JLS

That's what learning is, after all; not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we've changed because of it and what we take away from it that we never had before, to apply to other games. Losing, in a curious way, is winning. RICHARD BACH, The Bridge Across Forever


I have always liked this quote. Almost as much as I appreciate all of Mr. Bach's work. It's what we take away from the game, race, event, session that we can then apply towards the perfection of the next game, race, event or session. Learning the lessons of losing.

To get better, to evolve, to turn losing into winning.

Have you won every time you played? Nobody has. How do we get better? Paying attention to the elements that contributed to our losing. And changing them.

There is a very interesting situation currently taking place in Seattle that perfectly illustrates this paradox. It is known as "The Jake Locker Syndrome". In case you don't know, Jake is a fifth year QB at the University of Washington. He turned down a million-dollar contract to return to the Dub for his senior season. This after four tumultuous, painful, injury-plagued years, including the ignominy of a 0-12 season in 2008. For the sake of an accurate accounting, Jake broke his thumb in game four that year against this week's foe Stanford, so he wasn't entirely responsible for that debacle. Jake is also an outstanding student, role model, community organizer and baseball player. Heck, the Angels gave him 60K just for his hardball rights.

But the Huskies keep losing games. Football, especially at the D-1 level, is a team game. There are 10 other guys out there on offense with him on every play. And eleven guys on the other side of the ball in different colored uniforms that know if they take Jake out, their chances of winning are dramatically enhanced.

Yet despite his phenomenal tools, leadership and will, Jake can't get his team into the W column consistently. Yes, there have been stunning victories, including USC twice, but no bowl games, no winning records and no return to the glory days of the UW.

Still, he presses forward, battered, bruised and beaten. With the firm belief that Saturday will be the stage where he and his teammates demonstrate the collective acumen that only this type of education can provide. The lessons are painful, the tests brutal.

Until losing becomes winning.