Losing your edge...

Two of the most productive athletes of the last decade are professional golfer, Tiger Woods, and SF Giant's pitcher, Tim Linceum.  It could be argued that Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer that ever lived, and Tim lincecum, winner of babesball's coveted Cy Young award in two of his first three seasons, one of the best pitchers ever to perform on a baseball field.

Just this last week both players were in the public spotlight.  Tiger Woods took the lead at the halfway point in the US Open and looked positioned to win his fourteenth major tournament, a  feat   second only to Jack Nicklaus' eighteen,  Up north in Seattle, Tim Linceum returned home to the place where he grew up focused on ending an eight game losing streak.

By the time the weekend ws over, the Giants had lost for the ninth straight time in games where Lincecum pitched and Tiger Woords had failed again in his pursuit of a major, slipping into a tie for twenty-first,

What has happened to Tiger and Tim?

I am not an authority buit it appears to me both men have lost their edge.

Tiger had the ability when taking a lead at a tournament to literally run away from the rest of the field because of his unequalled skill and unrivaled confidence, and Lincecum's mere presence on a baseball field struck terror into the hearts of baseball's most proficient batters.

But not any longer.

Tiger drove off the green and missed putts he once routinely made, and Lincecum yielded gargantuan home runs and untimely walks to seal his doom.

What causes an athlete to lose his edge?  It can't be age for these two--they are still young.  It can't be bad breaks--they have both imploded on their own.  Something deeper has happened.

We could speculate that Woods' off the field conduct whoch led to his public exposure and costly divorce have left his confidence shattered.  He has plummeted from the position of respect and admiration he once held though people are still in awe of his talent.

The Lincecum piece is more difficult to anaylze but it appears that something has happened that has caused him to make bad decisions in key moments of a game that have become his undoing.  At one point he had had runners score in only seven of fifty-six innings but those innings were disastrous enough to result in six losses.  Unablke to make the right pitch in a key situation.

They've lost their edge.

Do you ever feel like that--that what you once did well routinely or accomplished easily has now become more strenuous and less frequent.  It feels as if the bottom has dropped out,

The experts say that Woods still has great skills and if he could fine-tune his putting and regain his mental game he could once again dominate,  Baseball writers have osberved that Lincecum still has a high number of strikeouts and an array of wicked pitches, and making better decisions in key moments of a game could turn it around for him.

For you it may be the same.  Simply fine-tuning some things may turn it around.

But I'm guessing for Tiger and Tim--and for you and me--it's alot about what's going on in our minds and whether or not we are waging war with some enemies upstairs.  Losing our edge can simply be a matter of misplaced confidence, presuming on our abilities but neglecting the necessary disciplines that keep us sharp and alert and living on the edge.

Tiger and Tim will remain in the public spotlight and our scrutiny and critique from a distance will inevitably continue.

Beneath the radar screen of public opinion I can continue to function but I know whether or not I've lost my edge.  Often for me its a simple matter of remembering how I got to where I am and revisiting the things that caused me to be productive. 

Thanks, God, for reminding me again today.