Be a goldfish

I truly believe there is no single force more powerful in this universe than unbridled positivity.

During this pandemic – easily the darkest period of human history in my 36 years on this shiny blue spinning rock hurtling through space – I discovered America’s newest protagonist of positive thought, the lead character and namesake of Apple TV’s 2021 Emmy-winning comedy series, Ted Lasso.

Lasso, played by the estimable Jason Sudeikis, is a former successful Division II college football coach with a southern drawl and a bigtime penchant for dropping Dad Jokes. Lasso is lured over to England’s intense, meatgrinder of a soccer league known as the Premier League to head up the fictional English football club, AFC Richmond.

I say “lured” instead of recruited because Lasso’s inexplicable appointment – the guy literally knows NOTHING about the beautiful game – is the product of some cheeky back-handed scheming by the club’s matriarch in the hopes of exacting revenge on her football obsessed ex-husband and former co-owner by ushering massive amounts of athletic ineptitude into AFC Richmond’s equation.

Of course, the scheme backfires spectacularly as Lasso proceeds to win over an entire pub’s worth of AFC Richmond fanatics with his innate ability to always be positive and connect with all walks of life, even while those same people are chanting “Wanker” in his face and hoping he falls flat on it.

One of my favorite lines from the series is Lasso’s practice pitch advice to a young, struggling midfielder that lets his gaffes linger a bit longer than his manager would like.

“Sam, you know what the happiest animal on earth is? It’s a goldfish. You know why? It’s got a ten second memory.”

So, that’s my BIG PICTURE SMART EDITOR GUY advice for this month. Be a goldfish. We all make mistakes. Recognize them, learn from them, and then move on.

Or, some might say: Be a Lasso.

Happy Growing!