Revision for Failure

One game. Away at Wilton. We had been there for hours because of a rain delay, which of course made us want to win even more on top of the rivalry.  This game was big. They scheduled us for their senior night (you always schedule a team you think you will beat for senior night) and that only fed our desire to beat these cocky opponents. The game was a great one to watch. Back and forth the whole way, we eventually made our way to the fourth quarter. Although we were losing the whole game, we fought our way back and scored 5 unanswered goals in the third and most of the fourth quarter to take the lead.

I remember the feeling like it happened yesterday. The first time a scrawny sophomore was in a big game with a big rival. This was the first time I felt the fire inside me of wanting the WIN. I usually just went with the team as they got fired up and just went through the motions, but this time, it was real.

We had possession with about 45 seconds left in the game. I had already scored three goals and had a couple of assists that game, so I was feeling very high and mighty. Chris swings the ball around to me, and they immediately send a double team to force the turnover and give their team a chance. In the top right corner of the box, I am being hammered by two senior long poles, and I finally am able to escape. I get through, run to the net--with no slide in sight-- and take the shot. The goalie saved the ball, sent it down the field to one of the defenders that was previously trying to hack me into the ground, and he was off. It seemed like the longest play of my life as I watched the defender run down and pass the ball off to the attackman who absolutely sniped the top left corner of the goal to tie the game just as the clock expired. I felt like I had just thrown the interception to lose the Super Bowl.

This is one of the times in my career that I honestly felt that I messed up so badly and actually let down all of my teammates. I made the complete wrong decision, and I was selfish. I had scored so often that game and played so well that I wanted to wow our fans and silence theirs with one play and make them all say, “Who is that number six???” I made the play for me, and let my teammates down. Had Chris not made an amazing  life-saving shot in the overtime, I would have felt even more demoralized. The right decision for me to make would have been to just run away from the double team and passed it off to one of my teammates as we ran down the last 45 seconds or so. Or I should have split the defenders like I did and ran to open space and wait for the clock to run out. Both of those options would have won us the game, but neither of them were the path I chose.

I really cannot even describe why I decided to make this play. Looking back, it seems to have been caused by my lack of experience in the big games, and my lack of knowledge for the game. This of course did not sit well with me, so I began to watch film every day and asked a million questions of my coach to fully understand the game I was playing. I will not be put in a situation on the lacrosse field where I am not sure what to do ever again, and this failure was the reason why.

Failure

Last year was a tough year for me on the lacrosse team. Even though I was starting for our varsity team, I did not feel like I was good enough to play with the other kids at that level. It was extremely intimidating, and actually pretty frightening. I was a stick who got injured every other game because I grew so much and my body was not ready for the development. 

I specifically remember one game, at Wilton, where I considered myself to have failed. Yes, we won in over time, and yes, I had three goals and an assists, but I cannot help to look back at that game as a failure. This is the reason why:

There were about 45 seconds left in the game, and we have the ball up by one goal. Chris swings the ball around and it gets to me on the outside, and the Warriors begin pressuring me with two long poles to take the ball from me. I was so far out that I knew if I got past these two defenders, I could get to the goal and take a good shot. The truth was, no shot at that point was a good shot. I was selfish and I split the defenders, went to the goal and the goalie saved it. He passed to one of the defenders that was on me and he ran all the way down and scored. This pushed the game into over time, where even  though we won, did not sit well with me on the bus back. I felt as if I failed my team, and if I was not bailed out by an amazing play by our offense, I would have the rest of the team adding to my self-guilt.

The reason I failed was because of my ego and my mind telling me to score the goal to put the game away and be the hero. This was not at all the right play to make. What I should have done is passed the ball off to the next man and helped my team run the clock out so we could win right there. My awareness was not at the level it needed to be at, leading to my failure. 

After this game, I went home and watched a ton of film of full games, talked with my coach and my brother who are always the ones I go to about issues with the game, and I made sure that in every game I played after this I did whatever was necessary for the team to win, because that should always be the ultimate goal. This failure turned me into a selfless player no longer looking to make the highlight play, but rather make the play that gets the job done. 

What's a Phineas?

For this assignment, I decided to take advantage of one of my teacher's examples and watch a ton of Phineas and Ferb over vacation (and I am happy to say I haven't slowed down as school starts again). Aside from plainly being entertained, I was able to learn a lot about the cartoon industry, and particularly about their message towards the children.

A very big part of television is how the writers portray the characters when it comes to social status and style of living. In Phineas and Ferb, there are people of different social classes, but there is no way the audience can tell based on money or struggle. The way the writers tell us about the social class is through the personalities. For example, Buford seems like a troubled kid. He is a good kid, but a bit of a bully. He is not as smart as the other characters, and definitely comes from a different style of living. He wears different clothes, talks differently, and has different intentions (particularly not too nice ones). Of course, this is not consistent throughout every episode, as the writers need to switch it up and make him the nice one in certain episodes. But in general, it is obvious to the audience that he comes from a different life than Phineas or Ferb, and especially Beljeet. Beljeet is an interesting case in this show as well. He appears to come from an Indian family, and is definitely made out to be the most book smart and studious of the bunch. However, he is not the most social, and would not be considered the "coolest." But the great thing about this show is how the writers take all of these characters with complete positive and negative traits, and make them all get along. This is simply showing the audience that it is okay to be different, because you will find your friends that you get along with, and you will be accepted.

This particular show has an interesting way of showing success. The way the writers attempt to show success is through creativity, but it must be reinforced by good intentions. For example, Phineas and Ferb are without a doubt incredibly creative, and they have great intentions, which is why they never get into trouble and have a great time in every episode. On the other hand, Candace shows very little creativity, and has bad intentions (to expose her little brothers to their mom and get them in trouble). Again, this is not the case in every episode. In one episode I watched, Candace realized that trying to get them caught was not necessary this time, and maybe it would be a good idea to work with them instead of against them. Out of all of the episodes, this is the one I would point out Candace to be most successful, because she was able to let go of her bad intentions and just have a good time. On another side of the show, Dr. Doofenshmirtz (I'll just call him Doof) rarely ever sees success. He has every bit of creativity as Phineas and Ferb, but he makes it clear in every episode that he has a bad intention. This is why we always see Doof as the bad guy, and he always ends up losing at the end of the episode. Maybe if he would stop trying to take over the Tri-State Area, Doof would actually be successful and happy, like Phineas and Ferb.