Mistake Bank Bookshelf: "The Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures" - a minor book ennobled by "the world's worst soccer player"

In Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures Stephen Pile has written a funny, lighthearted look at failures. It's a compendium of third-person anecdotes about people doing things badly. Stories include "The Slowest Cross-Channel Swim," "The Worst Photography Exhibition," and "The Least Successful Concert." There's no analysis and the subjects themselves have no voice. As such, it's a very minor addition to the reading list on mistakes and failure. Rather than commanding a prominent place on the bookshelf, it's probably better suited for reading in the bathroom.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The book is not without insights, though. In the Epilogue, Leonardo Cunha Lima, director of the documentary short film Mauro Shampoo, about the so-called "worst soccer player in Brazil," discussed why he chose to make a football movie about a non-star:

Mauro’s story had something that I find particularly interesting when I see it in documentaries—a sense of the irony of life. After all, this is a film about a man that turned the otherwise catastrophic fact of his failure into a positive thing. And his ultimate goal of becoming famous was accomplished in a completely unexpected upside-down way. And of course there is the fact that I believe that Mauro’s story expresses a love for the game much greater then any love of winning. That is actually the beautiful legacy of the Ibis Sport Club, it is a living example of pure love of the game. In essence, Brazil is a country that would love football just as much if it had never won any game at the World Cup. The persistence of Ibis is the proof of this love....

He is peculiarly endowed with heroic underdog characteristics that make him an iconic urban legend and a symbol of Brazil. His personal story serves as the perfect counter balance for success stories like Pele, Zico and the Ronaldinhos out there. After all most Brazilians will become Mauro Shampoos, and only a few will ever see the glories of a Ronaldo.

So Mauro is the perfect role model for failing with dignity and pride, but to still succeed in those things that really matter in life: a loving family, his own business and the respect of his community. What more could a man wish for?

Mauro Shampoo (2006) from LCL on Vimeo.

[Note: the interview excerpt I included is expanded somewhat from the version in the "Ultimate Book." I liked some of Lima's words that Pile chose to leave out. Original interview source here.]