NFL
By: Jeffrey Newholm
In the classic musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie faces a lot of adversity in his life. His family lives in destitute poverty and he can never have his favorite treat, chocolate. Well of course, this being a movie, Wonka ends up giving Charlie control of his factory, making all of Charlie’s wildest hopes come true. In the movie’s final scene, however, Wonka does have a warning for Charlie: “‘But Charlie…don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted.’ ‘What happened?’ ‘He lived happily ever after'”. Unfortunately I’m here to break it to you that life doesn’t really work this way. A white knight is not going to come in and magically solve all of our problems. But if sports can teach us anything, it’s that adversity has a silver lining. Defeat can become the fuel that powers future glory.
A textbook example of adversity leading to success is the recent title won by the Royals. The Royals were a downtrodden franchise for decades, not making the postseason at all for 28 years. In 2014 the club had a magical breakthrough, thundering all the way to the World Series. But in game seven, their triumph turned to tragedy. Madison Bumgarner got the final batter, Salvador Perez, to pop out with the tying run on third. All was not lost, however. The Royals bludgeoned MLB the next season and easily won the Series. One publication claimed that no one had seen this coming. Thankfully for Kansas City, manager Ned Yost did. He knew that 2014’s devastating defeat could make his crew fight that much harder the next year. The Royals turned a bad thing into a very good thing. Some teams, sadly, aren’t so fortunate.
Some teams are so good that they never learn the taste of defeat. But that taste, while bitter, serves as a learning experience. Players are more receptive to feedback after a loss because the impact of their mistakes are more obvious. College basketball provides a good illustration of this principle. The hallowed 1976 Indiana Hoosiers were the last team to finish undefeated. All subsequent teams that entered the tournament with one or zero losses eventually slipped up and lost. Even the seemingly invincible 2015 Kentucky Wildcats suffered an untimely loss to Wisconsin in the semifinals. Four loss Duke, however, was able to beat Wisconsin. Several of those Duke players commented that the losses they experienced allowed coach K to correct the poor playing habits they had picked up. Without any losses, Coach Cal wasn’t able to get his messages across to his players nearly as well. But adversity isn’t a conveyor belt. Bad things don’t automatically lead to good things. It all depends on one’s attitude.
An example of a team that didn’t respond to adversity well, at least in the intermediate term, is the 2014 Packers. The Pack had a trip to the Super Bowl all wrapped up only to have an epic meltdown in the semifinals against Seattle. But the way many spun the loss is that the next year’s team would come out strong. Aaron Rodgers and company would use the dreadful loss as motivation, they claimed. But after a hot start the wheels came off the Green Bay convertible. Rodgers was uncharacteristically whiny and the offense looked out of sync. Not even a trio of Hail Mary’s could mask the troubling underlying problem: the team couldn’t get over its disappointment. Instead of taking heart after a letdown, the team remained indignant at their cruel fate. One bad experience had turned into an enduring nightmare.
What the Royals, Wildcats and Packers can all teach us is that adversity is inevitable. Even if things are humming along just fine, it’s just much worse when things inevitably go sour. But any great team or great run has some past failing to thank for that grand success. For those with poor character or mentality, failure is devastating. But for the strong of heart, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. This is applicable in every field of competitive endeavor. A loss may bring the end of a season. But for a champion, adversity is never the end of the story.
You can follow me on Twitter @JeffreyNewholm and our blog @NutsAndBoltsSP.
