Train Thoughts

As a guy that loves sports, I’ve often been able to relate sports to life and family, so sports analogies resonate with me.  But, if you bring in instant replay, it changes the game.  It no longer resembles life and some piece of the game goes away.

The SF Giants are in the pennant and wild card race right now.  A bad call this week gave a game to the Phillies which could be critical the the Giants making the playoffs.  If there was replay, the call would have been overturned and the Phillies would have lost.  The umpires would have ultimately made the right call.  But, that’s not life.

We don’t get replays for the decision we just made.  The benefit we get of a bad call we make in our life is learning to persevere.   To progress forward, to overcome, to keep making an effort when the call/decision doesn’t go our way.  If you screw a pitch to a client up, you line up another pitch and try again.  If you marry the wrong person, you take the lumps and pain and move forward.  Sports are about effort, team work,  preparation and toughness.  They teach us about life beyond the game.  And part of sports and life is dealing with bad calls.  If you take out the bad call.  It all changes.  Sports like life shouldn’t be perfect.

As sports are an important part of our culture, changing the game.  Perfecting it.  Making all the right calls, somehow diminishes what it means to me.   The players on the Giants have to battle.  They have to dig in and take charge of their own destiny.  They may get some breaks and they may gets some lumps, but it’s up to them to succeed.  I’d like the game to stay that way for now.