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Sidelines
Kalani Simpson






It’s not easy
overcoming
adversity



"(Emmitt) Smith is a proud little man who worships a shoulder chip larger than his ego. Meaning real large. ... Emmitt thrives and motivates himself on the theory he has overcome a football world that greatly desired to do him wrong. Some of the great ones became great ones by manufacturing a persecution complex."
-- Randy Galloway

"They've usually had to invent criticism to rail against, sometimes to the point of looking a little ridiculous."

-- Kevin Roberts



IF WE ACTED IN REAL LIFE THE WAY WE ACT IN SPORTS, PART ONE:

(Two guys talking.)

My wife and I just celebrated our three-year anniversary.

That's great news! Congratulations, I'm happy for you.

We shocked the world! Nobody ever gave us any respect. Nobody believed in us.

Um, that's not true. I was at your wedding. Lots of people believed in you. There were speeches and toasts and everything. I gave you a George Foreman grill.

But that's all right. This just shows something to all the doubters out there. We'll just keep proving people wrong. I love that. I live to prove people wrong. That's what motivates me. That's why I get up and do this every day.

Um -- you stay with your wife to prove people wrong?

We do this for each other. We're in this together, even if nobody respects us. They're always counting us out, but that's fine. It doesn't matter. It's about the two of us in that room against the world. And we shocked the world!

OK ... Well, I'm glad you're happy. Again, let me say congratulations.

Nobody gave us a chance. From the beginning, all we heard were the negatives. People trying to tear us down.

Wait, I get it. This is one of those TV shows. That guy from "Punk'd" is coming around the corner any minute, isn't he? Dick Clark? Is it Dick Clark?

Nobody believed in us. That's OK. I like being the underdog.

You remember your wedding, right? We were all so happy for you. Even your mother-in-law was happy. Well, kind of.

A lot of people have talked about distractions. A lot of people have taken shots. But now we've shown them. We've proven everybody wrong.

You know, I think you might be in a better mood if you did what you do out of joy, instead of to win all these artificially manufactured grudge matches.

Hey! Why do you have to be so negative?

Oops. Sorry. It was a really rough rush-hour drive over here. I had to overcome a lot of adversity.


See the Columnists section for some past articles.

Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com



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