More Prizes To Be Taken and Glory To Be Found

For many Olympic athletes, tonight is the end of a lifetime of training and focus towards victory.  Some of them met and exceeded their own expectations, and some came up slightly short. We did have Ali Raisman win a gold medal and dedicate it to the memory of the fallen Israeli athletes of 1972 -- showing more class than the administration even attempted.  We also had Michael Phelps finish off his career in style, the women's soccer team avenging last year's World Cup loss, and the Redeem Team -- well -- redeem itself!  Not to mention, our super-amazing track & field medalists!  :)

But we also had Mackayla Maroney come so close, but just not have her best day.  And we also had Marathon Meb Keflezighi come just short of medaling behind two Kenyans (expected) and a Ugandan (huh?).  And on his way to the history books, our boy Phelps also wound up collecting two silvers and failing to medal in one event.

As I stated at the start of these Games, the honor is not actually meant for the eventual winners, but for those who competed at their best level.  So for all those who did, much respect and admiration.

But as is the case with the rest of us, life goes on after the torch is extinguished and everyone packs up and moves out of the Olympic Village.  Back to their home countries, back to their families, back to start their lives again.

(holy hole, I think I'm morphing into my parents -- this is exactly what they would tell me whenever something was over.  NO chance to post-mortem, NO review and recap, NO post-game show, NOTHING of the sort, when it was over it was OVER, stop talking about it and go to bed.)

Well, without morphing into my folks, it's better to move on from these experiences, win or lose, before they hold you back.  Yes, our Redeem Team will brag about their gold medals throughout the NBA season, much to the chagrin of their teammates from other lands.  And yes, Phelps still needs to make $$$ from his endorsement deals.  But since these games only happen every four years (every two years, counting the Winter Games), they're forced to move on to other pursuits.

And so must we.  As sports fans, we must switch gears to the pennant race in baseball (Let's Go Yan-Kees!), the start of the football season (J! E! T! S! JETS! JETS! JETS!), and training camp for hockey (Go Isles, Please Don't Move)!

In my game, once a case is over, it gets closed up.  That's not including the question of whether something can be appealed, or whether settlement negotiations are needed.  I mean when it's OVER, it's over.  It's not kept in a library for reference, it's not left in an office taking up space, it's OVER.   Taken to storage, maintained for record keeping purposes for seven years, and then shredded. 

And so it should be.  This weekend, a friend of mine posted on Facebook that he was "so detached from the past & so focused in the present moment, that it almost feels like my past was a 'past life.'"  I've blogged before about moving on, etc., but that quote indicates that the speaker no longer needs to keep reminding himself to do so.  He's already gotten his head screwed on straight, and is looking at what's on his plate in front of him, that whatever was on his place yesterday is a nearly-forgotten fantasy.  If my folks ever met this guy, they'd shake his hand just for saying that!

Obviously, our lives are going in one direction, much like athletes running a marathon or a tri -- if you turn around and go back towards the starting line, you will not finish.  Much like our athletes who did their best and came home empty-handed, now is the time to learn and reinforce the lessons learned from what happened, and not to bemoan what might have been and wasn't.  Rather than kicking yourself for zigging when you should have zagged, for choosing this move instead of the other, or not being cool and smooth enough so that pole vaulter from New Zealand would've gone on a date with you, just don't repeat whatever mistakes were made. 

Have a good night, all.  Don't forget to comment!