icon-email icon-facebook icon-linkedin icon-print icon-rss icon-search icon-stumbleupon icon-twitter icon-arrow-right icon-email icon-facebook icon-linkedin icon-print icon-rss icon-search icon-stumbleupon icon-twitter icon-arrow-right icon-user Skip to content
Senior Correspondent

"We had a five percent chance to reach the playoffs with 35 games left in the season," St. Louis Cardinals' first baseman Albert Pujols said, "We knew we had to play great. The first five months of the season were pretty bad. But it doesn't matter. We're world champions."

How can a team that was afforded less than a four percent mathematical chance of reaching postseason and rated by Las Vegas sports books as a 500 to 1 proposition to win the Series come so far so fast in the autumn of 2011? A series of miracle rallies, a little help from a squirrel, it was almost as if the massively popular Cardinals had planned it this way all along just to entertain their fans and re-engage those who lost hope during the long, sweltering summer.

I have been calling the Cardinals' comeback St. Louis region's very own stimulus package. The Cardinals most certainly stimulated the sluggish local economy during the post season, and we will take every economic break we can get here in the Heart of America.

But, wait, there's more going on here than folks buying the bee-jeepers out of Cardinal wear. We have experienced a complete and total turnaround of circumstances, in a very short timeframe. We did not pay one bit of attention to the statistics, the baseball pundits, and the announcers. We completely ignored the facts. We believed that anything was possible, no matter what was probable. We believed in our team. The team believed in themselves and they believed in their fans.

We looked for little signs along the way to give us hope. So desperate were we, that a tiny squirrel darting across the field inspired us. We oozed inspiration. We had already gotten the failing part out of the way, and apparently felt a certain amount of freedom from failure. As the song says: "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose;" If that's so, the St. Louis Cardinals were truly free to exceed the lowly expectations of others.

How can we leverage this amazing can do, come from behind example set by the St. Louis Cardinals? How can we create our very own economic stimulus package? How can we convert negative beliefs, facts, and statistics into a world class win? How can we team up in our various communities to overcome the dismal economic probabilities, disappointing statistics, facts, and news?

How can we leverage the Come from Behind, Can Do Cardinal Spirit more expansively and sustainably? How can we take this Can Do Spirit into our families, businesses, workplaces, churches, and schools?

We can no longer afford the luxury of waiting for the economy to get better, nor can we afford to wait for our government officials to lead us into more prosperous, peaceful times. We cannot afford one minute of negative thinking, nor can we afford to wait for circumstances to change.

The St. Louis Cardinals started it; it's up to us to carry the Cardinal Spirit into other aspects of our lives. Now is the time to become unreasonable and illogical, to defy the probabilities and historical data. It's time to play our Wild Card. It's the Cardinal Can Do Season. What better place to start a Can-Do Revolution than in the Heart of America, also known as Cardinal Nation.

www.cardinalnation.com

Stay Up to Date

Sign up for articles by Phil Zuckerman and other Senior Correspondents.

Latest Stories

Choosing Senior Living
Love Old Journalists

Our Mission

To amplify the voices of older adults for the good of society

Learn More