Sports, Pride, and Life

When asked what he would do if he won the British Open, Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke responded frankly, "I won't be sober for a month!"

How Can You Root Against this Guy?

Stock the bar.

The 42 year-old Clarke, lover of fine wine, cigars and fast cars, had a mantra going into the week; "Don't let your golf game determine your attitude, let your attitude determine your golf game."

Sounds easy, but to someone who lost his wife five years ago to cancer and last contended in a major a decade ago, Clarke wasn't just contending with the wind and rain at Royal St. George's Golf Links.  Clarke was teaching us perseverance.

He held the lead after the first two rounds.  But for someone with so much on the line, Clarke never stopped smiling, joking, and interacting with the crowd, even silencing their cheers so that his playing partners could play their shots in silence. Darren Clarke was teaching us how to win with class.

"Bad times in golf are more frequent than the good times," he said. "I've always been pretty hard on myself when I fail because I don't find it very easy to accept that. And there's times I've been completely and utterly fed up with the game."

The advice from friends & family were always the same.

"Get out there and practice and keep going, keep going, keep going," Clarke said. "And that's why I'm sitting here now."

So how will the British Open victory change Darren Clarke? It won't.  

"I'm a bit of a normal bloke, aren't I?" Clarke said.  "I like to go to the pub and have a pint, fly home, buy everybody a drink, just normal. There's not many airs and graces about me. I was a little bit more difficult to deal with in my earlier years, and I've mellowed some. Just a little bit. But I'm just a normal guy playing golf, having a bit of fun."

I think his "fun" might've determined his fate.

The Thrill of Victory is always balanced by the Agony of Defeat 

"Don't give up. Don't ever, ever give up."

-Jim Valvano, NC State Championship Basketball Coach and founder of Jimmy V. Cancer Foundation

The USA Women's World Cup team had given it's fans the ultimate script.  Fight tooth and nail, scratch and claw, see your future, be your future.  They won in dominating fashion early in the tournament, and fought their way into the finals with one of the most inspiring victories over Brazil [and the officials] playing a woman-down for over 45 minutes, yet finding a way to get to penalty kicks and beat 'Goliath'.

Choke Solo

You don't win titles in semi-finals.

The USA dominated the first half in yesterday's final.  They could've been up 3-4 goals in the first 20 minutes of play, but they forced the issue.  They were bigger, faster, and stronger than Japan, but instead of exercising patience and utilizing their advantageous skill sets, they were sloppy.  Physically, they overwhelmed the Japanese. 

Don't underestimate pride. 

Japan was focused, tenacious, and determined. Homare Sawa, Japan's captain and the leading goal-scorer, said, "I want to inspire courage in our country with our play."  

For a country coming off some horrific natural disasters, those are fighting words. And Japan fought hard. Coming back TWICE, once in regulation and again in extra time. The USA had a chance to put away an opponent early and they didn't do it.  In sports, if you let the underdog hang around, you give them the confidence needed for an upset. 

If Sunday showed us anything, it's that obstacles are always there, people are always speculating and criticizing, and the only thing you can control is your attitude, determination, and tenacity. 

How far do you want to go?