Life happens around the corners

Richard Sherman: Life coach or Life wizard?

Even when I'm in charge, I sometimes feel like my life isn't going like I planned it. When this happens, I'm reminded of the words of one spirited athlete, Dick Sherman:

"I'm the best corner in the game. When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that's the result you gonna get. Don't you ever talk about me."

But what if Sherman wasn't really talking about Crabtree? What if this whole Sherman-Crabtree Scenario™ was just a metaphor for a brand new way to look at life? Think I'm nuts? Let's break down that quote and then we'll see who's nuts.

"I'm..."
Solid start. Declarative. Way to put yourself out there.

"...the best corner..."
Which is the best corner? It's gotta be a right angle, right? And what's the best thing about right angles? They have two sides. Like every story (You can already tell that your mind's about to get blown, can't you/?)

"...in the game."
Sure, Sherman could have been talking about NFL football. But some philosophers have suggested that football might actually be a metaphor for life. Sound crazy? Think about it: in a football game, the players walk on grass; in life, you sometimes walk on grass. In a football game, there are four quarters; in life, you sometimes might find four quarters in your pocket. In a football game, the players play football; in life, you sometimes watch football. I literally could go on forever.

"When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that's the result you're going to get."
Classic Sherman! Slipping in that word 'try'! That rascal! I think we all remember the sage advice from an elderly green actor by the name of Tom Hanks shouting: "Do or do not! There is no trying in baseball." Or something like that. What was Crabtree's biggest mistake? He tried Richard Sherman. If he had only done or done not, maybe the game (and by game I mean life) may have come out different.

"Don't you ever talk about me."
Richard took it to the next level with this one. In the few moments that followed Sherman's comments, pundits took his advice. "If Richard Sherman doesn't want people to talk about him, then maybe we ought to honor that request," they collectively thought. But this is just another enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped inside four other enigmas. Sherman knew that no matter how hard we tried to not talk about him, we would fail.

Once again, though, the key word is try. And, as we've learned before, if you try, you're going to fail. Do or do not--that's the key, right? So, instead, the world did not didn't ever talk about him. And I think, in the process, we all learned a valuable lesson. About football. Which, if you try, you'll see is a great metaphor for life. And yes, that was a test.