admirably amidst unlikely defeat
exists than within
our own sport with Matt Emmons. He has built a legacy for himself and this sport mostly because of su- preme marksmanship, but more importantly, the test of fortitude that comes when you fall short, when adver- sity knocked the loudest. He faced bitter disappoint- ment and bad luck head on and conquered it. He’s now made it a part of his narra- tive, but he refused to let it be THE narrative. As athletes, as ambassa-
dors, as MVPs, you are held to a higher standard than most. Whether or not you want to be, you are role mod- els.
It’s not enough to be a
role model, to be the ambas- sador, to be the MVP when
the going is good. The truest test of character is what you reveal at your lowest. Losing sucks, I get it. Not all of us can be expected to deal with it the same way. But at the very least in Cam Newton’s Super Bowl situation, you can congratulate your op- ponents, wax poetic about Peyton and this perhaps be- ing his last rodeo, thank your tremendous teammates and coaches and give a shout out to the legion of fans in your city, state and country that are looking for you to help lift them up, even in de- feat. Do ONLY that and you walk off the stage a winner in everyone’s eyes. There will be some ath-
letes in our sport that don’t reach their dreams and goals and there will be bitter
disappointment. Use this as a lesson to be better. Don’t run from your mixed zone opportunities, press confer- ences, the media trying to do their job, or the PR pro- fessional trying to help you. There’s a job still to do even when your
dreams have
been shattered. Muster whatever force you have to be gracious in defeat, thank those that got you there and recognize the opportunity you’ve been given to com- pete in a sport you love at the highest level.
Given
what you’ve been through you owe that to yourself, to your sport, to your family and country – to all the ones that celebrated you in victory and feel badly for you in defeat. I can’t believe I’m say- ing this, but perhaps Deion
March 2016 | USA Shooting News 55
Sanders said it best when reacting
to Cam’s antics:
“You can’t be dabbin’, smil- LQJ VW\OLQJ DQG SURÀOLQJ when you win, so this is how you go out when you lose?”
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