As a Chicago-born sports journalist raised in a blue-collar household, I’ve seen how raw belief shapes greatness long before the spotlight. In this piece, I revisit that training camp moment—when Shyrik Alexander looked me in the eye and said, 'I’m going to be more than a star.' Not with bravado, but with quiet certainty. This isn’t just about talent. It’s about the unseen weight of self-belief in systems that don’t get measured by stats. Let me tell you why we only understand a star after the game.