Leicester City of the English soccer Premier League clinched the Championship this week after having 5000-1 odds of winning at the beginning of the season. In the Premier League’s 24 year history since they reorganized, 4 teams have won 21 of the 24 titles. In general, the top of the League is so powerful compared to the rest of the League, the top 4-5 teams are the only teams that have a real chance to win the League. But against all odds Leicester City, a team that is only in it’s second year in Premier League and were at risk of being relegated last year, fought all year long to become the first non top tier club to win the league since Blackburn Rovers in 1995.
5000-1 odds seem insurmountable. In sports terms, that is the oddsmakers basically saying there is no chance this is going to happen. To put in perspective these odds, the odds of the 1980 US miracle on ice against Russia was only 1000-1! And who can blame them giving these odds? With several teams in the league that have way more money, world-class talent, and deeper youth academies, history showed it was a long shot that Leicester should even be able to compete against those other teams, much less win. But they believed in themselves, played hard every day, committed to constantly improve and ended up defying the odds to go on and win the Premier League!
If there something you should take away from this, I think it is what Han Solo replied to C3PO when he was told the odds of successfully navigating that asteroid field. “NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS”
The odds don’t matter. The odds of so many great things in our lives happening are always going to be high. But that doesn’t mean they are unattainable and even if we can’t achieve them doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. The only way you can find out what we are capable of is if we go after our dreams and try to defy the odds, no matter how big they may seem.
Simply Gabe 