OneTwentySeven.

"I don't know what to say really.
Three minutes, to the biggest battle of our professional lives
all comes down to today.
Either, we heal as a team
or we are going to crumble.
Inch by inch, play by play
till we're finished.
We are in hell right now, gentlemen
believe me. And we can stay here
and get the shit kicked out of us
or
we can fight our way
back into the light.
We can climb out of hell.
One inch, at a time.

Now I can't do it for you.
I'm too old.
I look around and I see these young faces
and I think
I mean
I made every wrong choice a middle age man could make.
I uh....
I pissed away all my money, believe it or not.
I chased off anyone who has ever loved me.
And lately, I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror.

You know when you get old in life
things get taken from you.
That's, that's part of life.
But,
you only learn that when you start losing stuff.
You find out that life is just a game of inches.
So is football.
Because in either game
life or football
the margin for error is so small.
I mean
one half step too late or to early
you don't quite make it.
One half second too slow or too fast
and you don't quite catch it.
The inches we need are everywhere around us.
They are in ever break of the game
every minute, every second.

On this team, we fight for that inch
On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us
to pieces for that inch.
We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch.
Cause we know, when we add up all those inches
that's going to make the fucking difference
between WINNING and LOSING
between LIVING and DYING.

I'll tell you this:
in any fight, it's the guy who is willing to die
who is going to win that inch.
And I know
if I am going to have any life anymore
it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch
because that is what LIVING is.
The six inches in front of your face.

Now I can't make you do it.
You gotta look at the guy next to you. Look into his eyes.
Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you.
You are going to see a guy
who will sacrifice himself for this team
because he knows when it comes down to it,
you are gonna do the same thing for him.

That's a team, gentlemen
and either we heal now, as a team,
or we will die as individuals.
That's football guys.
That's all it is.
Now, whattaya gonna do?"

I never really realized why this speech struck a chord with me until now. This weight loss, these addictions. These are the biggest battles of our lives. They really are. Living through these battles or fighting your way back is going to be the biggest battle of your life. These diseases and addictions usually have us ending up like Al Pacino.

We spend all our money on diet pills or knives or band-aids or huge clothes that cover us up. And although inadvertently, we push away the people who love us. Even when they tell us that our problems won't change anything, there is still some sort of invisible wall between you. You struggled through something that they will never understand and it will never leave you so the wall remains. And well not being able to stand the face you see in the mirror, i believe that that's a daily occurrence for us. That's what drives our lives.

We do start losin' stuff. We lose friends and laughs and good times. We lose pounds and skin and blood. And because of that we usually miss or ignore those inches that could pull us towards the light (whichever direction that may be). And all of us do "claw with our fingernails for that inch." We put ourselves through so much pain and depression for an inch. And we really do "tear ourselves and everyone around us to pieces" for it. I know my family and the people close to me suffered when they found out about what i do. And what i do does tear me to pieces. I've developed addictions and started to destroy my body willingly because i wanted that inch. I wanted to be one less pound everyday. I always want that inch.

He's also right about the one's that are willing to die, they really are the one's who win the inch. To really win the inch you put everything else aside and it can turn into a life and death situation. Those of you who have been hospitalized know that you were willing to die for that inch. We don't live if we're not fighting for the inch, he's right. It's become so a part of who we are that we're not living, we're not ourselves if we're not fighting for that inch, that pound.

And as for a team - I know that some people on this website have developed close relations with others and they support each other through this. They fight for that inch together even if they've been a half second too late or too early before. I also know people around me who are fighting for the same inch I am. Not they would die for me to get my inch, but we are some sort of a team I guess.

But no can MAKE us do this. We do this for ourselves. And as for healing as a team, i think we just need to smooth things out with the ones we love. They might come to understand or they might change us for the better. Either way we can go the direction we choose and make our own team who will stick by us no matter what and we don't have to die alone.

Here's the speech in it's best form:
Inch By Inch