The Jet Stole Home

I think the thing that makes sports so exciting and magical for many people is that there is an abundance of "amazing" things to be witnessed. Amazing plays, amazing comebacks, amazing shots. SportsCenter was built on collecting the daily "amazings" so that even if you don't witness it live, you can still feel the thrill of what made the public chime in a collective "wow."

But the feats themselves aren't necessarily impossible things to accomplish. What sports can do is take an ordinary thing and launch it into the realm of extroardinary by providing context. Take for example last night's Phillies game, where Jayson Werth stole four bases in one game, including home plate. I had only seen this on the Sandlot. While running 90 feet on a sprint is something we can all do, the history of Major League Baseball provides the context that signals to us that stealing your way to home is next to impossible. But I wonder if Jayson Werth thought that as he was doing it. I imagine he thought more about sprinting 90 feet.

Another example was the Kentucky Derby this year. 50-1 shot Mine that Bird went from dead last by several lengths near the start of the race to winning the race by several lengths. The jockey guided the horse to the win by passing the pack on the inside -- along the rail -- which is something you almost never see because the window to do so is too tight if it is even tere at all. But riding a horse around a dirt track at top speed is not by itself amazing. It is amazing because of the context. Because this was a horse that was given no chance. Because it was the 2nd biggest longshot to win the derby in 135 years.

Sports remind us that there are many things in our own lives that seem challenging or next to impossible, perhaps because of history or context. But like the stars we watch on the highlights, we must learn to deconstruct those challenges into the often ordinary and attainable tasks that they are. I guess this is a long winded way of saying "mind over matter," but I encourage you to try it and see what "amazing" achievements will come from adjusting your paradigms.

You may be surprised what in your life becomes sprinting 90 feet to home plate.