7 Things: Sports Quotes as Life Metaphors

Catching up for last week. Only one day late. Which, for me, is sorta on time. Like when I meet someone who knows me well at a restaurant five minutes late, and they look at me with great joy because they realize how easily it could have been twenty. Because my slightly late is on time.

Oddly enough, I’m never late to a concert or the theater. I don’t know why. Maybe I figure the performers will be less accommodating and won’t hold the performance for me.

It’s an uber-bad habit. Apologies to any of you who may have been victims of it in the past. I’m working on it. Really, I am.

And now all of this frivolity at the top of a somewhat serious post.

From this point on, I am solemn-faced. Only not really.

Intro to the Quotes –

We do it.
We get bummed, disappointed, frustrated, fed up.
We get bogged down.
We get doubtful and certain we’ll fail.
That we have already failed.
That we will always fail.

We get life-attacked.
We get defensive, pouty, depressed.
We get overwhelmed.
We get lazy and vow not to try.
That we shouldn’t bother trying.
That trying is stupid. And couches are comfortable.

It’s at that point that we all need a coach. A gruff, bossy so-and-so to tell us that winners never quit and quitters need a sharp kick to the ass.

I don’t have a coach, and I’m going to assume most of you don’t either, but we can at least borrow some sports wisdom. Because, just like sports movies, I find  sports quotes oddly motivating.

Here are six sports quotes that work great as metaphors for life – and one sports metaphor about life – counted down to most inspirational –

The Quotes

7 – During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at-bats a season. That means I played 7 years without ever hitting the ball. – Mickey Mantle

Reverse psychology inspiration.

6 – The man with no imagination has no wings. – Muhammad Ali

Poetic inspiration.

5 – The minute you start talking about what you’re going to do if you lose, you have lost. – George Shultz

Self-fulfilling prophesy inspiration.

4 – In the game of life it’s a good idea to have a few early losses, which relieves you of the pressure of trying to maintain an undefeated season. – Bill Baughan

Lighten up inspiration.

3 – Falling’s part of the game. Its like my dad always says: ‘No matter how good you are, the ice is still slippery.’ – Michelle Kwan

Logical inspiration.

2 – You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. – Wayne Gretzky

Mathematical inspiration.

1 – I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan

‘I Wanna Be Like Mike’ inspiration.

Tag

Listen up, team. I know they’re comin’ at ya and they’re comin’ at ya hard. But you didn’t work your asses off to let your foes rush into your domain and run you outta the game. Now, you get out there and you show those haters just how hard you kick ass. You are all badass, unstoppable, motherfuckin’ starters. There ain’t no damn benchwarmers up in this house, ya hear?