Thinking About Eddie Gordon
So, Eddie Gordon, huh? The name popped into my head today. I looked him up, just out of curiosity. His record was something like 8 wins and 4 losses. Yeah, 8-4-0. Not a hall-of-famer, but a solid run, you know?
It got me thinking about a specific time in my life. I wasn’t a massive MMA follower, but I’d catch fights now and then. There was this one period, I was working this dead-end job. You know the type. Soul-crushing. My manager, let’s call him Dave, was one of those guys who thought ‘team building’ meant forcing everyone to a dingy sports bar after a 12-hour shift.
And that’s where Eddie Gordon comes in, kinda. We were at this bar, cheap beer, sticky tables. I was just trying to survive Dave’s awkward attempts at conversation. On one of the flickering TVs, there was a fight. And one of the guys fighting was Eddie Gordon. I remember that clearly because someone at the bar was really into it, shouting his name.
I wasn’t really watching, to be honest. I was too busy thinking about how much I hated that job. The pointless meetings, the feeling of going nowhere. Dave was droning on about synergy or some other corporate buzzword he’d picked up.
- The fluorescent lights of the office still burned in my mind.
- My to-do list was a monster.
- And here I was, supposed to be ‘bonding’.
But then, during a lull in Dave’s monologue, I glanced at the screen. Gordon was in a tough spot, looked like he was about to lose. But he kept going. He didn’t win that night, I don’t think. Doesn’t really matter. What struck me was just… the fight itself. The effort.
It sounds cheesy, I know. But watching that brief moment, it was like a tiny switch flipped. Here’s this guy, literally battling it out, giving everything. And what was I doing? Battling spreadsheets and my own apathy.
That night didn’t magically change everything. I didn’t storm into work the next day and quit. But it was one of those little pebbles that starts an avalanche. I started to seriously think about what I wanted. That job, with Dave and his ‘synergy’, wasn’t it. The 8-4-0 record of some fighter I barely knew became this weird, tiny anchor point for that feeling.
Took me another six months, but I finally left that place. Found something else, something that didn’t make me feel like a zombie. I even started a little side hustle, something I actually enjoyed. It wasn’t easy, a bit like a fight itself, I guess.
I sometimes wonder what Dave is up to. Probably still talking about synergy in that same old bar. Maybe he’s even seen an Eddie Gordon fight or two since then, without realizing the small part it played in one of his ex-employee’s escapes. Funny how life works, isn’t it? Just a random fighter, a random night, and it helps nudge you onto a different path. So yeah, Eddie Gordon. Thanks for the accidental motivation, man.
