Sometimes, you can learn a lot from sports.
The documentary "More Than A Game" is about LeBron James, one of the best professional basketball players in the world, and the four friends who played with him on his high school basketball team.
In his junior year in high school (James turned pro right after graduating), James and his teammates competed in the Ohio state basketball championship game For the previous year prior to this championship game, James and the team had been treated like Hollywood celebrities.
They were followed everywhere by photographers, journalists and, yes, young female fans.
Every word they uttered was quoted in the press.
James appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, the youngest player to ever be so honored.
Everywhere they went, the team heard how great they were.
Believing the hype, the team practiced lackadaisically and argued with their coach.
They were sure their talent would be enough to win the game.
They were wrong.
They lost.
However, they came back the next year and won the state championship.
The difference? They decided to value winning over celebrity.
They practiced diligently.
They did what their coach told them to do.
They shut out the adulation.
They kept their focus on the game and not on what was happening in the stands.
The lesson for us? As a country, we've taken our eye off the ball.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, we've come to believe the hype.
We believed we were invincible.
We believed we could do anything.
We believed the good times would never end.
We believed the market would take care of everything and our military could conquer anyone.
We believed that greed is good and going shopping would solve all our problems.
The Chinese say that crisis contains both danger and opportunity.
So this moment is our opportunity to find out what we are made of and what we truly value.
Perhaps we'll be as smart as LeBron James' high school basketball team.
Perhaps we do yet have another "championship season" within us.