It would be easy to start this kind of loss off with a Yogi Berra quote. In fact, I’d prefer to do so if not for the almost cliché tradition of using one his many paradoxical statements as an article lede.
It’s not hard to understand why that’s the case. With a playing, coaching, and managing career that spanned five decades, Berra served as a kind of sports (and more specifically, baseball) Buddha; seemingly concocting a saying for every situation, even if he didn’t say everything he said.
And then there’s the issue of application; after all you can’t just use the same old rote proverbs as every other aspiring sportswriter, but you still have to find one that fits the situation.