September 2, 2015: The Good Failure

It was quite a way to lose on this Wednesday afternoon.  After a dramatic game tying home run, Kris Bryant made a game costing error.  Yes, Votto still hit the back breaking home run, but it was Bryant’s error with 2 outs that brought him to the plate.  Is there any such thing as a good failure?

I say yes.  Let’s start with that 30 year anniversary we are celebrating this year.  What fueled the 85 Bears to the awesome success they had?  Some may argue, and I would agree, that it was the ugly playoff loss the year before vs San Francisco.  So they had to fail before they succeeded.

What about those Chicago Bulls?  They’re a great example of this theory.  How many times did it take to get past Detroit?  How many failures did it take before they reached the promised land?  In fact Michael Jordan is one of the best examples of this himself.  The famous story of him getting cut/failing propelling him to try that much harder.  What about one of the greatest shots of all time… the Shot in Cleveland?  What preceded that you may ask… it was a missed free throw in the clutch by MJ himself in Game 4 that pushed this series to the 5th and deciding game, which brought us the famous Shot.  Or what about the loss to Orlando in 1995???  How’d that turn out in 1996?

Let’s fast forward to this recent Blackhawks team.  The year before their first Cup, they got manhandled by the Red Wings in the playoffs.  And what about the year before this most recent Cup?  Yes, the brutal, brutal loss to the Kings that fueled them this year.  I believe it.
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So what the hell is wrong with the Cubs then?  What about all the failures over the years… that hasn’t led to anything thus far.  In fact, calling something a good failure can be looked at as something losers say.  But hear me out…  Most of the recent great Cubs teams were one year wonders.  1969… one and done.  1984?  They had to wait until 1989 until they got back.  1998… yep, until 2003, one of the most epic failures.  Only in 2007 and 2008 did they make the playoffs back to back years; that is one that proves this theory false.  But here is why I think this time will be different…

It’s only the beginning with this team.  We’re all hoping this team is together for a long time, and will have many playoff runs in them.  So any of these failures, best to take place during the regular season and not the postseason, will help build this team’s character.  Although the postseason failures are the ones that seem to fuel the most, that would suggest this Cubs team will go down in a dramatic playoff loss.  If so, I will argue this fact again.  I hope not, but if this Cubs team fails, as so many before have, it may actually help them be even stronger the next year.

So the error that cost the Cubs this one is OK… it’s good to feel that pain… it’s good to fail… remember that feeling, and do everything in your power to succeed the next chance you get, whether that’s in the regular season or more importantly, the post season.  One of my favorite quotes and commercials with MJ is the one on failure.  All the missed shots, all the tough losses, all the failures, is exactly why he succeeded. “I’ve failed again and again in my life, and that is why I succeed”  Post it in the locker room Joe… and sit back and smile… I’ll argue what happened today was a good thing.  It was the good failure.