Normalize celebrating Jayson Tatum: a corny dad who supports women and plays the right way

Based on the interwebs, Jayson Tatum is the corniest participant within the NBA. He can’t be the face of the league as a result of he does not have the “aura” that different nice gamers have. He doesn’t have that “it” issue that makes youngsters spam the All-Star poll for. He’s mid. He doesn’t have rizz. He lacks primary character vitality. He’s simply not that man.

Enable me to a second to face on a hill and say this with my full chest.

GOOD!!!

A lot has been made about what he isn’t. Let’s take a second and respect the person he’s. Let’s begin with a brief listing of accomplishments, all achieved earlier than turning 27 earlier this week.

NBA champion
2-time Olympic gold medalist
6-time All Star (MVP as soon as)
4 All-NBA alternatives
ninth most factors as a Celtic (and climbing)

There are extra accomplishments and on-court accolades, however I need to skip to what I think about to be much more necessary components.

Jayson Tatum is a devoted father. He’s been vocal about supporting single moms (a trigger expensive to his coronary heart due to his personal mom’s journey). He began the Jayson Tatum Basis to assist households. He’s reportedly a part of a bid aiming to carry a WNBA staff to his hometown of St. Louis. He’s by no means been concerned in any off-court controversy of any type.

By all accounts, he looks as if a genuinely good man. I don’t know him personally, however from afar, he has my admiration and respect for all the fitting causes. I’m certain he’s not an ideal individual, as a result of no one is. This isn’t an try to deify the person. I’m certain he’s made his share of errors up to now, however he appears to have realized from them (see Brad Stevens: development mentality). There’s a cause why sponsors (from Jordan model to SoFi to Ruffles) love having him as their spokesman.

Again on the court docket, he’s a tireless employee that’s regularly studying the sport, including to his skillset, and absorbing the data from coaches and lecturers of the sport. He has a respect and admiration for its historical past. He places staff accomplishments forward of particular person achievements. He sacrifices stats for wins. He makes an effort to play as many video games as potential. He nearly at all times makes the fitting basketball play. Briefly, he’s a coach’s dream.

For all of that, perhaps there’s a kernel of fact to the “criticisms” he’s gotten. He’s not flashy, so some think about him to be boring. He’s not controversial or edgy, so he’s usually neglected within the league discourse. He has an all-around sport that features more durable to understand features (instance: the flexibility to protect each Karl-Anthony Cities and Jalen Brunson in the identical sport). These seem to be the identical sorts of criticisms that adopted the good Tim Duncan for his complete profession. In fact, Tatum has fairly a technique to go earlier than he can declare that type of resume, however I’m not ruling it out both.

Let’s not get it twisted. He’s gotten quite a lot of ill-conceived criticisms as nicely. He couldn’t mesh nicely with Jaylen Brown, …till he did. He couldn’t go, …till he did. He wasn’t clutch, …till he was. He couldn’t win the title, …till he did.

And in any case that, he thought “they” wouldn’t have anything to say, …till they did. The critics have simply saved coming with these odd, goalpost-shifting criticisms (the extra imprecise and arduous to outline the higher). And the reality is that they’ll by no means cease.

I don’t get it. If there’s one which we’ve realized from the plot of 21 Leap Road (the film), it is that social labels and Breakfast Membership-type stereotypes are a factor of the knuckle-dragging, acid-washed denims carrying previous. Why are we nonetheless attempting to place folks into social assemble buckets as a substitute of appreciating their capacity to get buckets? Why do our stars additionally should be showmen, too? Are you not entertained?

Clearly, I’m biased on plenty of ranges. As a life-long Celtics fan, I used to be raised on 80’s championships and a rivalry with the Lakers (and solely the Lakers) — to not point out the a long time of success throughout totally different sports activities within the Boston space. Followers of different groups or cities are actively on the lookout for any cause to not like somebody on a Boston staff. Make no mistake that quite a lot of the criticism is fueled by jealousy. We’re speaking about folks hurting from groups that neglect or mistreat their followers totally (and I really feel for them). In an alternate universe, these very same followers could be Tatum’s largest supporters if he was in some way on their staff.

Look, I’m additionally a boring dad with no rizz and destructive aura. My corny jokes make my daughter’s eyes roll so arduous I fear that she’ll sprain an eye fixed socket. My thought of a loopy weekend is ending up the out of doors chores and taking the household out to dinner and ice cream. And let me let you know that I couldn’t be happier or extra at peace with my vibe. So, after I get to observe a celebrity participant on my favourite staff thriving whereas selling healthful values and taking part in the sport the fitting manner, wel,l forgive me if I’ve to wipe a tear from my eye.

Make “Dad Aura” the brand new vibe. Have a good time guys that coaches adore. Make boring-but-great the brand new cool. And maintain your fabricated face-of-the-league narrative and spare me the litany of issues that Jayson Tatum isn’t. Admire the person and participant that he’s.

Or don’t. This message isn’t prone to attain the eyes and ears that it’s directed at. All nice gamers have haters that attempt to discredit the accomplishments and tear down the fame. Far too many individuals on-line simply feed off of destructive vitality and need to watch the world burn. That’s not altering as a result of some boring blogger went on a rant. Oh, nicely.

I suppose I’ll simply should root for an elite participant that I’d be proud to see my youngsters emulate. I suppose we Tatum appreciators will simply should get pleasure from him for ourselves.