What Do the Dallas Mavericks and Harrison Frazar Have in Common?

Harrison Frazar won! Who ? Won what ?

That just about sums it up. Harrison Frazar, a forty-year-old pro golfer who has been playing on a major medical exemption and was about to lose his PGA players card, won the Memphis St. Jude Classic yesterday. He beat Robert Karlsson, the Swedish golfer who was also seeking his first tour win, in a play-off.

Memphis was just the 4^th cut Frazar’s made this year, although he has qualified for the US Open next week. It was his 355^th PGA tournament and he had never won one before yesterday.

He said he was getting ready to retire and take a job on the administrative side of the PGA, because he was away from his family too much and his hip and shoulder problems were difficult to play through, even this weekend.

But, there he was on Sunday evening, almost crying as he tried to talk to the reporter about his feelings after the historic win that netted him One Million Dollars. He later thanked the sponsors, FedEx, and the rest of the golfing world that organized the tournament because he was too upset right after his win to think of doing it.

Sometimes things just seem to work out right. The good guy wins and the world seems a better place if only for a few moments.

That’s what’s so attractive about sports. It’s not the incessant Nadal-Federer battles or the Vettel wins on the Formula 1 circuit this year that count. It’s the Harrison Frazars of sports who make us feel like better human beings.

A lot like the Dallas Mavericks beating the Miami Heat to take the NBA championship this weekend. It was their first NBA title ever.

That’s what sports is all about. Never quit. Never give up. Never leave the field.