Winning and Losing

“If you can react the same way to winning and losing, that's a big accomplishment. This quality is important because it stays with you the rest of your life. ”

Chris Evert Lloyd

Winning and losing, finishing first or last can all result in lessons being learned by the athletes, and spectators. Losing needs to be done with class, and a person can show some emotion, but remember act like you have won something before, because not too far away from you, is somebody that is devastated inside due to the loss. I personally believe it is important that as humans, we experience the highs and lows of athletics and competition, just so a person can step back and evaluate their progress. Not everybody is going to experience the euphoria of winning a championships, but when given the chance, each individual needs to celebrate the feat with class.

Not everybody and every team is going to be satisfied with the opinions of the masses. A prime example would the be approval rating of the Kansas Jayhawks basketball squad after their season halting defeat at the hands of Northern Iowa. The Jayhawks were the favorite of many people to win the NCAA mens basketball tournament. The Panthers of Northern Iowa made sure that their showdown with Kansas wasn’t played on paper, even though many people had Kansas winning on their sheet of brackets. Northern Iowa played a great game and deserves all the accolades they are receiving, but what I don’t approve of is all the garbage talk towards the Jayhawks for causing you the fan, no hope in your local NCAA bracket contest. Are you serious, you are a true fan of college athletics but would rather throw a team under the bus, because they were defeated and cost you bragging rights or pocket change? Not just the athletes but student-athletes and fans of competition should be proud of the victors and the people that respect the game, enough to be pouring their hearts out to put on a display of great athleticism for the world to watch.

Sooner or later, each and every person will have their chance in the limelight, you can’t force the issue or try to eliminate the competition, because if you exterminate the competition, is it really a great feat, when you accomplish greatness by exerting no effort?

Question of the Week: In honor of Major League Baseball season starting up soon, can you name the pitcher that has recorded the most wins in a season and how many wins he recorded?

“We want the referees to be a team and they should all be able to speak and write a common language.”

Urs Linsi

In almost all sports there are rules and officials to enforce the rules. Whether a person likes the calls and/or justifications, is a whole different story. I have recently observed numerous instances that have involved officials or referees acting in correct and also questionable fashion.

Before digging my own grave with my thoughts, I do want to inform you that yes, I have worn the stripes and have my own theories and justifications to making calls that have influenced the outcome of the game. Being in position and making a correct call takes, time and effort, and more people should attempt the art and complexity of officiating, it isn’t as easy as it looks.

In a soccer game, I have seen a player use his hand and punched in a goal, which he thought was legal, not so fast though as I saw the handball and made the call that pulled the goal off the board, what would a person fell like it I hadn’t made that call? I would have to live with it for the rest of my life, there is only one time to make that call, and that was at the time of the occurrence.

With the tension and excitement at a high level here lately, especially on the hardwood as teams seasons weigh in the balance of win or go home, I have seen many exhibitions of less than stellar judgement.

I can say personally as a former coach, there is no way in this lifetime, that I would let the player stay in the game, if the player got called for a technical for arguing with the official about the original foul call, at the very least sit the athlete down for a bit to cool his temper, but lo and behold the athlete remains in the game, with minimal action being put forth by the coach towards the players actions. Are you kidding me?

I have observed a timeout called during a jump ball, a football drive block used as a screen on the hardwood, a player with five fouls remain in the game, and a non rooted player draw a charge call on defense. Should hoopsters really have to deal with bad bruises and bloody noses on the hardwood either?

Officials have a thankless job, and usually don’t get the credit that is due to them. This could be a justifiable reason that we have less than stellar officials, nobody wants to do a thankless job. Give praise to your officials from the opening tip to the completion of the contest, not just till the clock reads 0:00.1, and just maybe the theory of, “Treat others like you would like to be treated,” will result in good officials making good calls.