The Sunday Column: Life, Like Sports, Is All About Bouncing Back And Refusing To Quit
The Minnesota Vikings fought through a hell of a lot to pull off a statement win on Sunday. That inspired me to do the same...
Sports is all about bouncing back and fighting through adversity.
We see it on a daily basis where a team, or an individual player, is dealt a bum hand, a tough stack of cards, and they find themselves at a crossroads where the choice is simple: Toughen up, put your big boy pants on and get ready to stop the bleeding. Or, you quit and go home and then have to live with that regret for the rest of your life.
I mean, that’s the whole premise of the entire Rocky franchise, right? Rocky Balboa’s entire calling card is getting the crap beaten out of him and then being faced with the choice of either peeling himself off the canvas and fighting on, or throwing in the towel. Spoiler alert; he opts for the former because, well, that’s who Rocky is. He’s a fighter who doesn’t have the word quit in his lexicon.
We’ve seen a myriad of examples this week alone of teams who, despite being beaten, bloodied and severely bruised, have picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and decided to face adversity head on.
Take the Minnesota Vikings as the prime example. Still reeling in the aftermath of losing quarterback Kirk Cousins for the season with a torn Achilles - after he willed them back to 4-4 on the season, by the way - their spirit was shattered once more when rookie Jaren Hall, making his first career start, suffered a concussion in the first quarter of Minnesota’s matchup against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
Not to worry.
In came Josh Dobbs who, days after being acquired from the Arizona Cardinals and despite having not taken a single rep with the offense in practice, absolutely balled out. The 28-year-old, who is enjoying a redemption story for the ages this year, completed 20 of 30 passes for 158 yards, including throwing the game-winning touchdown to Brandon Powell with 22 seconds remaining in the game.
Having also lost wide receiver K.J. Osborn and running back Cam Akers to injury during the game, you couldn’t have blamed the Vikings if they collapsed under the significant weight of suffering crushing blow after crushing blow this week. Instead, they met the challenge head on, strapped on the big boy pants and refused to quit. They may have been gushing blood from a slew of near-fatal wounds, but they kept on fighting until the bitter death and refused to quit, no matter how many body parts were gashed or how much blood was lost in the process.
And their reward? Improving to 5-4 on the year and proving emphatically that this season is very much still alive.
That’s what good teams do. That’s what strong, tough teams with a boatload of mental fortitude do. They stand up, they slap on the war paint, they lock in and they refuse to tap out. No matter how much crap is thrown at them.
Look at the Kansas City Chiefs. After laying a Godzilla-sized egg in Denver in Week 8, Patrick Mahomes and an elite effort from the defense halted an explosive Miami offense in Germany to help the Chiefs improve to 7-2 and erase some of the stink from the garbage performance against the Broncos.
The New York Jets are another good example. Despite losing future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers less than five minutes into Week 1, they’ve stayed afloat and are 4-3 heading into Monday Night Football against the Chargers. Hey, it hasn’t always been pretty but they are alive and they are getting the job done. And that’s all that matters.
Same applies to the New York Rangers. They’ve faced a slew of adversity this week, placing star defenseman Adam Fox on LTIR and losing forward Filip Chytil for a period too. It was the first bump in the road for a team that is off to an impressive 8-2-1 start this season, and they responded to losing two key bodies by beating Metro Division rivals the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 on Thursday, before earning a hard-fought point on the road in a 5-4 Shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
So, the point I’m trying to make is that teams have to fight through things every single day. They also have to wake up and decide whether they are going to absorb the blows, soak up the excruciating pain and do what it takes to fight on and prevail, or quit and live the sorry, embarrassing life of a loser.
It is the same in life.
Life mirrors sports in many ways, and vice versa.
While the likes of the Vikings, the Chiefs and the Rangers all decided to adopt the winners mentality and embrace the pain, I’ve tried to do the same today.
I’ve been fighting through a few things myself this week, hence why I’ve been quiet. And, look, I have absolutely sucked this week. I get that and I own that.
Like an avalanche, one little tremor has turned into a dozen and, out of nowhere, things have snowballed and completely wiped me out. It’s nothing serious, but I’ve been left beaten and bruised and faced with the decision to give in to my ailments or suck it up and fight on.
I woke up today and chose the latter.
Look, it isn’t in my DNA to quit. Just like it isn’t Patrick Mahomes’ nature to give up or throw in the towel. Or like it isn’t Josh Dobbs’ character to listen to the critics and just slip quietly into that long goodnight. No, anyone who knows me well will attest that I love nothing more than standing in the middle of a boxing ring toe-to-toe with a heavyweight and taking as much punishment as I can take before landing the knockout blow myself (not literally because, again, as anyone who knows me well will attest, I ain’t a fighter, far from it).
I guess what I’m trying to say is that we all deal with things on a day-to-day basis and we’re all given the choice of fighting through or giving up and walking away. Our mental fortitude will always be tested, but it is how we respond to those challenges and what we do next that really matters.
So, while this week won’t go down as a classic in my book, and while I’m still frustrated and still dealing with a heavy case of imposter syndrome and fraud mentality that I have to deal with more than I like to admit, that’s life. You get knocked down and you just have to keep getting back up no matter how much it hurts, no matter how badly beaten up you are both physically and mentally, no matter how much blood you are shedding and no matter how much you want to tap out and say enough is enough. There’s no other choice.
At least not for me there isn’t.
I’m not wired to take an L in my life, no matter how bad or bleak things get. And I never will be.
Quitting isn’t an option. Winning and getting to the mountaintop hurts like hell. It doesn’t come easy and it doesn’t come without battle scars. You just have to fight like hell. And, like Josh Dobbs and the Vikings, Mahomes and the Chiefs, and the New York Rangers all fought like hell to claw their way past adversity and into the sweet spot of euphoria this week, I’ve done the same by busting open the laptop and bringing you this column.
Hey, it wasn’t pretty but we got there. Eventually.
Life is going to give every single one of us a firm kick in the balls more often than not. We’ve just got to turn around, tell it to F off and keep on fighting.
Because that’s all we’ve got.
In sports, and in life, true winners toughen up, embrace the pain, welcome the bleeding, give the L the bird and just refuse to quit and give up. Sometimes it may seem impossible, but keep on fighting like hell and the rewards will come.
Losing and crying and waving the white flag doesn’t get you anywhere. That’s for losers.
And that’s not us.
Here’s to keep on fighting all the way to the top of the mountain. And beyond.