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i read this article in this week's SI--on the back page--about Blair Walsh and a teenage girl who idolized him. it got me to thinking. A lot. she had struggled with depression, was hospitalized for a week in a psych ward and had attempted suicide. She contacted Walsh after the infamous missed FG and left a message saying she knew how he must feel. she told him a bit about her story and hung up. He called her back, they talked and kept in touch, each identifying with the problems of the other. i have a teenage daughter who struggles with depression so it hit home. I know also, a few days after that game, i had to order a Blair Walsh jersey myself. i wasnt sure why. i just knew i had missed plenty of field goals in my life, sometimes at crucial moments, and had to embrace that. I guess it was my "I am Sparticus" moment...
What it made me think was one reason winning and losing a game can mean so much to us is that by winning, we innoculate ourselves against the pain of our own failures or losses. and when our team loses, we are suddenly in touch with those feelings all over again. ive always hated phrases like, "losing was not an option" or "he just willed his team to win" etc. when of course, losing is a very real option that we have all experienced. and the mistique of "willing" a win is just that. it aint real. I have strived mightly, given it my all, and still have come up short. and when i realized that, i thought THAT'S why I love football. because the game is much bigger than the stadiums in which it is played. It stands in for our lives and we can work through the pain and dissappointments of life and even feel like we can reverse them--if only our team wins. somehow knowing that, doesnt take away from the enjoyment of the game at all. It just keeps it in the realm of a "game" and not life and death. Or maybe I'm just whistling past the graveyard.
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