Seek to Misconstrue + a
Failure: The Blog 
February 2012
- Unfinished, But Inhabited
- The Success of Failure, via CNN
- Einstein Actually Had Excellent Grades
- The Physics of Discarded Paper
- The Power of Failing
January 2012
- Offensive Advertising, Increased Sales?
- I Sold Out For Millions, Then Worked At McDonald's
- Steve Jobs on Failure
- The Famous Western Failure
- Thank Goodness for Drug Addicts
December 2011
- It's a Wonderful Failure
- Stadium Destroyed, Reborn
- Failure to Trust the Astronauts
- Failure and the Baggy Pants Tradition
- Failure at The Happiest Place on Earth
- Saving What Was Lost
- FailureBank: A Social Learning Utility
November 2011
- A Thanksgiving Failure
- Harriet Tubman's Clever Lie
- The Failures of Lemieux
- Failed to Return a Text
- Admitting Failure
- A Leaders Job: Support Failure
October 2011
The Failures of Lemieux
One of the best hockey stars of all time has an amazing record on the ice. But he’s defeated more opponents than just other players.
Mario Lemieux dropped out of school at age 16. He played hockey obsessively, staying up late at night to practice and joining youth leagues. But when he was drafted to join the Pittsburg Penguins, he was signing on to a team that was in financial turmoil. In fact, they had declared bankruptcy only a few years before. There were rumors that they might be sold or shut down. After all, they could barely fill half of the seats in their hometown arena.
By the 1990 season, Lemieux was dominating on the court. Still in his early twenties, his numbers began to approach that of hockey legend Wayne Gretzsky. But after a scoring streak that ran for 46 games, Leimeux was injured. The problem soon became a herniated disc, which was worsened by infection and finally addressed through surgery. He missed half of the games of the next season, and when he returned his back pain was so bad that he needed assistance to lace up his own skates. During playoffs, a brutal collision with another player resulted in a broken hand. Lemieux missed several games but still led the series with the most points and assists. His team took home the Stanley Cup that year.
The next season, he made the shocking announcement that he had a potentially life threatening form of cancer.
Here’s what Newsweek magazine had to say about Mario Lemieux:
Posterity will never forget that no athlete—not even the sainted Lou Gehrig—has ever before Lemieux been struck down by a deadly disease at the very moment when he was the best of his sport at the best he ever would be. And since: Lemieux has achieved miraculously in remission, struggling, on the side, with a back injury so grievous that it has benched him after he merely laced up a skate. That is the stuff that answers people these days when they wonder where all our sports heroes have gone.
Since that time, Lemieux returned again to hockey and once again retired. Many experts agree that had he not suffered from the lymphoma, he would be remembered as the greatest player in history. But then again, his failures may have made him stronger. Failure is the secret to success. Sometime the most difficult struggles make for the greatest possibilities.
-
Jean