The Greatest

What is it about sport that makes men and women cheer for the individual who stands in the arena that they have never met and never will meet. Do you think that they envision themselves in that position, dreaming of how they would have competed given the chance?

Or is the fleeting thought of comparison, i.e. in the past when faced with such a scenario this is what I did. A beer with the boys, and "remember when?..." Personally, I readily admit I still get tight in the chest watching particular events, mainly those sports in which I did compete in my youth. I find it funny that I see, with some clarity now, things which I would have done differently. But I do not believe it would be accurate to call such visions regrets. Suffice it to say, youth is wasted on the young.

If you were an athlete, do you remember when your and/or your teammates success rested solely on your shoulders? Team sports always beg the question, are all of these people giving their all? Are they leaving every ounce of energy they brought to the game on the field or court? Reliance on another, never set quite well with me because of such lingering doubts. You can merely hope that everyone will rise to the occasion and ... well you understand.

Such doubt is removed when you are the only participant. Dedication, self-respect, and self-reliance are themes you hear in many sporting venues; however, they become so much more prevalent when it is one man or one woman proving those characteristics about his or herself. These effects of these characteristics generate a reputation, and such traits become more pronounced when someone is out there - alone. When the blame can lay only at your feet, you step becomes a little more determined.

Theodore Roosevelt's speech, Citizen in a Republic, has provided generations with inspirational fodder. While this speech provides so much more than just the following quote, the quote is topical and I am not sure that anyone before or after has said it better. (I encourage everyone to read it and think about where you stand in our great Republic.) This excerpt has always left me awestruck and filled with admiration that someone so eloquently stated what I feel and have felt for the longest time:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

When you read that passage, what - or who - do you see?