The Online Rant

Last year I was playing soccer a lot with a group of my friends. The games were just informal pickup games, but we had a lot of fun. And it was great exercise. Then one of us, I don’t remember who, found out about a local soccer club. The club was just an amature soccer club, and the entrance requirements were pretty lax. Basically anyone who could get enough players together to form a team, could pay a fee and join up. That was it.
So we got our money together and picked a team from the best pickup players we had, and signed up. Now, none of us were really all that good. And we knew that. But the more we prepared for our first game, the better we convinced ourselves we were.
So our first game came up and we were excited. We got to the field and set up our stuff. Other friends and relatives showed up to cheer us on. We were sure we were going to do well.
Reality quickly stepped in. The other team literally ran circles around us. No matter what we tried, they kept scoring on us. And even worse, we couldn’t seem to score on them. When the game was finally over we hadn’t scored a single goal, but the other team had managed to score 19 goals! It turned out we weren’t anywhere near as good as we thought we were.
Over the course of the season, we did get better. And we never quit trying, but we also never managed to win a game. It just goes to show you that no matter how good you may be in your little sphere of influence, you are probably not as good as you think. Kind of a humbling thought, but at the same time good to recognize. That way, you won’t be surprised when you run up against a situation where that is made obvious.