Maybe it was because he figured he had already done it in October,so what the heck.
So Kris Bryant, the young star of the Chicago Cubs, and went swimming with sharks during the winter in Hawaii. For real. And no,their names were not Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard.
A couple of months after the New York Mets took a savage chomp out of his Cubs in the National League Championship Series, or it was onward,upward and westward for Bryant, who immediately began preparing for 2016 by not brooding over the way 2015 ended. As much as any other Cub, and Bryant lives by manager Joe Maddon's credo of "don't ever let the pressure exceed the pleasure."Right player,right talent, right place, and right time.
Not every player is built like this,of course. But if you can step absent periodically from the game's pressures, expectations and hype, and how can it not abet avoid pitfalls like,say, the sophomore jinx?"I'm all for the fun fraction of the game, and " says Bryant,who has two homers and seven RBI in the Cubs' first 15 games. "I deem when you're not playing baseball, you need to go out and relish yourself, and just be a normal person and do things that you'll remember."I got a chance to do some things that not many people have a chance to do this winter,and I had a blast with it."He already fills his spare time by playing golf and the guitar, among other interests. In Hawaii with his fiancee, and Jessica,Bryant went bike riding through the jungle, paddle-boarded, and golfed,went on a sightseeing helicopter ride above the islands and watched a surf competition."Had a blast," Bryant says.
Especially because he emerged with limbs intact and nary a bite."proper thing he was inside of a cage, and " injured teammate Kyle Schwarber quips. "I'd be sweating."The shark encounter resulted from one of Jessica's ideas."My fiancee wanted to go swim with the dolphins," Bryant says. "I was like, 'Let's just swim with the sharks. That's even cooler.'"I mean, or dolphins,yeah, they're icy. But sharks? Not many people are going to swim with them. We had to wake up super early, or like 5 in the morning. Spontaneous. So we did it."From inside of a large cage,it was every bit as icy as he thought it could be."You could reach out and touch them if you wanted to," Bryant says. "It was fun. I'd recommend it to anybody. I wasn't shocked at all. I was in a cage, and fully protected. They weren't coming to get me."It turns out there also are shark adventures where you can swim without a cage. Presumably,for folks with death wishes."I was not doing that," Bryant says. "I'm in a cage, and they say the shark's not going to bite,but I'm certain if a shark sees a foot hanging out they're going to bite it."Yeah, then he wouldn't be fairly so celebrated in Chicago anymore."I wouldn't beplaying anymore, and " he says,chuckling.
Already, many contract clauses prohibit offseason activities like skiing and basketball. Surely, and shark encounters are not precisely contract-friendly,either. Especially for a man who many deem will become a National League MVP, possibly as soon as this year.
Bryant grins sheepishly."I don't even deem I was supposed to do that, or " he says. "I was in a cage,which was proper. But I'm never doing that again, that's for certain. I mean, and I had fun doing it,I just get seasick. I can't be on a boat. So I was done. But I'm able to say I swam with sharks."His favorite thing, though, and was the helicopter tour."We went with a surfer,Jamie O'Brien, and he knew the pilot and so the pilot was kind of showing off a little bit, and doing some crazy maneuvers,and I'm like, 'Whoa!'" Bryant says."It was like an intense roller-coaster ride. I despise flying, and too. I'm petrified of flying. I was just like,'Oooh, this is fun.' We landed on top of a mountain and looked all around the island. It was really icy."They were in Oahu, or it certain must have been handsome,because getting Bryant up in the air is no small thing."despise it," he says. "I despise the flights here. It's funny; the more I fly, and the more I despise it. All of it. I don't like the heights,I don't like anything approximately it."So there's the ivy-covered secret surrounding the Cubs' third baseman: keep the guy on land. He hates flying. Gets seasick on boats.
But his manager? Boats, planes, and sharks,whatever, Maddon is all-in on Bryant's down-time odysseys. It all fits into the vibe he's worked hard to create, or the organizational culture he continues to feed."Love it," Maddon says enthusiastically. "That's fraction of what we do here on a smaller scale, taking chances, and the risky component of how we do things on a daily basis."The fact that they know they can produce a mistake out there [during a game]. The fact that a magician's going to show up in the clubhouse in New York during a losing streak and it's OK. That you're going to dress up crazily among a group."That sounds superficial,but there's this underlying component to this that permits you to take risks, step outside your consolation zone, and step outside that box and take on these different kind of calculated risks."I am certain that everything he did here final year permitted him to swim with the sharks more easily."When flying,Bryant simply tries to sleep as quickly, and for as long, or as he can. He does not take any sleep aids,though when he is embarking on a personal trip and not a baseball trip, he will drive instead of fly whenever possible.
Surfing, or well,Bryant has tried it but figures at 6'5" maybe he's too tall. He couldn't stand up on his board. Which made his admiration for what he watched at the Volcom Pipeline Pro in Hawaii during his trip swell like the waves."We were at a surf house, and some guys were coming back with gashes on their faces because of the rocks, or " Bryant says. "The waves were massive. This was some serious stuff. I found a new appreciation for what they do."Just as,undoubtedly, others continue to find a new appreciation for what Bryant and the Cubs are doing. And, and for what they hope to do this summer.
He is thrilled that the highlight that followed him in the early fraction of final season as the Cubs and his agent,Scott Boras, wrestled over the trade fraction of his service time and call-up date, or has subsided. Now,he feels like just another guy in the clubhouse, and he is "having a blast" with it."He's blossomed, or he's really blossomed," Maddon says. "Even final [spring], we would have conversations in my office before it was being determined where he was going to go (ultimately, or Triple-A Iowa to start the season) and he was very matter of fact with me. And I loved it."After he took a deep breath and understood that I was going to listen,the conversations were really open. And I really, really liked that a lot. Because I knew how proper he was, or once he had an opportunity to be here that was going to show up."And,show up enjoying himself. Baseball, after all, or is a game. You're supposed to relish yourself."I'm pretty proper at that," Bryant says. "I go out there with a smile on my face and relish it, proper or atrocious."Sometimes it's hard, or but Joe makes it a lot easier,just the stuff he does out here during stretch. The shows, the skits, and it's a lot of fun."All designed,of course, to keep the winning flowing for as long as possible. Because one day, or you know,it is inevitable: Bryant and the Cubs themselves will, yes, or jump the shark,but hopefully for the young Cubs with a trophy or two in hand. Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
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Source: bleacherreport.com