Waiting To Shine

It's strange, when you look back at some of the great works that have been created, whether it be musical, visual, or written, how often the grand scale of the piece isn't understood until many generations later. I mention this oddity since Mandi and I went to see Georges Bizet's opera Carmen yesterday at the Tennessee Theater (which by the way is an amazing building once you get inside). The opera was debuted in 1875 to which is was roundly criticized and considered an utter failure. Bizet, after attending the debut and seeing the poor showing, became ill shortly after, and died within a few months of the opening. It was unfortunate that he would not see any of the success of this opera as it has now become one of the most popular operas of all time.

The story involves Carmen, a gypsy girl who seduces a corporal of the local army. The corporal deserts for the woman, and eventually is tossed aside for another man. In his jealous rage, he kills Carmen, and then himself. Of course, this all happens while another woman is pledged to be married to him. Basically, it's the essential set-up for most any opera story. At least, any of them that I've seen. The production that Mandi and I saw last night was very impressive and well done. In the liner notes of the program, the director noted that they had gone back to the original version of the opera. What this meant, was that later additions to the score and story by other composers were taken out, resulting in what Bizet had originally composed. Personally, I can't understand why there would have been additions to the opera in the first place that would be accepted as the true work of Bizet...but that's just me. All in all though, it was quite enjoyable. And speaking of operas, I guess I have the memory of the time when I went with Chris Morton and a few of his girl friends, Josh, and his "date" Paul. I think Paul probably wanted to kill himself for the majority of the 3 hours in the theater, and Josh's greatest moment of the night was getting photographed in front of Wang's. He's probably still got that picture laying around somewhere...

There aren't a lot of things that frustrate me more in sports than a team that doesn't show intensity or desire to perform well. That is my problem that I'm having right now with the middle school team, and I don't entirely know how to change their attitude. Both our A and B teams have not shown intensity or desire for the past few games, and it's really grating on my nerves. Essentially what happens is this. They show up late to the warm up for the game (which I know isn't entirely their fault), but then they kinda meander around instead of hustling to get in with the warm-up. They then proceed to do nothing besides talk, tell jokes, shove each other around and basically disrupt any semblance of getting ready for a game. Then the game starts, their heads aren't in the right place, and after about 10 minutes they concede a goal. After that, they just quit playing, and go on to lose 4, 5, 6 to nothing.

Now, in soccer you will get goals scored on you, just like in football you'll have touchdowns scored on you, or you'll get beaten on a lay-out for the frisbee, or you'll have someone out-sprint your throw to first base. OK, maybe that last one won't happen, but I think you've got the idea. You can just guarantee that those things will happen if you play the sport for more than 5 minutes. The big thing in sports is how do you bounce back from that? Do you simply throw in the towel, assume that each and every time that can happen you'll lose, and just walk off the field? Or do you pick your head up, and show them that you've got what it takes to get it back? Guys like Justin Bland and Paul always impressed me on the frisbee field because they gave everything all the time. It didn't matter if we were dominating or getting dominated. You're out there to prove to yourself that you've got what it takes to be the best that you have the potential to be. There's pride and desire to do well with the abilities and talents given to them. When you just give up and throw in the towel, where's the desire to do the best that you can and to show to nobody but yourself that you can do well? What are you waiting for?