Failure again? (Bot9 #353)
The subject of failure came up again this week as Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks responded to a question after his team had been eliminated from the NBA Playoffs. He’s been widely applauded for what is viewed today as a very healthy response to failure or losing. Here’s what he said:
“It’s not a failure,” Antetokounmpo said, “it’s steps to success. There’s always steps to it. Michael Jordan played 15 years, won six championships, The other nine years [were] a failure? That’s what you’re telling me?
“... It’s the wrong question,” he continued. “There’s no failure in sports. There’s good days, bad days. Some days you’re successful. Some days you’re not. Some days it’s your turn. Some days it’s not your turn. And that’s what sports is about. You don’t always win. Sometimes other people win. And this year, somebody else is going to win, simple as that.”
I’ve been down this road before in previous editions of Bottom of the Ninth. In fact, I titled my musings in October of 2017 “Is Failure Real?” so I understand what Giannis is saying. At that time, I would have stood in agreement with his statement. Yet, each of the famous blunders in the image above represent huge moments of failure in baseball history. Bill Buckner made an error in Game 6 of the World Series in 1986. Alex Gonzalez made an error in Game 6 of the NLCS in 2003. Umpire Jim Joyce called the runner safe in 2010, taking a perfect game away from Armando Galarraga. Umpire Don Denkinger called Jorge Orta safe in Game 6 of the World Series in 1985. These are mistakes. Baseball people call them errors. Aren’t these clear examples of failure?
My thoughts on this have changed quite a bit over the past six years. By attempting to remove the word ‘failure’ from our vocabulary like Giannis is, we’re missing something good. He’s right in that it is foolish to use championships as the measurement for success and failure. That part of the thinking I believe to be true. However, there is failure in sports. He misses shots. Those are failures. Makes are successes. The moments in the images are errors or failures. We should not be fearful of the negative connotation of a word. By seeking to remove failure, something that makes us feel bad, we’re denying the goodness of failure through verbal gymnastics. The intent is the same, but denying failure moves us away from goodness.
I haven’t shared much or to very many people about my failure as an athletic director in my short time outside of Colorado. I use that word intentionally. I failed. I could blame other people, but that would make me a victim. When I acknowledge my part in it by using this version of the ‘f-word’, I claim ownership. Did I ask appropriate questions, build the right relationships, or move at a pace that would make people more comfortable? No. I failed. Their failures are real as well and the hope would be that they learned from them. That’s moving everyone to goodness. Sports are an opportunity to move us all to goodness, sometimes (often times, maybe even every time?) through a difficult process that includes failure. That includes athletic administration as well as games.
A Biblical mindset or approach to failure leads us into some really beautiful places. Think about being a disciple of Jesus Christ during his trial, crucifixion, and death. Talk about being bombarded with failure. Here, let me follow this guy who does all of these miracles and teachings these radical things that anger people in power only to watch him be brutally killed. Sweet. What do I do with my life now? Is failure real for them in that moment? I sure think so. Imagine their conversations before the resurrection. But then imagine them afterwards. This is the model we should consider. See the failure but look forward in hope. Don’t eliminate the word. Embrace it. I have a saying on a stickie on my computer screen - “Live in the day, measure by the decade.” It makes any failure shrink in comparison to the growth over time. For the disciples of Christ, it could even be, “Live in the day, measure by the third day.”
In addition to this positive embrace of failure, I went all the way back to Bottom of the Ninth #2 in January of 2013. In that piece I repeated a simple phrase - Jesus wants our worst so we can be our best. When we’re our own saviors, we have to try to carry failure and try to give another perspective by removing the word or saying there’s no such thing. No, there is such a thing as failure, the moments that crush us. But Jesus wants to take those failures on for us so we can be our best. Let’s embrace our worst moments through faith in the One who died for all of our failures.