Monday, January 26, 2009

Inverse Relationships

I didn't have much opportunity to play sports when I was growing up. I did all the sand-lot stuff; football, softball, a bit of jungle basketball, but nothing organized with uniforms or any of the associated stuff. No coaches either.

But, I learned about competition and winning or losing. I subscribe to that semi-articulate pitcher with the hots for Susan Sarandon in "Bull Durham" who said "winning is a whole lot better than losing."

When you play a game, you keep score. Someone will, by the very definition of the sport, win and someone will lose. We all acknowledge that running up the score on an out-classed opponent is an ungentlemanly thing to do. But sometimes it happens even if you are trying not to do it. Is it a better lesson for your players to "take a dive"?

By now, you've probably heard about the girl's basketball team in the Dallas area that lost 100-0. The losers have become heroes in this topsy-turvy world and the winners vilified. There is something wrong with that. Now this:

A World Upside Down

That's right, the winning coach has lost his job! My first reaction, is what about the loser? A guy who's drawing a paycheck to coach a team and gets his girls into that situation deserves to lose his job, not the winner who had little choice.

Notice that these are two very small, private girl's schools. The "teams" are about six or eight members total on each side. That's not even a good intra-mural squad let alone a league sport entry. The winning coach cautioned his girls to ease up after the first period. He put in all three of his subs. He called off the press. He offered the other coach a resignation opportunity. He asked the refs to keep the clock running to end the brutality. He lost his job.

I'm sorry, but I don't get it. Winning is GOOD! Losing is bad, but it is a part of life. Glorifying defeat and firing the winning coach is so "Alice-in-Wonderland" weird that I'm at a (relative) loss for words.

Where the hell is America going?

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