If you read one blog post about Ben Olsen's Week That Was...

...then you should head over and read Dan Loney's appreciation. I think Dan captures how a lot of us feel about Ben in a few sentences. He talks about Ben before his ankle injury and after, and what it means. The final paragraph clinches it for me:

So if we’re a little harsh here ... towards players who have the talent but don’t live up to it, it’s because we’ve seen guys who could have but didn’t get the chance. Congratulations on the hat trick, Ben.

That's the thing. I may think Ben is a little slow on the wing, but we all know about his courage, his heart, and his savvy. And I certainly caught myself wondering "what might have been...?" regarding Ben Olsen and Forest... At the same time, the reason we gush over Ben, the reason we give him a pass about mouthing off to the center official, the reason he's a favorite of so many fans, a lot of it is looking about how he dealt with adversity. The way he picked himself up, looked within himself, and found the kind of strength we hope to find within ourselves if we had to. That's why we love him.