For the longest time, Brad Barton was my wallpaper.
On my laptop computer, I mean.
Several years ago, after the Weber State men's basketball team went undefeated in Big Sky Conference play and advanced to the NCAA tournament, I saw an Associate Press photo of Barton, easily one of the toughest ballplayers I've ever come across, standing under the basket, drawing a charge on a Wisconsin player.
The shot was taken from high above the floor, from a camera mounted on top of the backboard. It's a beautiful photo, capturing both players looking up at the ball as it hangs on the front of the rim.
Upon seeing that shot, I immediately made it my wallpaper, a kind of tribute to one of my all-time favorite players.
Well, Barton's days as a WSU player are long gone. But the nice thing is, he's still involved in the game. After bouncing around as an assistant coach for a while, he was recently named interim head coach at the College of Eastern Utah in Price.
The idea that Barton is teaching kids how to play the game is a pleasant one. See, he played the game the right away.
He didn't have all the raw ability in the world, but he had an incredible love for the game, like an unquenchable thirst. While the others with more natural talent were out there doing their thing with a bit more grace and athleticism, Barton was out there doing it with guts and guile.
More often than not, Brad won.
Something tells me the kids at CEU will win more often than they don't.
"We compete every day," Barton said. "My theory is very basic, just do the things that take no talent, do the things my mom can do, do the things an 8-year-old in the stands can do."
And those things would be?
"We dive for loose balls, we sprint back on defense, we're good teammates," he said. "It takes no talent to communicate. The things that anybody in the stands can do, we're gonna do every time."
Barton said if his players do those things, he won't get mad when they miss an open shot or occasionally dribble the ball off their feet.
After all, physical mistakes come with the territory but mental mistakes are something different.
"I just want them to bring it every day," he said. "I use that term a ton. Bring it every day. I'm going to bring it every day."
Barton's theory is a sound one, a practical one. And it works for every sport and at every level.
Do the easy things correctly -- make them look easy -- and more often than not everything else will fall into place.
Be tough. Be competitive. Try hard. Work hard. Play hard. Don't expect miracles, but do expect a great effort from yourself. As cheesy as it sounds, it takes little or no athletic ability to do those things. All it takes is commitment -- heart, if you will.
Come to think of it, this theory can easily be taken out of the athletic arena and applied to actual life.
Perhaps that's why it seems so simple and yet so profound.
Whether we're talking about basketball, bread baking or the boardroom, we now live in a world where function follows form, where style supersedes substance.
Rather than seeing a lot of little things done the right way, we'd rather get over-the-top excited at seeing one thing done in a big way.
We saw a whole lot of that last week, what with LeBron James thing being splashed about.
But Barton is no LeBron James. He never has been and never will be.
I guess that's the whole point, isn't it?
I guess that's why Brad Barton was my wallpaper.