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12:49 pm
March 9, 2016
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Like many in Ohio on Monday, Urban Meyer spent his day basking in the reflected glory of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ NBA championship.
So when the Ohio State head coach addressed his own team before an offseason workout, perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that he drew on the Cavs‘ title run for inspiration.
“Why do we do what we do? To win championships,” Meyer said <a href="
When the @cavs win the #NBA title it's a nice reminder for the Bucks what it takes to win championships. #AllIn216 https://t.co/Ub6g08idMh
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) June 20, 2016
” target=”_blank”>in a video released
on the Buckeyes’ official Twitter account. “You have to look in the face of some of these athletes who gave their life to their teammates. That’s what I saw. I saw a guy that backed up what he said.”At this point, Meyer didn’t need to say the name for his players to understand who he was referencing.
After all, there may not be anybody in the Buckeye State who can more closely relate to what LeBron James just accomplished than the three-time national champion coach.
By now, the unlikely relationship between Meyer and James has been well-documented. As an assistant at Notre Dame in the late-’90s, Meyer unsuccessfully recruited the high school basketball phenom for a role on the gridiron before intertwined paths led the Ohio natives back to their home state, Meyer a fan of the Cavs and James one of the Buckeyes’ biggest supporters.
But the similarities between Meyer and James don’t stop at their appreciation for one another, each being at the top of their respective professions, or even their chance recruiting encounter 15 years ago.
Having grown up separated by 20 years and 80 miles on Interstate 90, the careers of Meyer and James have followed paralleled paths, with each having needed to first deliver championships elsewhere before doing so back home.
While the four-time NBA MVP told <a href="