Finding Peace In Life, Sports, And The Los Angeles Dodgers

Wonder why the 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers have gone through spells of wins and losses. Without going into the story of life, we have to understand human nature. People, including ballplayers, do not work inside a vacuum.

What does this mean? Life is great because it is unpredictable. If we could predict wins and losses in life, wins and losses on the baseball diamond and beyond it, would there really be enjoyment of life? No anticipation, excitement, joy, hope, faith, or love. We would only have the predictable.

Predictable. A word good in mathematics, war, and fantasy football. A terrible word in love, happiness, and sports. Remind yourself why you are so passionate about your sports teams; it is because the result is unpredictable. Because the result is unpredictable, the outcome can change and so you invest your time hoping for a wanted result.

Life is not much different from sports; actually, their similarities are why you see glimpses of yourself and your struggles in your favorite athletes and teams. You have to remind yourself of these realities. It is good for the soul, as the saying goes.

The Dodgers are no different and history would actually tell us that the story of the Dodgers is the story of human struggle. The Dodgers have been a successful franchise, but not the best franchise. The Dodgers have lost tough games, heart-breaking games, and broke the hearts of many in Brooklyn when they moved west to Los Angeles. Dem bums have a storied history making the losses harder and the wins more beautiful.

If you are a fan of any sport, the best way is to look at your team’s wins and losses this year, or any year, is to accept that life is perfect, but expectations are not. The good comes with the bad and the bad comes with the good. The fact that life and sport are unpredictable is what makes them perfect.

Maybe put a different way. Imagine if you had a camera on your life. What would the video proof say about you? How would the audience respond? As Vin Scully said, “Statistics are used much like a drunk uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination.”

Win streaks and losing streaks, every dog has their day. The real story is in the response to failure. The response to expectations. The will to carry on and fight another day that is what matters. When your life video is shown, how would it read?

Let us hope that it showed a person who never gave up and lived a life based on perseverance. Vince Lombardi once said, “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” We can hope that excellence is the reflection we see in the mirror after a day’s work, and that the team you root for does the same. In the meantime, have faith and hope that the journey is enjoyed, the wins anticipated, and that the only thing predictable is the past.