Curt Gowdy, the legendary sportscaster, once thanked Ted Williams, the legendary baseball player, for making him a better announcer. Williams respectfully scoffed at the idea, replying that he didn’t know anything about announcing.
But Gowdy explained that, No, what had improved his announcing was observing Williams’s approach to hitting, that Gowdy had been struck by Williams’s commitment to understanding the swing and then devotedly practicing it. Inspired by William’s example, Gowdy decided to approach his own profession in that way too ― carefully studying and extensively practicing ― and thereby became great at what he did.
Watching top athletes sometimes inspires me similarly. For example, I recently had the opportunity to attend a tennis match between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, two of the best ever at their sport. Something about seeing them in person illuminated even more what it must have taken for them to become so good: the learning, practice, dedication, struggle. In other words, what it must have taken for them to “produce” such a performance.
Of course, their “production” involved nothing we normally think of as production, nothing tangibly useful. For instance, nothing to wear, eat, or inhabit. In fact, what they are skilled at, like all athletes, could be described not only as impractical, but almost as silly. After all, What could be the value of watching grown men or women hit balls into arbitrarily drawn boxes (tennis) or into tiny holes (golf) or over fences (baseball)?
But perhaps at least one value becomes evident each time someone, like me or Curt Gowdy, gets inspired to produce whatever he or she produces even better, because of the likes of those who do compete professionally at those silly games. What’s inspirational is the presence of two facts. One, what was required of them to become so good. And two, the fact that it worked ― that all that effort resulted in the great skill they exhibit.
Because if it worked for them, maybe it can work for us. At least to the best level we are capable of.
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