“It ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings”, a popular phrase most commonly used in organised competition, especially sport. Usually heard being spoken by a confident spectator, coach or player when an event is presumed to be nearing its end. It is used to imply that it should not just be assumed that the current standing or state of the event is going to be the final outcome but rather, a comeback is still possible.
The phrase is understood to be a reference to the often larger sopranos whose song signifies the conclusion of an opera. Its use in the sporting arena was first attributed to a US college director who was quoted in the media using the colloquialism in 1976 in reference to one of their university sporting teams.
The reality of this is that there are only certain sports where you can honestly say this statement can be used at any stage throughout the event, regardless of the score and yet it remains relevant 100 percent of the time. Combat sports like boxing is a particular example, where regardless of who is winning on the scorecards, a knockout is always possible until the final bell. The same stands for any racquet based sports that are scored on a points tally and don’t have a set duration, tennis being the perfect and most relevant example here at college. The same cannot be said for most team sports, for example football, rugby, hockey and cricket. There comes a time in some instances where it may be physically impossible for a team to win due to being too far behind with not enough time on the clock for a comeback.
Why is any of this information relevant or worthy of a blog post? Well the real interest lies in what you can learn about a person in certain situations by observing their behaviour. There are only a few possible behaviours that are universally adopted in these particular circumstances. It is always easier to adopt a more competitive mindset when the match or game is even and in the balance but what about when the score line is heavily favoured one way? Then what is your mindset?
- Situation number 1 – You are playing tennis against a stronger opponent and are getting emphatically beaten. Do you:
- Adopt the “it ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings” philosophy and try to fight your way back into the match? or,
- Concede that your opponent is just better, continue making a half-hearted effort and finish the match relatively quickly with you on the losing end?
- Situation number 2 – You are playing well and comfortably beating an opponent who is considered to be stronger than you and one you have never beaten before. Do you:
- Stay confident and composed and finish off the match as the victor? or,
- Tighten up and allow your opponent to get back into the match. End up losing because you started panicking about victory and didn’t believe you were good enough to win? Does your opponent adopt the “it ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings” approach and fight back or do you begin to play poorly and let them back into it?
- Lastly, Situation number 3 – Your rugby team is getting soundly beaten 50-10 with five minutes to go. Do you:
- Continue to compete to the final whistle and not give up even though you know you can’t win?
- Concede that it is physically impossible to come back and therefore don’t bother trying for the last five minutes?
All very basic and common situations confronted regularly in different sporting arenas. No doubt the majority of you reading this will have been in one, if not all of these situations before. How did you react at the time? What does this behaviour tell you about your personality? Is this same behaviour reflected either positively or negatively in other areas of your life such as work or college?
I encourage anyone who isn’t already watching to tune in to the tennis for the current French Open. I’m sure you will witness a few perfect examples of “it ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings” with one perfect example in our own young gun Thanasi Kokkinakis, fighting back against fellow Aussie Bernard Tomic.
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