Sports-related cliches: You hear them all the time, and dismiss them as worthless. But there is a reason athletes say them. They matter. Who would know better than the athletes themselves? It seems to me we should start taking their word for it, you know? Plus, these guys are well-educated and polite, so it's not like they would say something if it wasn't meaningful, or was misleading. So, let's look at a few, and examine why they are true...
We're just going to go out there and give 110%.
Think this one's unquantifiable? Not this time. In the 1988 World Series, Dennis Eckersely went to the mound, determined to only give 103% while facing Kirk Gibson. We all know what happened next.
Let the chips fall where they may.
This one seems stupid and nonsensical, right? Wrong. In fact, I personally overheard this conversation prior to game 7 of the 1994 NBA finals:
Anthony Mason: "All right, let's just play hard and let the chips fall where they may."
John Starks: "F*ck that, man. I'm tired of just letting the chips fall where they may. Not only will I question where the chips may fall, but I am going to do everything in my power to alter these locations."
The result? Starks goes 2-18 from the field, the Knicks lose..and chips of the Knicks' title hopes were strewn about.
We have to play hard, night in and night out.
Surely this statement is meaningless, isn't it? Not a chance. It's as crucial as anything in sports, to play hard, both night in, and night out. Doing just one, isn't good enough. Playing hard just night in, but mailing it in night out, is not going to get it done. Likewise, just hanging out night in, but going all-out night out, well that's simply too little, too late. I could try to provide an example of a big sports moment when someone did not play hard both night in and night out, and it led to their demise...but I tried pretty hard in the first portion of this blog entry, so I don't see why I should try hard at the end.
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2 comments:
One cliche that gets used way too much in sports and life in general is the old "it is what it is." Everytime somebody says this it makes me want to end my own life but not before ending theirs.
Not only did you not blog night in and night out right there towards the end, but it's pretty obvious that you gave considerably less than the minimum 110%. It's almost as if you're not taking this blog one post at a time.
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