Winning - more than a score

A repost of my Feb. 12 column in the Woodford Sun

Obstacles.

Every team and every athlete faces them.

Injuries. Bad officiating. Hostile environments.

“That’s sports,” said Woodford County boys’ basketball coach Brad Mefford, after his team competed against Anderson County without top scorer Dominique Johnson, who was out with an injury. “You’ve got to figure out a way. You have to adapt, improvise and overcome.”

Or quit.

Quitting always remains an option.

And the Lady Jackets have refused to do so – much to their credit.

The Woodford County girls’ basketball team has encountered more than its fair share of obstacles over the last several weeks. The young squad faced an uphill battle to begin with. Coach Jay Lucas knew a lack of experience would pose challenges through the season. Then in early January, point guard and leading scorer Taylor Kelly went down with a knee injury, thinning an already thin squad.

Over the next eight games, the Lady Jackets won two.

Woodford lost another starter to an injury on Feb. 5 against Henry Clay. Junior Amy Morford, one of the team’s best defenders, went down hard to the floor and suffered a concussion – just in time for the Jackets’ game against top-10 Rowan County.

If any team has an excuse to throw in the towel, it’s the Lady Jackets. Who wouldn’t forgive them for tanking it? Who wouldn’t understand if they started gazing toward next year? Who wouldn’t shake their head in sympathy if the Jackets simply gave up?

But that wouldn’t show much character, now would it? And whatever this Lady Jacket team may lack, character isn’t it.

The rag-tag Jacket squad, led by a freshman point guard and an eighth grade post player fought their hearts out against one of the best teams in the state. They trailed by just three at halftime, and while they ended up losing by double digits, the Woodford girls could walk out of the Hive with their heads held high.

They may not realize it right now, but in the midst of a long touch stretch of losing, the Lady Jackets have proven themselves winners.

They’ve played a brutal stretch – an underdog in every game, and they’ve played hard.
“I can’t ask for a better effort during the games,” Lucas said. “They haven’t done what an 8-14 team could do. They haven’t tanked the season.”

Instead they’ve fought.

They’ve battled.

They’ve scrapped.

In truth, the girls probably don’t realize what they’ve accomplished this year. It’s a lot easier to judge success and failure by looking up at the scoreboard. But I hope that one day the members of the 2008-2009 Lady Jacket squad will embrace a sense of accomplishment from the season. I hope they can look back and recognize how much they learned in battling through the adversity. And most importantly, I hope they carry the lessons through the rest of their life and apply that same character, grit and tenacity into whatever they do in their lives.

Bicycle racing Champion Lance Armstrong knows what it means to press on through adversity. He came back from testicular cancer to win the Tour de France an unprecedented seven straight times.

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”

So no matter what – keep on keepin’ on.

Quick Shots

As a ummm-“more experienced” person who still strives to compete at the highest level possible, I am pretty excited about 50-year-old NASCAR driver Mark Martin qualifying second for the upcoming Daytona 500. Martin Truex Jr. edged out the veteran driver to lock in the poll position for the race, which will run on Feb. 15. Martin plans to race full-time this season, after running a partial schedule the last two years. Many people don’t realize the physical demands driving a racecar places on these competitors. To drive at the highest level – and compete for wins at 50 is pretty amazing.

A lot of readers will probably disagree, but I think too much has been made of UK fans booing the Cats in their recent loss to Mississippi State. These are competitive athletes playing at the highest level. If they can’t take a little fan abuse, they probably need to find another activity to occupy their time. Yeah, booing isn’t very nice and doesn’t accomplish much more than making the fan feel better, but I suspect the Wildcat faithful probably need some kind of catharsis as poorly as their team has played.

I’m one of the biggest football fans you’ll ever meet, and for the 42nd straight year, I did not watch the NFL pro-bowl. No report will follow.

Quote of the week

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is always good for a quote. After track owner Burton Smith basically blamed drivers for the downturn in NASCAR ticket sales, Earnhardt had a direct, if not eloquent response.
“People aren’t coming to the racetrack not because the drivers don’t give a (expletive). People aren’t coming to the racetrack because it’s expensive.”

Puck to the head

It almost seems pointless. It’s become as predictable as my dog running to the door when I come home. But I have to shoot a puck to the head of Alex Rodriguez after the New York Yankee star allegedly tested positive for steroids.