Some things in life are more important than sport.
Šarūnas Jasikevičius is head coach of Lithuanian basketball side Žalgiris Kaunas. One of his players, Augusto Lima, recently became a father, and missed some vital play-off series matches.
At a press conference, a journalist asked if he was happy about a fit player missing these big games. Jasikevičius shut him down perfectly, and his fantastic reply is now going viral.
(make sure you have the subtitles switched on on YouTube)
The journalist asked:
Is it normal for a player to leave the team during the semi-final?
To which Jasikevičius brilliantly replied:
Do you have kids? When you have kids, youngster, you will understand.
Because that’s the height of human experience… Do you think basketball is the most important thing in life?
When you see your first child, you will understand what the most important thing in life is. Come and have a chat with me then. Because nothing can be more majestic in the world than the birth of a child. Believe me. Not titles, not anything else.
So eloquently put, and seemingly completely off the cuff. It’s not surprise that it’s getting shared far beyond Lithuanian-speaking basketball fandom.
