The beauty in the agony of defeat

My life in 23 years has not been unlike anyone else in the world. I have experienced highs and lows. I have loved, and I have had my heart broken. I have been rewarded, and I have faced consequences.

I have won, and I have lost. The one constant is that those ups and downs usually tie into my sports teams.

I remember the elation I felt when Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks won the 2011 NBA championship. Then, five months later the agony kicked in when the Texas Rangers fell to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

Even here in Aledo, I remember an 11-year stretch while I was growing up that the Aledo Bearcats football team continued to fall short of a state championship and the sadness felt with it. Then in 2008 the Aledo Ladycats softball team won its first state title behind famed pitcher Whitney Canion. A year later, a particular running back named Johnathan Gray burst onto the scene, and an era of dominance had started across Aledo High School.

Growing up in that time, and experiencing it in high school myself, has definitely shaped who I am. I expect to win, and I hate losing, as is the same for almost all athletes from this town.

When that becomes the case, sometimes I’m in danger of forgetting how to lose. Thankfully, I experience small failures day-by-day that keep me in check, but it does not make it any easier. However, I like to look back to the 2010-11 Texas Rangers. In the two years of disappointment from losing the World Series, what we forget to remember is the road that got us there.

When I remember that the football team won its 100th consecutive district game, the wrestling team had a district champion in its first year of existence, and a baseball pitcher threw a no-hitter just hours before a softball pitcher threw one, I cannot help but smile.

I do wish I could have covered an unprecedented sports year for Aledo High School that involved multiple state championships. But I would not trade the memories made, the friendships forged, or the laughs shared to have that season.

Many of you have reached out to me over the past few weeks, thanking me for my coverage. Really it should be me thanking you for your kindness, generosity, and friendship. While there are too many to name specifically, you all know who you are and I will cherish those memories made. Each one means more to me than I can express in this column.

That’s the beauty of sports. People are brought together for something they enjoy, whether as players, coaches or spectators. Emotions run high sometimes, and we don’t always get the outcomes we want. Even in that dreaded agony of defeat, the beauty is there when we remember the road, and each of those memories on and off the battlefield that led up to the finale.

As the curtain falls and we prepare to move on to 2022-23, I remember the road and smile knowing that the memories will be with me for the rest of my life.