Day 58: Life is Like Football

I like football. Actually, I love football. Someone today asked why I am so passionate about it and I didn't have good answer. I do now. Football is a metaphor for life. There's an offense and a defense and often those two roles are played by the same people or groups of people at alternate times. We're all trying to defend what is ours, those things both material and emotional that we've worked for or lucked into. We also keep striving to attain more successes even if that means defeating someone else. In fact, much of life can be boiled down to a series of winners and losers and the spoils won and lost.

But what I really love about football is that in addition to all that passion, all the hard work and luck there is always the possibility of success, even if it looked like you might be out for the count. Everyone gets a second chance in football and often a third and fourth too. They keep fighting for what they want even when the odds might seem insurmountable. Players are physically bruised and battered and yet they still run onto the field and face the possibility of more punishment. They might be suffering from bruised egos as well or demoralizing losses and yet on any given Sunday things might turn around. Even the Lions had a halfway decent season this year.

Football gives me hope. I'm not a lucky person, but even I have had a few winning game balls land in my lap and more appropriate to the current state of my life I've managed to throw them away, not realizing their true value. We all make mistakes and work hard punctuated by moments of great self-centered laziness. We're human and this game we're playing has no outcomes written in stone. Anything can happen. Underdogs can win, favorites can lose their way, and sometimes even those of us that fumble the game winning touchdown can find a way to steer back onto a winning path.

I love football because on any given day anything can happen, but no one ever gives up.