More than 100 years ago, American President Theodore Roosevelt wrote about “The Man in the Arena.”
He said: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.”
Well, this is one of those times where the critic has to stand up — stand up and say, maybe I was wrong. For the past few years, I have been critical, perhaps overly critical. And this week alone has probably changed my critical opinion of one member of the Jets.
I always wondered if he cared more about himself, rather than the team — you know, the name on the back rather than the name on the front? But Saturday’s team defeat in Sunrise, Florida showed me something different than that.
In the third period, Mark Scheifele challenged his former junior teammate Aaron Ekblad to a fight. Not that it was a barroom brawl or a heavyweight match. It was two skilled players, both angered, and one probably more frustrated by his team’s performance.
What Scheifele showed me was that this version of the Jets was not going to take this whipping lying down. He showed me that he cared. Then on Tuesday, he backed up his pugilism with one of the most impressive individual efforts of his career.
Sure, the three goals were key in the rematch against the Florida Panthers. But it was his leadership, his drive, his passion for the logo on the front of the sweater that caught my eye. I would actually maintain that Scheifele’s actions Saturday had a direct effect on Tuesday’s result. And quite frankly, that’s all any of us can ask for in any player who is expected to contribute, lead and win.
As Roosevelt said so eloquently, “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds…”
Mark Scheifele did the deeds.