When you’re good
Liverpool took Hull City for 6 goals yesterday, including a hat trick from Fernando Torres, and this beauty from captain Steven Gerrard. That goal, which put Liverpool up 4-1, inspired speculation the captain scored by accident. I contend to you: it doesn’t matter one whit.
In 1970, the Beatles released “Let It Be”, a ballad credited to Lennon/McCartney but generally thought of a Paul McCartney composition. The song begins with broad chords, and the words, “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me…” The song opens like a hymn (and, of course, closes like a rock song). The character of Mother Mary adds to the hymn-like nature of the introduction, and gives the singer a sort of universality that anyone familiar with Christianity (and especially Roman Catholicism) can relate to. The fact, though, is that when he wrote the song, McCartney wasn’t thinking about the church. He was thinking about a dream he once had of his mother, Mary, who died when Paul was 14. Despite this very personal and individual direction of the lyric, the song was hugely successful, and remains one of the band’s most popular and beloved tunes.
In a way, I think, this is an trait among all the super talented. There ceases to be a distinction between the fortunate accidents and the intentional successes. It doesn’t matter if Gerrard was trying for the back of the net or if he was looking to Dirk Kuyt at the far post. We’ve seen him score that goal before, and we’re perfectly happy to accept him doing it once again.
Picture comes from here.
