What are you so mad at?

Son, what are you so mad at? Charles Howard, owner of Seabiscuit, asked of the horse’s jockey John M. “Red” Pollard after losing a race.

It’s from a scene in the 2003 film “Seabiscuit” which is based on the racing career of the legendary race horse of the late 1930s and early 1940s. In the film Pollard was left with a horse owner who promised his parents he would help Pollard further his career as a jockey during the Great Depression. Pollard was abandoned and left on his own.

Pollard continued in his quest to be a jockey, which was a tough life especially for the 5-foot-7 inch Pollard. Pollard met Howard and Seabiscuit’s trainer Tom Smith in 1936. The trio of men and the undersized thoroughbred racehorse combined to capture the imagination and love of America as the underdogs. Seabiscuit became the top money winning horse up to the 1940s.

The film’s plot suggested Pollard was mad at his parents for leaving him. All that was stoked by the hard times he had as a jockey. With the opportunity given him by Smith and Howard, Pollard’s life changed. Just a side note here: Pollard’s father, John A. Pollard, was born in Iowa in 1875.

I was watching this movie on Sunday. That line just jumped out at me.

“What are you so mad at?”

Why did it resonate with me this time? I’ve watched the movie a few times over the years.

Given the social media backlash I witnessed concerning Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley following Saturday’s loss to Penn State and the fumble by Green Bay Packers’ Ty Montgomery, this line shook me. We’re watching sports my dear readers and sports fans.

Do you really believe the young men and women who participate in sports at any level want to lose? That they want to play poorly? They’ve invested much more into the game than you have.

Sure, you may be a big booster or have season tickets, but that is your choice to do so. No one likes to lose.

I don’t like to lose a game of solitaire. I don’t want Kansas State to lose. I don’t want my Kansas City Royals or Kansas City Chiefs to lose.

But people, these are just games. I don’t care about your fantasy football statistics.

Social media is out of control. Those playing college sports are 18 to 21 or 22 maybe, in age, why would you as an adult attack them for their play. Did that loss really hurt your life?

What are we so mad about? Life is too short to become obsessed with winning and losing of games and of teams we’re not on. Please cheer for any team you want — I do — but don’t get mad on a loss. There’s another game coming down the pike.

I came across a story earlier this week which sadden me. IndyCar driver Robert Wickens is paralyzed from the chest down from injuries suffered in an August crash at Pocono Raceway.

Wickens, who is from Canada, was just here in Newton racing in the Verizon IndyCar Series race at Iowa Speedway in July. He finished fifth.

The 29-year-old Wickens has been updating his rehabilitation progress on social media and posted a video of his “first slide transfer as a paraplegic” that showed him moving from a table to his wheelchair. His videos had shown for the past month that he is working daily to move his legs again, but in a post on Oct. 25 was the first time he publicly confirmed his paralysis.

Those who compete in motorsports love what they are doing. They know the risk every time they climb behind the while and drive on a racetrack.

Wickens recently left an Indianapolis rehabilitation facility for one in Colorado.

“The good news is, I already have most feeling and some movement in my legs, so there is hope over the course of 24 months that I may regain enough movement to walk again,” Wickens posted. “So far the signs are promising, but I’m trying not to get ahead of myself! I am just keeping my head down and working until my therapist and doctors tell me to stop.”

God’s speed to recovery for Wickens.

Again, life is short. Live as you want to without malice toward anyone else.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets
at jsheets@newtondailynews.com