At every sporting event, there’s usually a winner and a loser, though some games can end in a tie.
I’ve always thought of sports as a metaphor for life. Who hasn’t heard the quote usually attributed to Vince Lombardi, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” Lombardi wasn’t the first to say this, as UCLA Bruins Football Coach Red Sanders said the same thing in 1950.
I don’t subscribe to this sentiment, just as I know the scoreboard doesn’t tell the whole story. It’s not a narrative of the game. It doesn’t show how much effort was put forth by each team, or the circumstances thereof.
Later, Lombardi would explain he meant the “will to win” or “making the effort” about the use of the quotation. This version makes a lot more sense. When I watch a game, I try to capture the narrative and write it down later. Sometimes I win, and sometimes I lose as well. Maybe I’m having an off day or missed something.
We all do it, have a bad day, make mistakes, do things we would rather have done differently … but we live in the moment. The patent clerk turned quantum mathematician Albert Einstein said, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
I tend to beat myself up about my mistakes and focus on the moments – which are already gone by the way – I made one. I haven’t given up, just keep trying and giving it my best.
One of my favorite fictional sports characters has always been Rocky Balboa, played by Sylvester Stallone. Stallone wrote the movie and refused to sell it to the studio without them casting him as Rocky. This was a risk. They could have said no but we know now they didn’t.
My favorite line is: “Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”
I never tire of reading it. We all have a choice moment-to-moment if we’re going to keep moving forward. So winning record or not, each sports team is composed of players who keep moving forward no matter what the scoreboard says.