Becky's Blog: Art Imitating Life

By Becky Sauerbrunn

When asked to name great sports films people usually go with Hoosiers, Miracle, Rocky, The Natural, etc. What endears these films to us is the way these athletes overcome obstacles in order to become champions. We have this mentality in America where the underdog or “Cinderella story” victory carries so much more emotional weight. Who didn't choke back tears when Rocky stuns the world by defeating the scientifically-enhanced Russian while somehow bringing peace between two rival nations? It's movie magic.

We also love these films because they translate into our own lives. In college I saw people do Tiger Woods-esque fist pumps when they got a decent grade on a test they somehow forgot to study for. I've seen butt slaps and high fives when simple handshakes would have sufficed. These sports films have incorporated themselves into our lives. As an athlete, it's even easier to translate these films into my profession. It has got to the point where I watch any movie, sports or not, and can't help but think of soccer.

So I'm watching a movie one day after training a couple of weeks ago. It's a science-fiction flick about genetic discrimination and this one man's battle to achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut despite a failing heart (please continue to read, I have a point). Vincent seems doomed to fail. Even his Father tells him the only way he will see the inside of a space shuttle is if he is cleaning one. It doesn't help that his brother, Anton, is a genetic wonder child either. These brothers are set on opposite ends of the success spectrum. Although Anton is scientifically created to succeed in life, Vincent's determination and sacrifice lead him to his goal. The tagline for this film, although slightly corny, sums it up perfectly-- “there is no gene for the human spirit.”

My favorite scene from this movie involves a game Vincent and Anton play with one another late in the film. Anton has become a detective and discovers that his brother is using another person's identity and DNA to become an astronaut. Anton is dumbfounded that his inferior brother has done better with his life than he with his. He needs to prove himself the better man. They see who can swim out into the sea the farthest before one gets scared and swims back. Vincent, set up to fail, actually swims farther and must save his drowning brother. This is their dialog:

Anton – How are you doing this? Any of this?

Vincent - You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton: I never saved anything for the swim back.

I truly believe that last line is the best sports line in film. And it doesn't come from a sports film. If anything, it comes from a genre further removed from sports than most other genres. But this line captures everything it means to be a successful athlete. When people ask elite athletes how they get so good, every answer somehow comes back to this point. You must put everything into achieving your dream: the extra training, the missed dances and graduations, the relentless effort and drive, and the resiliency to get back up after you fall. And what I have found is that the underdogs who eventually triumph have this mentality. This “all in” attitude that either ends in the bitterest of defeats or the absolute elation of victory.

But not everyone is set up to fail. We are given opportunities or gifts that are not given to others. It is how we use these opportunities and gifts that divide the great from the mediocre. It doesn't hurt, though, to sometimes think of yourself as the underdog. Those who make the most out of what is given to them are the ones who succeed in life, even if they are not the ones who are hoisting the championship trophy in the end.