Sports is a metaphor for overcoming obstacles and achieving against great odds. Athletes, in times of difficulty, can be important role models.
Behind all the years of practice and all the hours of glory waits that inexorable terror of living without the game.
There has never been a great athlete who died not knowing what pain is.
When the playing is over, one can sense that one's youth has been spent playing a game, and now both the game and youth are gone.
