Game 7

Game 7

Astros versus Dodgers

Someone out there might pat you on the back for getting close. They might tell you that they’re proud of everything you did to get here. You’ll remember that moment, but they won’t. They’ll forget how hard you worked, they’ll forget all the amazing things you did just to keep the tournament going, and they’ll forget that tiny little error you made that cost so much. Sure, no one blames you. The error was truly small, almost unnoticed. So they’ll forget, but you’ll remember.

You know who gets to forget about all their mistakes, who forgets how many people have patted them on the back, who has so much happen to them that they forget how they acted amongst the commotion… a champion. In our current world of participation trophies, there are so many that lose sight of what winning really is. 

Life is tough, but we’ve created so many shelters for failures that failing doesn’t cut very deep. It’s made us soft, it’s made us entitled, it’s made us over confident, and it’s made us weak. There are aspects of where we are as a society that make me incredibly proud. People believe in their rights and act on those beliefs, but they fail to understand why they have those rights. People are incredibly lazy these days, they don’t do in-depth research and old timers know it. That’s why we have a President that can say “fake news” and people know what he means instantly. Our President has a horrible reputation, but we all know in the back of our minds that some of that reputation is pure sensationalism.  If you turn on the news right now, just for a few seconds.. what did you hear?  Facts or an opinion? Try it.

Sports is covered by the news. Turn your channel to the sports news and you’ll hear opinions. Sure, some facts will be presented, but the opinions you’ll hear will absolutely try to diminish those facts. That’s where we are. That’s who we are. That’s what we’ve become. You don’t deeply care for facts, you care about the opinions that have allied with your own. Opinions that can come across in a 2 minute video, or be read in less than 140 characters on twitter, or be expressed in a meme that takes seconds to understand. 

Nuance is dying. The little thing you didn’t do is being ignored. The champion is glorified by fans that didn’t even take the time to watch. The loser gets awarded and life goes on. 

When I was young I had this soccer team called ‘The Wings’. I loved that team. I loved the name, I loved the uniforms, I loved the coach and the families that showed up to watch us. It felt great to be a Wing, but none of that was quite like the love I had for my teammates. If they scored a goal, I scored a goal. If they stopped a score, I stopped a score. If they made a mistake, I made a mistake. If they won the game, I won the game. Winning is fun, losing sucks. 

The Wings, my Wings.. we played in a tournament one weekend. It was one of the many three day weekends we get in this country. We played games to qualify for the big playoff, then if we won a couple games in the playoff we would get to the final, then we got to play in the final. Easy, right? Well, we played on Saturday and qualified for the playoffs. On Sunday the whole team was there and we played our butts off. We were in the final and the final was set for Monday. Most my teammates had parents that had the type of jobs that expected you to work the holiday. Lucky enough for me, my parents had the whole weekend off and we were able to show up right on time. Time to stretch and warm up with 6 of my teammates. Across the field from us was a team of 14. Soccer requires you to have at least 9 players or you’re disqualified. The countdown to kickoff was quickly approaching. Suddenly Clayton shows up and we have another Wing. That’s only 8 players and the ref is ready to call it off, then Clint comes sprinting towards our sideline. We can begin the game by rule. We start the game 9 vs 11 and play desperation ball for 15 minutes. We’re starting to tire out and John comes running up. We have a 10th. John was the boost we needed. He got tackled hard in the middle of the game and broke his collarbone. He went to the sideline, got wrapped up by his dad and went back out with us. John finished the game with a broken collarbone. We won the game 2-0. 

At the award ceremony they gave out medals to both squads, but the coveted trophies only went to us. They were big, gold and bold. It was something to commemorate our achievement that day. Later we lost, we didn’t get the trophy, and it sucked. The feeling of losing burned even more because we knew what winning felt like. That’s what’s missing today. The burn. Humility. Knowledge of what it took to get to the top. True respect for overcoming failures. A true understanding of the meaning of hardship. We're missing the respect for the world that was built for us before we were even born.

Tonight is game 7. Your opinion about this game is irrelevant. The fact is, it’s going to be a huge boost to whichever team wins. The fans will pat the players on the back, they’ll remember all the big moments it took to get to the top, these players will never be forgotten. The names become household names, these men become giants, the decisions become magnified. There’s only one winner and civilization rears its best side when there’s only one winner. The majority is humbled to work harder, be better and try again on some future pathway. There’s nothing wrong with losing, but there’s something wrong with claiming glory for your loss.

Game 7 teaches a fabulous lesson about life, about the value of opinion, and most importantly.. about ourselves. This is the only chance. You can't argue to get the results changed. There's no party for pity's sake. There are no do-overs. Game 7 isn't like life, it is life.

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