A few months ago I was having a conversation with my roommate, who is a firefighter, about fear. I was asking him a multitude of questions in which his answers revealed more about myself than I cared to know. For the life of me, I couldn’t wrap my head around the concept of running into a burning building. How do you temper the fear? When Hell and all its demons are staring you right in the face, how on God’s green earth do you not become paralyzed? His answer was simple yet profound. “You find the calm.” He continued to explain that when everything around you is in absolute chaos, the one constant you can depend on is staying calm. Fear is a natural self-preservation response hardwired into our brains. Why run from something so important to our survival? Instead, channel the fear. Allow it to awaken your senses and hone in on what your body is telling you. Relish the epinephrine dump and rely on your animalistic instincts that have evolved for thousands of years.  For the past few months I have been replaying those four words in my head. “You… find… the… calm.”

These words came back to me the first time I watched the Kobe and Shaq, There Can Only Be One, commercial. This is the one where they both talk about the fear of losing in the playoffs and how they like the fear. It was in this moment that I realized that my roommate was spot on. Fear is an emotion felt by everyone regardless of creed, status or profession. In a moment of clarity, I saw the elusive obvious… The reason the San Antonio Spurs are so successful is because they know how to find the calm. In Hollywood style fashion, I replayed in my mind all of the nail-biting moments over the Spurs’ ten year run. I thought back to that warm summer night in 2005 when my father and I attended Game 7, only to be rewarded with watching my team of champions lift the Larry O’Brien trophy. I was reminded once again a few weeks ago in Game 1 vs. Phoenix, when we just wouldn’t be denied. And even in bitter defeat, I’ve seen a calmness only extruded by champions. How else can you explain coming back from a three games to one deficit, against Dallas in 06, to force Game 7? Only then, to be down by 20 points late in the 2nd quarter and again comeback to force overtime…

For those of you who have seen the film The Departed, I’m reminded of the scene where Leonardo DiCaprio is talking to his psychiatrist, trying to get her to comprehend what I’m telling you now. “You sit there with a mass murderer. A mass murderer.... Your heart rate is jacked. And your hand…. steady. That's one thing I figured out about myself in prison. My hand does not shake. Ever.” You see, no matter what happens to this team, our hand does not shake. Not a quiver. Not a tick. Nothing. We have a sense of calm that instills fear in the hearts of our opponents. A fear that stems from a lack of understanding… How can a team be so poised, so unflappable, so stoic? Well my friends, we now know the answer.