Everything has to end.
There couldn't be a more obvious statement.... because entropy is a law of the universe. Our own Earth has an expiration date. The Earth's end will come long after complex life has been extinguished, when the sun will swallow the planet in about 7.6 billion years.
Nothing is exempt from its own end. Every planet, star, and galaxy has a projected lifespan. After quintillions of years, all the stars go out, and even the black holes will finally meet their demise. Hundreds of undecillions of years later, and even the spare photons that had just been floating around will finally be released....and what is left of the "universe" will only be an unimaginably vast and eternal void of nothing.
The end of all ends, you could say.
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I don't even know what this is, it's just a made-up illustration of space, but if you imagine, this could be the end of the universe at some point (well, and that means every moment is a part of the end, so there ya go). |
We are reminded of this fundamental aspect of the universe in our daily lives. You finish your morning coffee, you finish a task or project at work, lunch hour is over, you finish that frustrating email, dinner is over, you finish binge-watching that series you're watching on Netflix, and that's that - the day is done..... and you rise to begin the next day of a new set of endings.
But that thought nags at us....one day we'll be finished too.
Popovich has worked for the Spurs for a total of almost 35 years. I met Popovich when I was 11, when he was a young, ambitious assistant coach in 1988. He caught rebounds for me in a contest in which I won season tickets. Pop has been working for the Spurs in some capacity for almost 71% of my life....and I'm old!
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Is it just me, or does everyone look young in this photo? |
My thoughts on Pop evolved along the way: from a virtual unknown, to the mysterious GM who brought in Rodman, to the snake that stabbed Bob Hill in the back, to the stubborn and unlikeable coach. Some time after the third championship in 2005, I even grew to like him a little bit. By the 2010s, he was beloved by Spurs fans.... and almost all at once, he was beloved by seemingly the entire basketball world.
Pop was a link to Spurs fandom that connected all the way back to my childhood and adolescence. Coach Pop was a welcome consistency in a world of change. From Drob to Timmy, Tony & Manu to the "Beautiful Game" and Kawhi, and then a bolt of lightning, a new beginning, Wemby. Change was a constant, but so was Coach Pop.
The Spurs projected like they were one big family. R.C. Buford is still in the front office, Sean Elliott is part of the broadcast team, Timmy and Manu frequently hang out at the practice facility, and Robinson is a part-owner and attends most games. As long as Pop was still coaching, it made it a little easier to lie to myself about the nature of the universe. I could pretend that some things didn't change.
When Pop suffered from a stroke last fall, I knew the writing was on the wall. I was relieved to hear it was "mild," but after a little research, I knew it was likely he would not return. It would be a miracle, but the Spurs have seen those before.
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| In case you didn't catch the reference, I am referring to Sean Elliott's "Memorial Day Miracle". |
Sean Elliott famously told Mario Elie, "I got one more in me" before hitting the game-winning three-pointer. But I didn't think or expect things to go down like a 3-point miracle. Pop was in denial, and the Spurs were just waiting for him to figure that out.
I wasn't shocked when the announcement came that Pop was retiring as coach and moving to the front office. I still wasn't shocked when it was announced at the same news conference that assistant coach Mitch Johnson would be the new head coach, because it seemed like such a Spursy decision.
I was shocked because he finally looked like an old man. If I am being honest, he didn't even look old; he looked elderly. He spoke slower, softer, and he was physically frail. Pop was still funny and self-deprecating, still smart, still humble, and yeah, still Spurs President....but definitely different.
Here we find ourselves at the end of Coach Pop....of course, not quite the end of Gregg Popovich, but the dream is over, and the morning sun is showing us reality. He's an old person, like my parents and in-laws. He's changing because he has to, facing health challenges he hasn't had before. He's changing like we all are; it's a story as old as time itself. Coach Pop stepping down is the symbolic end to the bridge connecting my childhood to my middle age.
I felt sad seeing one of my heroes look so frail, but maybe selfishly, I was more sad that my delusion about time, aging, and youth was over.
We all have to end sometime, but at least Coach Pop had a hell of a ride.
It's really all you can ask for.
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Go ahead and make fun of me, but this hit me HARD. |
