Apollo's Creed

I am an eternal optimist.

A stoic one.

I believe in asking: 

"What does this make possible?"

Sometimes finding a silver lining in a dark cloud more rewarding than a solar flare off a golden sun.

Does that make sense?

For every financial win, there is a tax.

For every loss, an accumulation of wisdom.

The night after the Big Game (ugh), half of the people involved are in misery.

For many on that side of the ball, this is the closest they will get to winning it all in the game of football.

Some will see it as a tragedy. But it's not.

It's just a game.

The interesting thing about interviewing folks who win the big games, a lot of them are ecstatic. As they should be.

Elated.

But the thing I learned is that the superstars, the leaders, they generally aren't.

They are happy, sure.

Thankful, certainly.

But the emotion you hear, over and over again, is a simple one:

Relief.

They can exhale, now.

They can mark this off their to-do list.

They have done it.

Now the really crazy ones say, "On to the next one..." and get to work.

But that's a rarity in an already all-too-rare population.

For you see, there are superstars, there are leaders, and then there are champions.

I leave it to you as to decide which you look up to, which you aim for, and who you want to be.

Just promise me, whatever you do, if you own a championship belt, leave it at home.

Unless of course, you are defending it.

Oh, and you're always defending it, Champ.

"You know, Stallion.

It's too bad we gotta get old."

"Ahh, just keep punching, Apollo.

You wanna ring the bell?"

"Alright, ding ding."

Keep punching, my friends.

Keep punching my enemies.