Get it Back

Getting it back. It's amazing to watch someone work at something for so long, achieve it, and then lose it.

Athletes are prime examples of this. Its hard for us to imagine just how much time and effort an athlete puts into his or her sport. From the age of 7 or younger, some have given every day to their dream. Whether its playing for the New York Yankees, standing over a 4 foot put at Augusta, or playing a cross court winner on Center Court at Wimbledon. A few, very few, find themselves actually in those positions. Zach Johnson, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, all of a sudden found himself dueling Tiger Woods on the back nine of The Masters, and won!

But I'm particularyl fascinated by, and I'm not sure I'm proud to write this, by those athletes, and other professionals actually, who achieve their dream...then lose it.

Greg Norman, twice led the Masters late- let it slip through his fingers, and never made it back to the stage again. All-Star baseball players like Chuck Knoblauch and Steve Sax, actually at one point in their careers struggled to even throw the ball from 2nd base to 1st base. What happened?

What happened to Brad Lidge? All-Star closer for the Houston Astros, who for 3 seasons straight was as dominant a closer the majors had ever seen. And then, on one night in October, against the rival St. Louis Cardinals, Lidge gave up a game winning bomb to the great Albert Pujols, that I still believe, landed in the Gulf of Mexico. Ever since then, he's lost it. What happened? Did he become less talented? Did he lose his confidence? What does that even mean as an athlete? Don't all professional athletes have confidence? They are professionals...

And then it begins. Getting it back. None of those guys just stopped playing. They all tried, and in Lidge's case, are trying to get back. Get back whatever left them.

I heard Lidge today on the Dan Patrick Show, and to his credit, he gave a very candid interview, not shying away from anything. And the remarkable thing was- he has no clue what happened. Suddenly his 98 mph fastball, now clocks out at 92. In what seemed like an instant, his devastating splitter now looks like a Tim Wakefield fastball. Doubt crept in, teamates seem more distant, and the man who used to shut 9th inning leads, now pitches in the 5th inning, down 6 runs...

I cheer for Brad Lidge. If I was old enough, I would have cheered for the Shark.

Athletes aren't the only ones who feel this though. We all experience it to some degree. Some area in our life begins to slip. Be it our health, relationships, skills. Things change and we wonder, can I ever get it back. Doubt creeps in and self-confidence erodes. There has to be hope though. There has to be someone who tells you, you can get it back.

When we lose it- often we don't even know why-
but we don't quit -
We just try to get it back.