TELL ME, WY

Apple TV+’s hit comedy “Ted Lasso” is many things: funny, heartwarming and sincere, among others.

But for most viewers, “Ted Lasso” isn’t really about any of those things. “Ted Lasso” is about the small, yellow sign precariously taped above actor Jason Sudeikis’s office, displayed for all the world to see.

Lasso’s little yellow sign represents the simplest wisdom that any coach imparts to their players – to never give up. It’s simple, it’s cliché, but that doesn’t make it any less important.

Lasso shows that soccer is not a game of the body or of the mind, but of the heart. When wayward striker Jamie Tartt refused to acquiesce to Lasso’s leadership, Lasso didn’t lash out. Instead, he forged a deeper, emotional connection with Tartt that forced the belief right into him, coaxing the negativity out.

BY WYATT MEYER Sports Editor

That sign says only one word: believe. That one crooked poster symbolizes everything Theodore “Ted” Lasso stands for. As an American football coach going to England to coach the fictional professional soccer team A.F.C. Richmond, he’s not the most talented coach or the smartest tactician, but he’ll be darned if he doesn’t have the biggest heart in West London.

In a way, that sign is a tangible part of Lasso, an extra limb that he extends like an olive branch to anyone fortunate enough to meet him. Although he’s “just” a character, when Lasso slaps the sign in a halftime speech to his team midway through the first season, one can almost feel the vibrations through the screen.

Far from just being an on-screen inspiration to his players, Lasso’s teachings have real-life applications to every single athlete from Britain to Brazil.

In athletics, there’s always going to be those like Tartt who are too afraid to put their heart on the line as a part of the game. But as skeptical journalist Trent Crimm wrote in the show’s third episode, “If the Lasso way is wrong, it’s hard to imagine being right.” cliché,but that doesn’t make it any less important.”Illustration byAntonio Starks

Whether athletes want to admit it or not, everything in sports comes back to belief.

The game-winning free throw? Belief.

The walk-off home run? Belief.

The hail mary touchdown? Belief, belief, belief.

The season premiere of the third, and possibly final, season of “Ted Lasso” will come out on March 15, but the relevance of the show will last far longer. With that in mind, let’s all take a page out of Lasso’s book and remember that regardless of the score, regardless of the odds, regardless of any uncontrollable factor, the most important word in sports is often the simplest. Believe.