Inspiration

What is it about sports that has the power to inspire us so much?

Having just watched the Blind Side and Invictus ( I had a migraine, ok?), I was wondering just this. Why are there some many movies about sports? It isn't just that they are fun to watch or that we are, by nature, competitive people. I'm sure that is part of it, but you could just watch the gazillion NFL games or college football games going on. There has to be something beyond just winning. It's not just the trophy that matters.

I think that sports are things that cannot be won without blood, sweat, and tears. There is something honest about the work required to succeed at sports and the power of a team. Even the most talented individual cannot win a football or rugby or soccer or basketball game by themselves. Maybe that's why individual sports don't really appeal to me as much. There is a dependence and trust upon your fellow players in team sports that can't be matched by golf or tennis (though I'm sure they have their appealing features as well).

Being forced to depend on each other breaks down barriers that might otherwise survive. How can personalities, race, or politics matter when you have to get the frisbee to the other end of the field. It may seem trivial to some, but in the moment the game is the most important thing. It allows us to transcend the things that appear more important in "real life."

This poem serves as the theme of Invictus. I think, in a way, it captures how I feel about sport and about perseverance.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

The great stories are never without struggle. They have to walk the line between failure and success, and win. To quote Veronica Mars:

Veronica: "Come on. Ruined lives? Bloodshed? You really think relationships should be that hard?"

Logan: "No one writes songs about the ones that come easy."