Wednesday, May 16, 2001
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Wednesday, May 16, 2001 |
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Winning isn't everything, but it is better than nothing By MICHAEL
BOYLAN Vince Lombardi once said "Winning isn't everything it's the only thing." He was kidding, of course, but this was before people truly understood sarcasm. An excellent example of this is Nixon's famous "I am not a crook" quote or FDR's "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" quote. After all, there were lots of things to fear, first and foremost, death from above. But back to the subject at hand, which is winning. It really isn't everything. It's nice, much better than losing, but you can't take those trophies with you when you die. That is, unless you build a pyramid and fill it with all of your trophies, medals, plaques and such. Though it really isn't feasible to build a pyramid either. You'd have to start building it now and who wants to start thinking about their death any sooner than they have to. Besides, humans didn't really build the pyramids anyway, aliens did. But, I digress ... Winning used to be more important to me than it is now. Why, a few weeks ago, I would find myself ready to throw the Trivial Pursuit board and all those little pieces of pie all over the room because I didn't know the answer to some obscure medical question. That was the old me. The old me would shut off a video game when the computer started beating me too badly. I'd be cursing up a storm when I did it, too, but not anymore. Now, I realize the error of my ways. It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's how you play the game. I came to this conclusion thanks to two teams, The Atlanta Braves, local losers that can't string together a winning streak of any kind, and The Citizen Deadliners, the coed softball team that is currently at the bottom of the Peachtree City Recreation Department Coed Softball League. I am a big baseball fan and a loyal Braves fan. I've already been to three games this year and I'm going to another one this Sunday. Am I disappointed with the way they are playing? You bet. Do I holler at them when they blow a play, whether in the comfort of my home or roasting in the seats? For sure. Will I stop watching or rooting for them to right themselves? Heck no. If I didn't go to games or watch them, I'd have missed Chipper Jones hitting two home runs in one game, I'd miss all of Andruw Jones' amazing catches, I'd miss run downs and plays at the plate and sacrifice flies and people coming out of slumps and continuing hitting streaks. Baseball is a beautiful game and winning is just one small aspect of it. I hate losing and the Braves are doing way more of that these days than winning, but things change. The Deadliners have been doing a lot of losing too, but I can't get too down about it. This is our first year in the league, we have a lot of players, myself included, who have never played on a softball or baseball team before, and we're facing some teams that use this league as a practice league. I get mad when I make a mistake (and I've made more than a few) but I don't get down on the team for our position in the league. We're a ragtag bunch of people made up of present employees of this fine publication, former employees, spouses, siblings, family members and friends. It's nice to be outside and it's nice to do our best and try, but losing doesn't make me feel too bad. It doesn't keep me up at night. We are not going to win a game this year, but we are getting better from game to game and, at least that puts us in the hunt for a win. Everybody has had a shining moment this year and in the end, that is hopefully what they will remember the most. Whether it was a certain reporter sliding head first into third for a triple or another (and should we say, dashing) reporter/columnist driving in two runs, there has been a lot to cheer about this year. As those who know me can plainly see, I have changed my ways. I have mellowed out and realized that, despite what some may think, you can't win them all. Remember, I grew up as a Red Sox fan in Boston. Now, there's a franchise that knows a little something about losing.
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