It's Not the Critic Who Counts

The other night, I was on my way home from a great karate workout and went by the baseball fields like I always do on my way home. There, in the outfield, was a team, all on one knee, as the coach talked to them. They were all in locked position, listening intently to what he had to say. This is just one thing that I find to be absolutely beautiful about sports.

There's a high school kid who lives behind me. On his big back porch, there is a basketball hoop, and every night this summer, he is out there practicing his hook shot.

"Do you still play basketball? I hope so, because it is a beautiful game. It's played with the legs and the tips of the fingers, asking you to be a horse and also a bird." --Garrison Keillor

I'm fascinated by people who excel at sports. I wish so badly that I had that mind-body connection that allowed me to react quickly and make split-second decisions. I've tried to hone this by doing karate, which commands a strong link. I've gotten better, but I'm still not as good as I wish I was. But I keep doing it because I think it's a worthy challenge.

Over the years, I've toyed with quitting karate. But the fact is that I wouldn't do a whole lot physically on a regular basis if I didn't. Plus, this quote by Teddy Roosevelt won't let me:

"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 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 and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for 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 he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

There is a strong part of me--luckily--that won't let myself become one of the "cold and timid souls". I know a lot of them, and while they're all fine upstanding people, I think I was just sick of being one of them. And karate was the one kind of sport where you can start out as an adult and build your way from whatever age you are, so here I am.

John Wooden, the great UCLA coach, said a quote once that I try to live by: "Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights." Have you ever been to a college basketball game? It's so much better than an NBA game, which is cool in its own right. But the squeak of the basketball shoes on the hardwood floor, the arc of the ball going through the hoop, the smell of popcorn, the music, the cheerleader pyramids, the competition, the alumni all wearing the school colors...it's just a wonderful community event about people who don't necessarily know each other, but are also a part of a large family. They know it, which is enough to create a feeling of family amongst the whole crowd. At least the ones wearing the same colors.

Sports make people set goals and try harder. They make people work as a team. They make you work toward something that is humanly, physically possible.

Plus, think about the last time you were down on one knee listening intently to your leader, and actually listened with an open mind to what they were saying because you believed it.