Musings at Altitude

I heard an amazing stat on ESPN last night…since the 2006 season, the mighty, mighty Trojans have lost six games during the regular season, all to unranked opponents and all games that should have been won.  I remember the Stanford game; and the Oregon State game; and now the Washington game.  Each game was a great win for the big time underdog of the Trojans, and each was a crushing loss for a “top 5” program that should be competing for the national championship every single year.

So this loss got me thinking…what causes teams to be so well prepared and execute so powerfully in “the big games” and then come up short in the games that no one expects them to lose?  And this question certainly isn’t limited to sports either, because I’ve know businesses to compete so perfectly for “the big contracts” and then come up so embarrassingly short on the ones that they were supposed to win.

There are some obvious quick answers:

1. looking ahead to the supposedly tougher opponent that’s next on the horizon
2. taking this particular opponent for granted, expecting to win
3. letting up in this particular game, thinking you can win without a peak performance

All of these “answers” fall into the rise-up-and-get-whooped categories of arrogance, pride (the bad form of it), and over confidence.

When this happens just once, you could legitimately say that extenuating circumstances potentially led to the defeat.  Maybe it was injuries of several key players.  Maybe it was something that happened that dramatically and adversely affected the team.  Maybe it was that perfect play at that perfect time by the opposition that allowed that perfectly performing team to win when they shouldn’t have.

But when it happens every year, the argument for extenuating circumstances gets muted by the overwhelming cries of “WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG????”

I have no doubt that the coach of the mighty Trojans uses each of these losses over the last four seasons as object lessons for what not to do this next time.  I also have no doubt that the team feels ready to win in every single game it goes into.  But last year, we saw an incredible example of how a loss could motivate a team to win the ultimate prize and not cost it the entire season.  But that was Tim Tebow and the national champion Gators.  After that loss early in the season, Tebow gave a speech that is now enshrined on the outside wall of their locker room…it was that good.

Here’s what Tebow said:

To the fans and everybody in Gator nation, I’m sorry.  I’m extremely sorry.  We were hoping for an undefeated season.  That was my goal, something Florida has never done here.  I promise you one thing, a lot of good will come out of this.  You will never see any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season.  You will never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season.  You will never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season.  God bless.

That speech was delivered in the post loss press conference on September 27th, 2008.  And the rest is history.  Florida went undefeated the rest of the season and won the national championship.

Maybe the Trojans need a speech of that magnitude to kick them into that gear that will drive them to win those games that they should win and ultimately result in a national championship.

But let me close with some other incredible speeches that motivated people to win “the prize”.

First, from 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, as penned by the Apostle Paul:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.  No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Powerful words.

Or how about this from one of the greatest coaches of all time, Vince Lombardi:

I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.

The words from Tebow, the words from the Apostle Paul, the words from Lombardi…they should be ringing in the heads of everyone at all times, for all games, regardless of who the opponent is.