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sycophantman
And you know what these incomparable athletes have in common? They're losers.
That's right. Bonds was 38 before he got to a World Series, and his team lost. Brown's Cleveland Browns captured only one NFL championship during his career. Kwan has nothing but a silver and a bronze medal to show for her trips to the Olympics.
Legendary Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach expressed a sentiment that is common these days: "Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser." But show me a winner, and I'll show you a loser. There are only two kinds of athletic competitors: those who have lost, and those who will.
Losing is a universal experience in sports. It's no more a disgrace than catching a cold is a disgrace. It's part of being human.
So is dealing with it. But losing, like other types of adversity, does offer an opportunity for exemplary conduct. Few things distinguish an athlete more than the fortitude to handle even the bitterest defeat with sportsmanlike grace.
That phrase is not one you will hear applied anytime soon to the University of Texas baseball team, which lost in the final of the College World Series and promptly left the field. Their coach saw no need for his players to stick around to receive their second-place trophies during the awards presentation----or even to participate in the Longhorns' tradition of singing "The Eyes of Texas" for their fans after the game.
Coach Augie Garrido made some doubtful excuses: that he didn't know there was a second-place trophy, that he didn't realize his team was expected to attend the ceremony. You'd think a guy who has managed four teams that won the College World Series would know the drill. Garrido later apologized while insisting the criticism was the result of a misperception.
I might find his explanation more believable except for his account of what he was saying while the ceremnoy was going on. "I talked to the team about the value that can come from losing," he said. "I shared with them that I think finishing second in the College World Series probably made them not want to ever finish second again in their life."
Nobody wants to come so close to the pinnacle and then fall short. But there is something wrong when a coach tells his players that what they should take away from playing in a College World Series final is a hateful memory.
The Longhorns got to do something most youngsters who love the game can only dream about. Someday, Garrido's players will realize what he should have told them: They can take great pride in what they accomplished. Too bad they won't have the memory of getting the awards they earned, amid consoling applause from their friends, family and supporters.
Some people think it's cruel to ask anyone who has suffered a disappointing loss to pay tribute to the winner afterward. But in plenty of sports, that's considered an indispensible part of the game.
No one sufferds more than a losing boxer or wrestler, and no one has more reason to feel hostility toward the guy who beat him. But the loser always shakes hands with his opponent and stands respectfully as his victorious hand is raised.
Runners-up at the Olympic Games mount the podium to hear the winner's national anthem. Even hockey players, after the Stanley Cup final, line up to shake hands with the same guys who were trying to maim them just minutes before.
These customs serve to remind everyone that it is, in fact, only a game and that winning isn't everything.
At Wimbledon, the loser in the deciding match has to stay for a protracted awards ceremony. Retired pro and NBC commentator Mary Carrilo told USA Today that at Wimbledon, "You have to dance at your own funeral."
You have the experience of playing the finals of the greatest tennis tournament on Earth, you're placed on a world stage to be honored by British royals and somebody's talking about funerals?
Here's something Carillo, the Longhorns and other second-place finishers might keep in mind: Nobody died.
-Steve Chapman
A Truly Losing Attitude About Losing
July 05, 2004 at 02:34PM View BBCode
Barry Bonds holds the single-season home run record and is on track to break the all-time record. Jim Brown is still called "the greatest pure runner in the history of the NFL" nearly 40 years after he retired from football. No figure skater is likely to match Michelle Kwan's record of eight U.S. championships and five world titles.And you know what these incomparable athletes have in common? They're losers.
That's right. Bonds was 38 before he got to a World Series, and his team lost. Brown's Cleveland Browns captured only one NFL championship during his career. Kwan has nothing but a silver and a bronze medal to show for her trips to the Olympics.
Legendary Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach expressed a sentiment that is common these days: "Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser." But show me a winner, and I'll show you a loser. There are only two kinds of athletic competitors: those who have lost, and those who will.
Losing is a universal experience in sports. It's no more a disgrace than catching a cold is a disgrace. It's part of being human.
So is dealing with it. But losing, like other types of adversity, does offer an opportunity for exemplary conduct. Few things distinguish an athlete more than the fortitude to handle even the bitterest defeat with sportsmanlike grace.
That phrase is not one you will hear applied anytime soon to the University of Texas baseball team, which lost in the final of the College World Series and promptly left the field. Their coach saw no need for his players to stick around to receive their second-place trophies during the awards presentation----or even to participate in the Longhorns' tradition of singing "The Eyes of Texas" for their fans after the game.
Coach Augie Garrido made some doubtful excuses: that he didn't know there was a second-place trophy, that he didn't realize his team was expected to attend the ceremony. You'd think a guy who has managed four teams that won the College World Series would know the drill. Garrido later apologized while insisting the criticism was the result of a misperception.
I might find his explanation more believable except for his account of what he was saying while the ceremnoy was going on. "I talked to the team about the value that can come from losing," he said. "I shared with them that I think finishing second in the College World Series probably made them not want to ever finish second again in their life."
Nobody wants to come so close to the pinnacle and then fall short. But there is something wrong when a coach tells his players that what they should take away from playing in a College World Series final is a hateful memory.
The Longhorns got to do something most youngsters who love the game can only dream about. Someday, Garrido's players will realize what he should have told them: They can take great pride in what they accomplished. Too bad they won't have the memory of getting the awards they earned, amid consoling applause from their friends, family and supporters.
Some people think it's cruel to ask anyone who has suffered a disappointing loss to pay tribute to the winner afterward. But in plenty of sports, that's considered an indispensible part of the game.
No one sufferds more than a losing boxer or wrestler, and no one has more reason to feel hostility toward the guy who beat him. But the loser always shakes hands with his opponent and stands respectfully as his victorious hand is raised.
Runners-up at the Olympic Games mount the podium to hear the winner's national anthem. Even hockey players, after the Stanley Cup final, line up to shake hands with the same guys who were trying to maim them just minutes before.
These customs serve to remind everyone that it is, in fact, only a game and that winning isn't everything.
At Wimbledon, the loser in the deciding match has to stay for a protracted awards ceremony. Retired pro and NBC commentator Mary Carrilo told USA Today that at Wimbledon, "You have to dance at your own funeral."
You have the experience of playing the finals of the greatest tennis tournament on Earth, you're placed on a world stage to be honored by British royals and somebody's talking about funerals?
Here's something Carillo, the Longhorns and other second-place finishers might keep in mind: Nobody died.
-Steve Chapman
hobos
July 05, 2004 at 06:13PM View formatted
You are viewing the raw post code; this allows you to copy a message with BBCode formatting intact.
Where is Ted Williams' name on that?
sycophantman
July 05, 2004 at 08:29PM View BBCode
I have a strict 'no-popsicle' rule when it comes to duplicating essays...
Unclescam777
July 06, 2004 at 10:54AM View BBCode
Losers. There's a lot of good players who are losers(Dan Marino) but it just goes to show you that one man can't win a team sport by himself. I don't know what to think about people in single sports, such as Michelle Kwan.
sycophantman
July 06, 2004 at 01:16PM View BBCode
That's funny, I don't think I've ever thought about Michelle Kwan, she's a bowler, right?:)
sycophantman
July 06, 2004 at 07:36PM View BBCode
Isn't she that one girl, you know, the one with the cactus?Pages: 1