Sunday, September 3
Reflection on the meaning of a game...
When I was 11 years old…I moved from the tiny town of Staunton, Indiana to the ‘booming metropolis’ of Terre Haute.It was a tough move. Starting 7th grade was hard enough, but to do it in a new place, knowing no one, was extremely difficult. Basically, one thing got me through and delivered me to the other side…tennis.
My parents had to find something to keep me from wallowing in my sorrow everyday after school, and for some reason tennis was it. I had never played before in my life, but there were four tennis courts just about 300 yards from our house and that September of my 11th year my parents bought me a cheap wooden racket and convinced me to try.
And now, 30+ years later, after playing in Junior High and High School having the greatest summer job in the world throughout college (teaching tennis to kids six hours a day on those same four courts) I was reflecting on how important tennis has been in my life. (Boy, do I sound pitiful or what…)
Because today I sat and watched Andre Agassi’s last match. It was incredible. The energy and passion of the NYC crowd there at the US Open, Agassi battling the pain of an injured back, the emotion immediately after the match as Agassi cried and cried, (I wept too, but I stopped when my daughter started making fun of me)
Before he left the court for the locker room Agassi spoke to the crowd. After two, halting attempts to find his vocal chords, he began in a voice choked with emotion, "The scoreboard said I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn't say is what it is I have found. And over the last 21 years, I have found loyalty. You have pulled for me on the court and also in life. I've found inspiration. You have willed me to succeed, sometimes even in my lowest moments. And I've found generosity. You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams, dreams I could have never reached without you. Over the last 21 years, I have found you and I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life. Thank you."
I don’t think there’s anything necessarily ‘spiritually’ about any of this…but I might be wrong.
Mark Nelson at 10:14 PM 7comments
7 Comments
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at 3:41 PM
bill said... that was a really powerful moment. unfortunately i had to catch it later on espn because i was out on the disc golf course again yesterday afternoon.
also...
ha ha. megan made fun of you for crying. she rules.-
at 7:28 PM
truevyne said...
Maybe it's because I'm not terribly interested in tennis, but I found Ag's words to be rather sad. He was addressing fans, and well, wouldn't those be people he doesn't really know who followed his excellent GAME?
If his words had been about making a positive difference in the lives of other somehow, I'd be with you. So maybe you can elaborate.-
at 12:15 AM
Nicole said...
Agassi has had an excellent career. I don't know if he intended to be spiritually, but to me anything that has to do with change and loss is sacred ground where God tends to be most often.
The bittersweet moments are often the most spiritual. One can definitely see Agassi's own changes in his life as his career progressed from the curly haired maverick of the past couple of decades...-
at 7:10 AM
Mark Nelson said...
Truevyne...
I think a lot of my appreciation for Agassi's comments has to do with 'who has become' (much of what Nicole alluded to in the above comment). He went from an 'image is everything' guy to someone who learned to live beyond himself as a husband, father, and incredible community focused person in his home of Las Vegas (He's given millions and millions of dollars to kid's programs)
Also, I appreciated his words to the fans because the thing about NYC fans is that there is always some kind of deeper connection that players have with the fans there, and I thnk he was trying to express it...
Some people have equated this short speech to the famous Lou Gehrig "luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech...
Hope some of that makes sense...-
at 9:25 AM
said... Who decides what's spiritual, anyway? Connotationally, we tend to mean when something is experienced while we are thinking about God or intending to think about God, it's spiritual. But fortunately for all of us, the Spirit is constantly at work whether we are bothering to be conscious of Him or not. Like our heart pounding away, keeping all of the body oxygenized, while our head is asleep. I think the Spirit grabs the microphone all the time and offers helpful--and perplexing--words, even when the person who's inhabiting the podium at that moment is not intending to say anything spiritual. It's all in how, and what, we receive.
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at 12:49 PM
The Adkins Family said...
I think Monica Seles said it best when she said:
"Ahhhhh IIIIIIiiiieeeeeee"
Touching.-
at 12:50 PM
said...
I totally cried. I've cried at several retirements. I'm not totally sure of all the reasons why, but I know I hurt when those I follow leave the game.
Agassi was always the one I pulled for...even against Sampras, who I really liked. Jordan's first AND second retirement...but not the third.
I loved Nicole's comment, by the way.
Watching Agassi grow into someone almost entirely different was something. I remember him winning his first Wimbledon, which I think was also his first slam, and he fell to the ground in a moment of sheer emotion. I could tell something started to change in him that day.