Winning
I feel sorry for the Texas Rangers. (I'm referring to the baseball team, not the law enforcement agency.) In case you haven't heard, they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the last game of the World Series last night.
It doesn't matter that the series had to go to a full seven games. It doesn't matter that the Cardinals won game six in extra innings by one run. They lost. Period.
That's the way it is now. Everyone wants to be a winner because as we all know,"Winning isn't everything;it's the only thing". "There is no such thing as second place. Either you're first or you're nothing." (Gabe Paul)
This is the main reason why I have never liked to compete. I don't like the concept that the only thing that matters is winning. That you should do what ever it takes to win. Nothing matters more than being on top.
My dislike of the whole "winning" idea came on early. It started in phys ed class. I had (and still have) no athletic talent. I'm not a fast runner. I have below average hand eye coordination. I can't jump every far or very high. I'm barely competent to play most sports except badminton. (Is that really a sport?)
When you are like this you have two choices. You can either become depressed and discouraged when phys ed teachers and classmates make fun of you or you can give it your best effort and content yourself with that.
Can you tell which one I chose?
I see nothing wrong with a good try. Even if you don't win you did the best that you could do on that day.
Doing your best and then working to do better is a worthy goal. There's a good quote I found by Vince Lombardi that says it well. " Gentleman, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it,because in the process we will catch excellence."
As I got older I kept my, "I'll give it a good try" attitude and added another. It's the "I'm going down fighting." attitude. I know I'm not going to win,but I'm also not going to let my opponent have an easy time. This is a useful strategy when playing games like pool. I'm not good at making any kind of shot unless it is straight into the pocket. I can,however, make it more difficult for the other player.
I think that this attitude makes me a better fan. I'm not good a playing sports, but I do like to watch. One thing I know about team sports is that everyone has to work together.Duh. Sometimes a team just flat out has a bad day. One player may be doing well, but three others are not for whatever reason. That's all right to me. Hopefully all of them are doing their best. As long as the score is close at the end of the game,I'm still happy. (Of course if my team just lays down and dies and winds up getting spanked, they deserve it)
I was looking for a good quote to end this column, it took some doing, but I found one. "You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day." (Marian Wright Edelman)
Way to go Rangers!
It doesn't matter that the series had to go to a full seven games. It doesn't matter that the Cardinals won game six in extra innings by one run. They lost. Period.
That's the way it is now. Everyone wants to be a winner because as we all know,"Winning isn't everything;it's the only thing". "There is no such thing as second place. Either you're first or you're nothing." (Gabe Paul)
This is the main reason why I have never liked to compete. I don't like the concept that the only thing that matters is winning. That you should do what ever it takes to win. Nothing matters more than being on top.
My dislike of the whole "winning" idea came on early. It started in phys ed class. I had (and still have) no athletic talent. I'm not a fast runner. I have below average hand eye coordination. I can't jump every far or very high. I'm barely competent to play most sports except badminton. (Is that really a sport?)
When you are like this you have two choices. You can either become depressed and discouraged when phys ed teachers and classmates make fun of you or you can give it your best effort and content yourself with that.
Can you tell which one I chose?
I see nothing wrong with a good try. Even if you don't win you did the best that you could do on that day.
Doing your best and then working to do better is a worthy goal. There's a good quote I found by Vince Lombardi that says it well. " Gentleman, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it,because in the process we will catch excellence."
As I got older I kept my, "I'll give it a good try" attitude and added another. It's the "I'm going down fighting." attitude. I know I'm not going to win,but I'm also not going to let my opponent have an easy time. This is a useful strategy when playing games like pool. I'm not good at making any kind of shot unless it is straight into the pocket. I can,however, make it more difficult for the other player.
I think that this attitude makes me a better fan. I'm not good a playing sports, but I do like to watch. One thing I know about team sports is that everyone has to work together.Duh. Sometimes a team just flat out has a bad day. One player may be doing well, but three others are not for whatever reason. That's all right to me. Hopefully all of them are doing their best. As long as the score is close at the end of the game,I'm still happy. (Of course if my team just lays down and dies and winds up getting spanked, they deserve it)
I was looking for a good quote to end this column, it took some doing, but I found one. "You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day." (Marian Wright Edelman)
Way to go Rangers!
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