josh Hart’s face after the miss. For a moment, it looked like he’d let the entire city down. But what stood out to me was how quickly his teammates picked him up and kept believing.
When things don’t go according to plan, the outcome can still work out.
Sometimes the detour becomes part of the story.
And when we think about the difference between hope and doubt what’s interesting is that both are focused on the same thing: an uncertain future. Neither one actually knows what’s going to happen.
Doubt looks at the unknown and assumes the worst. Hope looks at the same unknown and leaves room for the best. Neither has certainty. But only one leaves room for possibility.
The reality is that it’s much easier to accept doubt because hope can feel risky. Life includes real loss and heartbreak. And the longer you’ve waited for something, the easier it becomes to protect yourself by expecting less.
But if sports taught me anything this year, it’s that what looks like the end might not actually be the end.
We weren’t just watching a team fight for a championship. We were being reminded that the future isn’t fixed and that God is still writing it. Setbacks aren’t always endings. Delays aren’t always denials.
Sometimes the thing you’ve been hoping for takes longer than you expected, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t coming.
Hope and doubt are both focused on the same uncertain future. Neither knows what’s coming next. Why not leave room for the possibility that something good could happen?
Because what looked impossible for the Knicks quite literally became reality in the right time <3
xoxo, Day
p.s.
If you’ve been reading Weekend Report for a while, you’ve probably seen me write some version of this before. That’s because it’s a lesson I’ve had to learn over and over again.
There are still dreams I have that haven’t come true, and if I’m being honest, my default response has often been doubt. But over and over again, God has shown me that just because I can’t see a way forward doesn’t mean He isn’t making one.
Anyway, I promise the next few letters will be lighter in spirit, but if you’re waiting on a career, marriage, kids, a dream, or an answer, I hope this little reminder finds you at the right time.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to a farm upstate for a farming and culinary crash course. Apparently my version of celebrating a Knicks Finals run is learning how carrots are grown.
Let’s go knicks!!!