He may not have been the first to say it, but during the press blitz before Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan called Batman “just a guy who did a lot of pushups.” That struck me as an artful way to describe the appeal of Batman: An ordinary guy who made himself a superhero.
It’s also the reason I love Matt Carpenter.
Calling any professional athlete an “ordinary guy” would be ridiculous, but Carpenter was closer than most: A 13th round draft pick, the 399th player selected. He signed for just a $1,000 bonus as a 5th-year senior out of TCU.