Mararthons

 

Go The Distance

And I won't look back, I can go the distance
And I'll stay on track, no I won't accept defeat
It's an uphill slope
But I won't loose hope, 'till I go the distance
And my journey is complete, oh yeah

Is going the distance winning? or an initiation?

If you have any interest in marathons, e.g. the Boston Marathon, can you tell me the winner of the most recent Marathon? I bet you can’t. But I bet that you will be able to tell me those who you know that completed that marathon, i.e. went the distance. That is because a marathon is not a single race. A marathon is an initiation, a rite, a ritual, as much as a Bar Mitzvah. The podium positions do not matter as much as knowing who completed the marathon, …went the distance. That is why there are thousands of entrants for a major marathon. There may be only one winner but winning is NOT the point. Going the distance, completing the marathon, is the point.

That is also why a baseball season is called a marathon, not a sprint. Moonlight Graham, in real life and in the movie Field of Dreams, or Roy Gleason of the 1963 Los Angles Dodgers, are considered to be major league players. Moonlight Graham had a single plate appearance and hit. In the movie his pain was eased because he became a marvelous doctor and saved the protagonist’s daughter. Roy Gleason played for the Dodgers and after a single plate appearance and hit, he was drafted and sent to Viet Nam where he was awarded the Purple Heart. They both went the distance and were initiated as major leaguers, even though they only stayed for the proverbial cup of coffee. They may not have been elected to Cooperstown, but they went the distance. Winning is not everything, playing the game the right way is. Fans didn’t follow the Cubs or Red Sox during their respective decades long droughts only because they expected to see a winner, although as a Red Sox fan the 2004 season was sweet! But I was in the stands before 2004 because I saw players who went the distance.

The playoffs are nice, and making the playoffs is exciting, but the playoffs are more important to the owner’s ego than to the hardcore fans. To borrow a phase, it is not whether you win or lose but how you play the game…. go the distance. Second place is not first loser. Second place, and every position including last place, still went the distance.