The heart of a champion

FORMER Houston Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich once said, "Never underestimate the heart of a champion." This was after his Houston Rockets, led by Hakeem Olajuwon, won consecutive NBA championships in 1994 and 1995, and doing it in 1995 by beating four higher-ranked teams, including coming down from 1-3 against the Phoenix Suns and sweeping the Orlando Magic led by a young Shaquille O'Neal, 4-0, for the championship. I have never forgotten that line, and now post the NBA playoffs where my most hated team, the Boston Celtics, won their record-breaking 18th championship (the Los Angeles Lakers have 17), I can't help but think what makes a person, a team, a company or a country a champion?

Related to that is one of the most influential television documentaries of all time, PBS' six-part 1988 series "Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers," that deeply affected then-29-year-old me. I watched and taped the series raptly then rewatched it at least once a decade, including a few months ago. My favorites, though I like them all, are the first and last episodes. The first episode is "The Hero's Adventure." I think it is on YouTube, and I implore those interested in this topic to watch it. Campbell points out the archetypal hero's journey in most mythologies from whatever culture and tradition. They include the quest for the Holy Grail or its equivalent, the search for the missing father and the serendipitous journey. A key lesson in most hero's journeys is that the journey is as important as the quest. In all of them, the journey transforms the hero, and it comes with much trial and hardship. But when successful, it's not just that the hero grew into it and was ready for the journey but that it transformed him as he achieved it. For example, think of King Arthur and the sword in the stone.