SCL

My dad uses his feet like hands, much like a gorilla opening a banana, when he loses frisbees in the pond at the disc golf course.

He’s not above stripping down to his shorts and diving in to recover discs. The pond is dark brown and is populated with turtles, snakes and frogs. If his disc lands in it, he walks around with his bare feet feeling in calf deep mud for it. Just typing that last sentence made me squirm a little.

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A few weeks ago, I bumped into a problem that’s plagued me for years, if not decades.

Was it deodorant related? No, but thank you for asking. I am well aware of that issue. I’m Old Spice Red Zone all the way but fear I might have beaten it. Is that possible? Is it possible that my body has bested that deodorant and I need to move on to something else? I can’t wear Axe body spray in large part due to the countless semi-clothed ladies who uncontrollably throw themselves at you the minute you drench your skin in something named “Swagger.” I’m running out of deodorant options, and I’m not kidding. I was probably one of the only people who packed deodorant in the backpack they wore around the Catalyst Conference. Bible? Sure everybody had that. Notebook? Without a doubt. Deodorant? I had it. But that wasn’t the issue that came up …

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I love a comeback story.

I love when someone who has fallen or stumbled picks themselves up and keeps going. I love when the underdog outreaches the distance we assumed they could reach. I love when the small nobody rises above a thousand obstacles and turns out to be a big somebody.

And I don’t think I am alone in that. This is why we all get excited about the “Cinderella Stories” during college basketball season, those teams from schools in the middle of nowhere that some how beat the giant school. It’s not nearly as exciting to see the team that should win, win. It’s not nearly as dramatic or interesting to see the seasoned professional hit the winning shot. That’s just what seasoned professionals do. The kid with the gruesome background who taught himself how to play basketball on a peach basket in his backyard? That’s a shot heard round the world.

This isn’t a new phenomenon, our desire to see comebacks. David and Goliath is the classic example of something being made out of nothing. But Youtube has opened up a whole new way to experience stories like this and I have a new favorite.

The back story is simple and chances are, you’ve already seen this wildly popular clip. Danyl, an unassuming teacher from the UK takes the stage to audition for a television show called the X-Factor. Dressed in simple clothes and with a nervousness that is palpable, he starts to sing in front of Simon Cowell, the American Idol judge. Watch this video …

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