The Oregonian, on Thursday morning’s edition for July, had a headline in the Sports Section that said: Seattle’s bullpen fails in ninth.  Above the headline was a box score that said: Seattle 7, Los Angeles 7 (through 11 innings).  Below the headline was a picture of a celebration by the Los Angeles Angels after a two-run, two-out homer in the ninth inning tied the game.

Below the picture a caption said: “. . . the Wednesday night game did not end in time for this edition of The Oregonian.”

We also get the local paper, The Columbian, which was on the porch and I read it first.  Apparently the folks who work there stayed up to see the finish of the game.  Its headline, also on the front page said: “Mariners salvage win in the 12th”

The article that followed the picture had this for its lead-in sentence: “Yuriensky Betancourt grounded a single through the left side of a five-man infield to score Adrian Beltre with one out in the bottom of the 12th inning and send the Seattle Mariners to a wild 8-7 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night.”

I love sports, especially for the metaphors they provide.  In business many times there are those who give up, whether the score is tied or the game has gone deep into extra innings.  Then there are those who stay to the end, but they never give up, and then they are the ones who are rewarded for their commitment and perseverance.

The next time you find yourself believing that a particular company or person is going to fail, remember the way The Oregonian handled the story where they highlighted that Seattle’s bullpen failed in the 9th, and then recall what The Columbian had to say because they stayed to the finish.  The other day I saw a bumper sticker on a car that was being towed.  It said: FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.

Yesterday I parked in a lot and the car in front of me said: “Something good is going to happen soon.”  And the week before when in Salt Lake my fortune cookie said: “Soon you’ll be sitting on top of the world.”  That’s the way it works in baseball (sometimes.)

Our dueling newspapers showed that it’s the final score that counts; not an inning by inning box score.  “Fail” did not happen during the game.  “Win” comes at the end of the game.

The moral to this story is:

Who cares how many innings it takes to win? A win is a win, salvaged or not!

Jacques B. Nichols
August 3, 2007