The Minnesota Sports radio guys were having fun talking about the upcoming Game 7 between the Wild and the Av’s yesterday. Excitement was in the air, folks were stoked.
As usual in sport talk, there were speculations and predictions. Lot’s of “If this or that happens we can win” and such. And then someone stated the ultimate cliche’…They’ll need to give 100% for 60 minutes.
Hate. Sports. radio.
Well okay smart guy. What if they give 100% for 60 minutes but the game lasts for, oh I dunno, 65 minutes and 2 seconds? What then? We’re no longer playing 100%? But what if the other team has prepared to play 100% for 80 minutes, or 100 minutes? What then? They win just by preparing better?
Dunno. All we needed was 65 minutes and two seconds so I guess some brilliant coach decided to prepare his team for the whole game, not just the part that was originally scheduled.
The point being, obviously, that we need to prepare for the game; the event; the entire competition whatever that looks like. Those of us who compete don’t just get ready for the scheduled day. We prepare for weather conditions, food, the other competitors, equipment, everything. Everything. There is no “100% for 60 minutes.” There is only “All in until the win.”
OH! The Wild won (obviously.) They now face the Blackhawks. I don’t know how many folks remember the North Stars and Blackhawks games but they were the finest sports had to offer in my childhood. I can’t remember EVER going to a game and not seeing beer being thrown. In fact, the last time I went, I took my Dad to the old Met Center with tickets given to me by a work contact from Chicago. We marched up to a clearly Blackhawk section and the groans were immediate when they saw the Green and Gold Stars shirts we were wearing. I whirled around and took the bull by the horn by stating loudly, “Look! This is the FIRST time I get to be the one to take my DAD to a North Stars game instead of the other way around and we’re going to have a good time and get along! GET IT!” They bought us beer, so it was all good. Heh.
Go Wild! But not for just 100%, but all the way to the win.
If you ask me how I want to be remembered, it is a winner. You know what a winner is? A winner is somebody who has given his best effort, who has tried the hardest they possibly can, who has utilized every ounce of energy and strength within them to accomplish something. It doesn’t mean that they accomplished it or failed, it means that they’ve given it their best. That’s a winner.
Walter Payton
