It's from a Teddy Roosevelt speech given in Paris, France in 1910.
This passage from his speech has been titled "The Man in the Arena", and quoted many times.
I happen to find it resonant.
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;
but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,
and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."I can't play pro football, but I'm a Ram fan.
It was different for me when the Rams were losing under Linehan, Spags, Fisher. What could we do but talk about why they failed, and wonder how it could get better? There was little success to celebrate. But even then I was happy after every win.
The guys there now have delivered something so much better.
Those guys are "the man in the arena" for me, and the competition at the NFL level is unbelievably difficult.
I might shout and groan during the game at missed opportunities.
But when the game is over, my perspective is that they are still my guys, and I certainly couldn't do it better.
I understand what the critics are saying. The unspoken premise of the criticism is "IF the Rams are going to win a Superbowl this year" these things aren't good enough and need to get better. I get that. This isn't about disloyalty.
Ramily!
