Sometimes not losing is a victory
I highly recommend watching a documentary called “Harvard Beats Yale 29–29.” If you haven’t seen it, I just checked and if you search for it on YouTube, it’s available in its entirety.
The crux of the story is that the Harvard and Yale football teams were both undefeated in the 1968 football season. Yale was at the time in the national rankings, and was heavily favored to beat Harvard, in spite of the fact that Harvard was undefeated. To cut to the Chase, Harvard was down by 13 points – 29-16 – with less than two minutes to play, but rallied to score 2 touchdowns in 40 seconds. I guess they missed an extra point or something, because that was the final score, 29–29.
A tie. No team could claim a victory, at least according to the final score.
The day after the game, the student newspaper Harvard Crimson ran the headline “Harvard Beats Yale, 29–29.” The Harvard student newspaper has obvious bias in favor of their team, but you can see the logic, even the wisdom in running such a headline.
Yale was expected to humble their arch nemesis, to finally put a well-deserved loss in their season record. And until two minutes remained on the game clock, it appeared they were going to do just that. But Harvard decided they weren’t going to quit, and even though the score was tied, and neither team officially won the game, Harvard clearly came out on top.
How is this possible?
Rather than a W, Yale had to settle for a T meaning, Tie. Clearly a loss for them, and considering the circumstances, and how bleak the situation looked late in the game, a win for Harvard.
It reminds me of something a mentor of mine told me years ago, and that is sometimes not losing is its own victory. There are times that we undertake things in our lives, have goals that we want to achieve, and everyone thinks we’re crazy. They think it’s just a matter of time before we sputter and fall, that the harsh realities of life finally get the best of us.
The story of David and Goliath from the Bible is the classic underdog tale. One young man armed with just a slingshot defeats the mighty Goliath, a descendent of the Nephilim peoples from when fallen angels copulated with human women.
According to that story, David was the winner, Goliath the loser. No ambiguity there.
But sometimes our victories in life aren’t as clear cut as that story, as romantic as it may sound. Sometimes simply not losing a battle in which everyone predicts we’ll get slaughtered is its own victory. It could be a business endeavor, a legal matter, maybe even getting out of bed in the morning.
Sometimes it just feels good to not lose in this world in which the deck is stacked against us little guys 🙂
James D. (don’t quit) Newcomb
P.S. There have been a lot of things going on in my personal life that have required my full attention, and sadly these emails fell by the wayside. But I am getting back on track, and you’ll be hearing more from me very soon. In the meantime, if you want to get caught up on some of the things that I have been publishing as of late, you can do so at this page I’ve created on my website.