Quote: Rob Kamphausen said: whether its the donnie baseball work ethic, curt schilling's bloody sock, the gippers... uh... gipping, rudy's solitary play, or any other mythical figure, inspiration is ginormous.
Gipp's famous quote, while super nifty sounding, is apocryphal, so really, the only inspiring thing any of us know he actually did was...well, die.
The bloody sock...Schilling won that game(a close game) himself, through his tangible ability. If he doesn't throw a great game, Boston loses the series, and he goes home, bloody sock and all. Now, I know everyone likes to say that it inspired the team to win game 7 and then sweep the Cardinals(which might even be true), but how many times has a terrific, amazing performance ostensibly worthy of inspiring others...not?
For example, last year's NLDS. John Smoltz, with a shoulder so stiff he could barely raise his arm above his head, throws seven innings of one run baseball, beating Roger Clemens. Sure, there was no blood, but that sounds pretty inspirational to me. It was the only game the Braves won.
So, I guess, it would seem inspiration is only as good as the people you're inspiring.
Quote: PJP said: I respectfully disagree....I played competitive sports my whole life and there were times I was one of the best guys on the team and knew I had to lead by example....and there were times where I played with some people way better than me that pushed me harder and made me want to practice harder and play better....plus there was always a friendly competition amongst teammates that would make us always push each other.
With respect, I think your sports experience is a bit different than that of a professional athlete the caliber of Jeter, A-Rod, etc.
I played high school basketball, but the kinds of personalities, motivations, abilities in the NBA are, obviously, different.
