Another example: I think I was constantly underestimated on the basketball court. I don’t have the appearance of someone who would be outwardly amazing at the game. I usually did not walk around with an air of confidence or cockiness and I’m relatively unassuming, you know, I am 6’3”, which is tall for most sports, except basketball. And basketball, it makes me look like just a pretty normal guy. And I will say, I took joy in being underestimated on the basketball court. I think that usually meant I was constantly surpassing expectations, which feels good in a way, but you know, it’s more because the expectations are probably so low to begin with.
I know when I went to the University of Michigan basketball camp, I learned after the first year, you know, they would take these hundred plus campers on the first day of the camp and run you all through a bunch of drills. And then the coaches would all go back to their quarters afterward and draft teams for the week based upon all those drills and watching us play. And because I was just so unspectacular, you know, fundamental but inherently, you know, I don’t really catch people’s eyes. At least I didn’t at that point in time. Because of that, when I would come back in and check the teams, the next day, I was always the last name. And it wasn’t written alphabetically! I was always the last name on my particular team, which meant that I was among one of the last players drafted, because they were just writing the names down in the order that they were selected. But then inevitably I would play myself right into the starting lineup and then by the end of the week, I lived for this, but by the end of the week, you know, it seemed like coaches would quickly realize like, “Oh my God, like, this guy’s a gem.” Not from a superstar point of view, but I was such a — I loved working hard and doing all the dirty work. You know, clearing the glass, doing whatever I needed to do to win, really. If I had to be the guy to score, I could, but a lot of times there were more talented scorers on my team. So then it was like, all right, I’ll take the charges, I will grab the rebound, I’ll block shots, I’ll run the floor hard and get easy lay-ups from my hard work and inevitably coaches, I think, would be pretty hyped about their sleeper draft pick. And that even held to be true in like pickup basketball later in life. I really enjoyed, I came to embrace, being underestimated.