Even failures leave lasting impressions
While everyone strives to win in a contest or endeavor, it?s not always the winners who are remembered over the years.
Look no further than Caesar?s Palace in Las Vegas this past week. In a death-defying feat, a daredevil motorcyclist of X-Games fame not only jumped the daunting fountain at Caesar?s Palace, but did a back flip as he was going over. He made a perfect landing to the delight of the fans, many who may have been there waiting for a crash. Hey, I?ve been there. It?s a big fountain, so it was no small feat.
While the daring cyclist accomplished the trick, his jump being carried on ESPN, I can?t even remember the guy?s name despite it happening this month. However, I can remember the name of the most famous person who did not complete the jump. His name was Evel Kneivel, one of the most famous daredevils of all time.
Kneivel took insane risks during his heyday in the 1970s and early 1980s. He also broke every bone in his body at one time or another. However, he went from trouble-making youth in Butte, Montana to becoming arguably the most famous daredevil of all time.
With that said, what are the two feats Kneivel is best known for? Yep. The failed jump of Snake River Canyon, and the failed jump of the fountain at Caesar?s.
Now Snake River was doomed from the get-go, the parachute deploying on his rocket-powered bike just as he left the ramp, sending him floating down into the canyon. In hindsight, the accident likely saved his life as he would have likely died on impact with the opposite bank even in a successful completion of the jump.
Of course, his most famous failure was the jump as Caesar?s. However, it should be noted he pretty well made the jump, it was the landing he didn?t quite stick. As us old-schoolers will recall, he ended up being dumped over his handlebars, his bones cracking as he met the pavement in slow motion during our replays at home.
Yes, Kneivel failed, but in his failure he forever etched himself into everyone?s memories. A successful jump, as was the case of our backflipper, would have probably been lost in history. It was the failure, but the failure whie trying, which people will remember. I?m sure, though, Kneivel would have taken the lesser notoriety and a safe, soft landing that day instead of the numerous fractures he suffered.
The same could be said for modern daredevil David Blaine, who was pulled from his bubble this past week after holding his breath seven minutes and eight seconds after spending many days submerged. No, he didn?t break the 8-minute, 58-second mark he was shooting for, but hey, if I?d been underwater for over seven minutes they would have been pulling my dead body from the water.
Had Blaine accomplished his feat, it would have went down as another notch in his daredevil career, one which would have mixed in with his other death-defying feats. However, the shot of him gasping for air while being hauled out of the water by divers is another classic moment we?ll be viewing 20 years from now. In his failure he insured his fame for years to come.
Sure, I know none of us set out to fail when we compete, but like the agony of defeat guy on the skis on the opening of ?Wide World of Sports,? sometimes failure is even greater than success ? at least if you?re being paid for residuals.