But I think soccer players are more instinctively prone to cannibalism than the athletes of other sports.

There is an older gentleman at the bar; small, frail, but his eyes still have light.

Over the last several years life has thrown him a lot of brushback pitches. His retirement savings were ruined in identity theft; a death in the family brought him money. He has had a heart attack, and two rounds of cancer: small, frail, but still going strong, considering.

He attributes it to keeping a positive attitude. Which seems a pretty good reason to keep a positive attitude. He is easy with a laugh. A kind word. And loves his Seattle Mariners.

A few people at the bar who do not naturally come by a positive attitude have said it is easy to have a positive attitude after you survive those things. Because: you survived.

I will not argue against the idea that surviving adversity might indeed cause a positive attitude. But I will also not argue against the idea that a positive attitude might help someone surmount adversity. I think I got the syntax there lined up right; if not, I think you know what I am trying to say.

It is, of course, the water glass that is half-empty or half-full. But perhaps more apt is the chicken or the egg: the chicken has reason to be pessimistic, but it still lays eggs. Yeah: I'm not sure if that sentence actually captures what I am trying to say with it, either: again, I hopefully think you know what I am trying to say.

I will say with more clarity that his being a Mariners fan is a sure sign of keeping a positive attitude, despite all sporting evidence to the contrary. But it is context, of course: you can be a bad baseball team, or you can be the baseball team on the plane that crashes into the mountain. In the Andes. And you have to resort to cannibalism to survive.

I know: those were soccer players. But I think soccer players are more instinctively prone to cannibalism than the athletes of other sports. I know, I know: it is only a theory. But the facts that exist do not disprove it.



- james james

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