Hall of Fame: Rocky Balboa
Rocky Balboa as a character is a metaphor for the America that was and is today. The rise, the stumble, the fall; the “started from the bottom” mentality that this nation created less than 250 years ago. All of that is instilled in the sweat-stained, holey shirt that Rocky wears as he lives and breathes. The child of immigrants, Rocky lives in a slum, doing jobs that most would scrunch their noses at, while still attempting to live out that dream of being a fighter that he’ll most likely never attain. He’s a man who has learned to play the hand that he has been dealt. It just so happens, though, the cards he has been dealt when we meet him are a pocket pair of Aces.
Don’t think for a moment that the story of Rocky Balboa isn’t directly related to Sylvester Stallone. His career and that of Balboa align to the point that if you remove boxing and instead replace it with acting/writing, then you’d have a movie about down and out actor Stallone trying to make it in Hollywood. Neither man is truly gifted physically or mentally, but both of them have the sheer will and determination to see things through to the end, no matter the results.
Like any American fantasy, Rocky wins the lottery. He’s as down and out as it gets and is confused as anyone when he is given the opportunity to fight against the champ. For Rocky, though, his greatest rival isn’t the man standing across the ring from him. It’s not some juiced-up, jacked champion with blistering speed and devastating power. His nemesis is himself. What he sees and what he’s been told his entire life. Is he the worthless chump that he’s been told he his or is this the chance he’s been begging for to finally stand up and grit his way to the top.
There is a reason that statue of Rocky was at the top of the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and not at the bottom. No one celebrates at the bottom of an obstacle. The great triumph wasn’t that Rocky finally got a shot at the champ or that he made a ton of money doing something he loved. Real triumph in life comes from perseverance and knowing that you left it all in the (proverbial or sometimes literal) ring. America loves a comeback story more than anything and while no one outside of his small community knew who Rocky Balboa was before the fight, anyone who saw him leave his heart and soul in the ring learned about Rocky in that moment.
These are the moments that make champions. The hours spent suffering for the seconds of jubilation. The sweat equity and future promises of pain to become something that you couldn’t have been the day before. Rocky envelops the qualities of drive and determination that we all wish we could. Not all of us are lucky enough to do something that we truly love and feel we’re destined for. With Rocky Balboa, we’re reminded that the grind is sometimes more important than the overall outcome. The top of the stairs is where we celebrate but the third, tenth, and twenty-fifth steps are where we build ourselves into the person that can succeed. If Rocky and America can rise up from nothing to be the best in the world than so can we. Despite their mistakes, and no matter how many times they’ve second-guesses themselves, each of them continue to move forward.
Anyone who is a fan of the character Rocky and the series that has now seen 8 films probably already knows about his battles. He’s climbed his way to the top and lost it all only to gain it back again. Each film builds on the previous until we finally see Rocky as the guiding light for the new generation in Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Johnson. It’s a perfect representation of the character that I’ve watched for my entire life and I’m thrilled that Creed captures the spirit of the Balboa line better than I could have hoped. While this post may read differently than the others this month which inducted other characters into our Bulletproof Action Hall of Fame, I felt it less important to cover the films in the series that you’ve probably already seen and I wanted to talk briefly about what Rocky Balboa has meant to me. This series is a beautiful portrayal of a character, city, and country that I love and I’ll be damned if I let us forget about what makes us great.
“Maybe the only thing I can do is just take everything he’s got. But to beat me, he’s going to have to kill me. And to kill me, he’s gonna have to have the heart to stand in front of me. And to do that, he’s got to be willing to die himself. I don’t know if he’s ready to do that.” — Rocky to Adrian (Rocky IV)
