Thursday Quote: Mental Edge

The great tennis superstar and civil rights leader Arthur Ashe once stressed the importance of attitude when you're behind when he said this:

"Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory."

I'm gonna keep thing one short and sweet. The 2007 Mariners have really exemplified Ashe's quote this season. Despite the occassional game where we've been out of the game physically and mentally, which has happened a couple times this season, we have been one of the better teams in the majors at coming from behind to win ballgames. We have shown tremendous perserverance and determination in the face of adversity. We have heard that we aren't good enough all season long from critics and bloggers and ESPN personalities. But we ARE good enough and we have shown that we can compete for the playoffs. When we go down in ballgames, we play hard and we play to win. The mental edge that Arthur Ashe talked about is something that has helped us win all season and has gotten us to this point despite not scoring many more runs than our opponents. If we can keep the mental edge over our opponents, there is no telling what we are capable of the rest of the season but I will tell you one thing; I have confidence that we WILL continue to play hard and fight until the last out of every game.