The odds. How do they factor in to what your going to do? Do you never try because the odds seem too stacked against you? Do you use that as an excuse to never try? Do you stare in the mirror years later and wonder "Just what might have been?" I have always thrived in the role as the underdog. It has always motivated me. When the odds seem too great I take it as an opportunity to prove I can do it. My team can do it. We can do it. It can take you to a level you would have never been.
I would much rather go against the odds and be all I can be and fail at my ultimate goal, than to have to wonder what if? I know. My goal for my son's was for them to be all they could be no matter what it was. Baseball, football, life. I never wanted to look in the mirror and say "oh what could have been if I had only>>>>>>>>>>>!
And who are these people telling me what the odds are for me? They have no idea what I am capable of doing. They have no idea what the odds are for me. The odds are if you shrink from the opportunity at hand because your afraid of failure you will regret that decision for the rest of your life. Our goals for our children in the game can vary. Some just want their son to make the HS team. Some want their kids to play in college. Some want their kids to play in the show. Some want their kids to be a HOFer. Some just want their kids to be the best they can be and to not have to look in that mirror one day and wonder what if.
I say to hel with the odds. Go for YOUR dreams. If you fall short you will still be higher than the person that played it safe. The person that failed to live life with the kind of passion and pursuit of greatness that takes you as far as you were capable of going. Yes they will be safe. They will probably never get cut. Never strike out. Never leave the bases loaded. Never be told they just were not quite good enough. What a pitiful boring life.
My youngest loves the game as much as anyone I have ever been around. His dream was to play ML baseball. Now he has a new dream. He is attacking it with the same passion and drive that made him the player and team mate he was. He graduates from college this month. Five and half years of school. Countless memories. Heart break. And times of great joy. Its been a full five and half years. No regrets. No looking in the mirror and wondering what if. He knows. So now he is on to his new dream. And I have no doubt he will fight for that dream as much as he fought for his other dream.
And you know what? Regardless of the odds. He will fight on. That's living. Real living. Not this idea that we play it safe and think were going to have a full life. The only limitations we have in this life are the limitations we put on ourselves. Odds? I don't give one second of my time too odds. They don't know me.