The contract of love.🤝👩‍❤️‍👨🏀 🏎️🎼

Contract signing is one of the most challenging decision a player makes in his career. May it be F1, football or NBA a players bets his future and trust on a team. It is true that players and drivers try to do their due research before signing for any team but it's almost impossible to know what the future holds for them!
Lets take a few examples from different sports to make my point clear.

Fernando Alonso won his first world championship in 2005 becoming the youngest ever driver to achieve the feat at that time. He did so by battling against a vastly superior McLaren MP4-20 designed by one of the greatest minds in F1 Adrian Newey. The Mclaren was not only faster in a straight line but you could also carry greater corner speed and yet Renault won both the drivers and constructors championship that year because their cars had one fatal issue- Reliability.  Fernando went on to win another consecutive championship with Renault in 2006 by beating the superior mclaren with 2 excellent drivers.
In the 2006 off season Alonso realised that Renault were not heading in the right direction and decided to cut ties with the team despite having won 2 championships with them and having an excellent bond with the team. After weighing in all the options Alonso decided to join forces with McLaren, I mean, it was an obvious and straightforward decision considering McLaren had an excellent car and were closest competitors to Alonso. This news hit the motorsport world by storm. A world champion joining his rival team making thereby increasing his chances of winning a world championship to infinity, or at least that was the plan. 

Alonso dream season came crashing down right from day 0 courtesy because of an upcoming rookie by the name of Lewis Hamilton! McLaren also didn't exactly welcome Alonso with open arms, after all he was the teams fiercest rivals till last year and costed them 2 championships! So Alonso was in a dream team he wasn't exactly compatible with. What ensued was a total disaster, the season which was supposed to be dominated by McLaren turned out to be a nightmare. Alonso didn't trust his team members and always thought we deprioritised over his team mate. This along with Mclarens disqualification from the constructors championship crushed Alonso's championship chances . (Kimi Raikkonen won the drivers championship by defeating the 2 mclarens in the final race. Things soon became extremely ugly between Alonso and his team and he parted ways with McLaren despite having another 2 years in his contract!

Now enough about motorsports, let's discuss about NBA. One of the largest sporting event in America with millions of dollars going to players teams and owners. 

Lebron James arguably one of the greatest players to play the game of basketball decided to sign a long term contract with Miami Heat ditching his home team of Cleveland Cavaliers. The same team which drafted him, the same team which gave him immense support and cheered him on as grew as player and yet Lebron decided to join the Miami Heat with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosch making them the big 3 of NBA. Although this was an exciting prospect for NBA with 3 of the greatest players competing in the same team trying to win multiple championships. The move was out of a fairytale (For Miami at least). But well things didn't go exactly as planned in 2010 the heat did not make it to NBA finals and in 2011 they are defeated by an ageing Mavericks team. Keep in mind this was a super team at the time and was destined to dominate NBA for the forthcoming future however they only managed to win 2 titles during Lebron's 4 year tenure. The team never reached its full potential despite having all the right peaces and talent.

Let's switch the script and talk about a player named Giannis Antentokounmpo (also known as the greek freak). When Giannis was drafted to Milwaukee bucks in 2013 he was thought to be more of a role player and not a player around whom the team would be built around. Giannis came from very humble beginnings and his father had to work very hard to meet his family's basic needs. As a kid Giannis didn't have shoes to play basketball and would walk barefoot to his practice sessions. He would share one pair of shoes with his elder brother and play till his body couldn't take it anymore.When he got his first pay check he gave the entire amount to his mother so that she could take care of his family back home. In fact he didn't have money to reach the stadium from his house and to take the bus and RUN! yes run to the court just to make it onetime for shoot around. The team however had immense belief in him and supported him throughout his journey. In return Giannis worked dedicatedly and gave everything he had to the team. As time passed by Giannis started becoming a dominant player and soon became a 2 time MVP (Most Valuable Player). Things however took a bit of sour turn in 2020 when rumours started to spread that Giannis was planning on leaving his team since he would always come short in the playoffs despite having the best regular season. Giannis shut down all these rumours by promising the city that he wouldn't leave the team till he won a championship with the team who believed in him. In the 2021 Bucks traded a lot of their key players which lead them to the best record in the east to acquire role players. One would think I giannis would appreciate having more star power around him however he continued to work hard..and in 2021 less than 1 year of promising the city, Bucks won the NBA title in 6 games! Guess one needs to trust the process and believe in themselves and the people around them..

Relationships, in my opinion, are similar to signing a contract. The person bets on his/her future by getting into a relationship thinking it would lead to lifetime of happiness and joy. But as we all know relationships are not that simple. You may sign into a relationship with a person by seeing all their frills and beauty but end up in a disaster like Lebron and Alonso. OR you can be like Giannis wherein you dedicate yourself to becoming a better person and being loyal to the team. In turn the team should have faith in their player and  trust the process and create a strong unbreakable bond built on trust and faith. Although this process may not be easiest and you may come on across various challenges but long term your efforts will be rewarded.

"As a kid I was always fascinated by basuriwalas (flutist) who would play beautiful melodies to sell flutes to kids. And I along with all the other things would buy the flute thinking I would be able to play it easily. But what I failed to understand that a flute is a very complex instrument even though it looks very simple from outside. One needs to know how to blow air at the right pressure, cover the right tone hole at the right time and leave it open without overdoing it to produce harmony. Simple but yet it takes years to understand the 'simple' flute. Your relationship with the flute teaches you discipline, focus and dedication. In order to play the perfect melody you need to know when to push and when to let go. You need to flute to be in perfect sync with your breath. Playing a flute is a lot like handling a relation which requires all the above elements from your end."

Anyhow I digress.... In conclusion whenever you get into a contract of love remember to trust the process and have faith in yourself and in your partner. Trust the fact even if things may not be best now you will have an amazing future ahead if your partner has the above mentioned qualities. 

You may never be able to play the flute in the first go or never be able to play the perfect melody but you can always take the flute along with you anywhere you and learn to play the perfect harmony

Till then I will wait for the correct contract...the correct flute.. the correct harmony.