On a fishing trip last July I had one of those humiliating days. My brother and I were working on a lake in Ontario one afternoon into evening. He caught several big northern pike in a row, while I caught nothing, despite using the same lure and casting to the same kinds of spots.
Then a cold front came and the fish shut down, although we kept at it for a few hours. When all was said and done, I had fished hard for five hours, in Canada no less, and could not catch a single northern pike. It wasn’t that I begrudged my brother his catch. It was that I felt incompetent. Where fishing is concerned, I lose confidence easily.
Next morning, quite honestly, I barely wanted to get out of bed, and I dreaded going out on the water again. It was then I remembered the 1950s movie, “The Hustler,” and some words from Minnesota Fats.
Double lesson
By way of background, the movie starred Paul Newman as “Fast” Eddie Felson, a cocky young pool hustler, and Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats, the all-time great. The two hook up in an all-night, all-morning, high-stakes game at a pool hall in Ames, Iowa.
For most of the evening, Felson beats Fats repeatedly and takes him for a large sum of money. When they finally take a break, Felson looks sweaty, stubbled and worn. The Fat Man, in his suit with the rose in the lapel, also appears played out.
During the break, as Felson keeps drinking from his bottle of cheap whiskey, Minnesota goes to the back of the pool hall, washes his face, shaves, combs his hair, and freshens up his suit. When he returns to the table, he looks as clean and groomed as when he had walked into the pool hall many hours earlier.
He looks at Felson, smiles, and says, “Fast Eddie, let’s play some pool.” All that went before is forgotten. It’s a brand new game. And Fats proceeds not only to win back the money he lost but also to take Fast Eddie’s entire bankroll.
There’s a double lesson here: a caution against letting arrogance take over, and a reminder that defeats happen to us all but are only temporary.
