“Have a little faith…”
Dateline: Waddington, NY
“It was complete and utter destruction.”
~ Shaw Grigsby
“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
~ Vince Lombardi
He is, the bird who flew, into the sliding glass door.
The bird, not hurt, but who just sits stunned on your porch.
The motionless bird, feathers ruffled, wings askew.
Vulnerable.
Questioning.
Confused.
He is, the bird who flew, into the sliding glass door.
He is, Shaw Grigsby.
“…when the walls cave in.”
Shaw sits alone in a Bass boat under a tree, he is eating green grapes but I know, he doesn’t taste a single one, he’s on auto-pilot out there.
One grape after another, constant motion, grape, chew, grape, chew.
It ain’t about hunger.
It ain’t about grapes.
It’s about the movie only he can see, the day 2 Friday matinee playing in his head.
“db, it was nothing but failure.”
Here’s the Cliffs Notes gamer story of Shaw’s St. Lawrence River tourney:
On day 1 he was leading the tournament.
On day 2 he was out of the tournament.
5 fish day 1, 2 fish day 2, from 1st place to 76th in 24 hours.
5 + 2 = 76.
“…pray for strength…”
“Painful “dee,” just painful, I don’t think I choked, don’t think…”
This is not an interview I’m doing, this is two friends talking. When I’m on the road with the Elites I room with Shaw and Paul Elias, been that way for maybe 4 years now, we are friends, friends, if he told me our talk was just between us, trust me, you’d be reading some other story right now.
We are sitting at a dinning room table, Shaw at one end, me on the other, between us my open laptop…on the screen in front of me I see Shaw holding up a couple fish with the headline “Grigsby Grabs Lead.”
Grigsby Grabs Lead…and yet he sits at the oak table with me, out of the game.
“I had this unbelievable spot, I tried everything, changed lines, lures, the fish were there I just couldn’t catch them…”
Then…
“It’s just me, I broke off and broke off and broke off, it’s just me.”
Trust me, this isn’t about the fish.
As we sit at the table, txt message after txt message beeps on Shaw’s phone, at each beep he looks down at the phone, reads the message and looks up at me and says, “That’s nice what they wrote but I have no idea how to respond to it.”
I sit, watch, wait for the bird to shake off the door, I watch his finger scroll and scroll, I know what he’s doing…Elite Math.
“Eight pounds dee, if I had caught just another eight pounds I would be out there fishing today, now, now in one day a whole year is upside down, making the Classic is now in jeopardy, I was having a really good year, now, now…”
And all Shaw does is shake his head.
About fish, yeah right.
“…to fly against the wind…”
Trust me, you join this sport at this level, you just bought a seat at the high stakes table.
“I’ve been doing this a long time but the competition now is so stiff, one mistake and you’re on the bank and someone else is out on the water in your place.”
For each individual competitor that may suck, but for the sport that’s not actually a bad thing.
Professional sports, are in the dazzle business.
Those who play the game at it’s highest level should make your head spin at their ability, the field is for the greats, the stands are for the rest of us.
I have many writer friends out here, have nothing but respect for them but when it comes to writing I have no problem reaching down their throats and pulling them inside out for the best story.
And I hope they feel the same way towards me.
We only make each other better by knocking the crap out of each other.
“…will you walk away when the fire gets hot …”
“It’s a mind issue right now dee, a mind issue…”
I’ve covered sports now for a quarter century, I know it is ALWAYS a mind issue.
To me, a great quarterback is the pinnacle of sports, careers made in 3 steps and 5 seconds. Johnny Unitas once told me he would forget about the interception he just threw by the time he got to the bench, the fans, “…they would remember it years later and ask me about it at the 7-Elevan.”
“…the quicker I can move on from this the better it will be, dee.”
As I write this Shaw is somewhere on I-95 South, heading home to Gainesville, that wasn’t the plan when this road trip started, the plan was to finish here and go fish Cayuga Lake, 5+2=76 changed that.
“Little things like this in your career are painful, minor things can quickly turn into major things, I need to go home and get refocused…”
I have in my Tundra 10 speakers and an amp under the passenger seat.
I have in my Tundra three cd carriers.
I have in my Tundra satellite radio and an iPod with 3,320 songs.
And yet most times I drive in quiet.
If I have a chapel, it comes with a steering wheel.
“…but dee, you have to move on.”
In 1,285.5 miles…
In 19 hours and 13 minutes…
…Shaw will pull into his Gainesville driveway, will be there for his wife’s birthday, will during the week take his grandson scalloping.
He is, the bird who flew, into the sliding glass door.
The bird, not hurt, but who just sits stunned on your porch.
The motionless bird, feathers ruffled, wings askew.
Vulnerable.
Questioning.
Confused.
But strong enough.
But confident enough.
But experienced enough.
To once again, take to the sky.
“…or fight another, another day, yeah.”
Fight Another Day
Addison Road
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games, 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.” ~Michael Jordan
db