Sometimes people are ugly... and sometimes they're not
I have to completely digress from knitting, crafting or anything related thereto.
I will start by saying, that I am not an athlete. I did not win one for the Gipper, or do a perfect vault on a broken ankle or run, Forrest, run. Therefore, sometimes the things that sports peoples do boggles my mind.
Regardless, I have a feeling that competition can elevate, and competition can expose what a sad, pathetic little weasel you are.
Case in point: I went to two sporting events this past weekend (youth sports, not NCAA or anything like that) - football and soccer.
Both were playoff games. Both were do-or-die. In both cases, one team heavily outscored the other. The winning football team capitalized on a crucial player's injury and some of the worst officiating I have seen ever. The winning soccer team simply managed to get it in the net, while the losing team couldn't find the goal. Both times the team I was cheering for was on the losing side, but one game left a bad taste akin to battery acid in my mouth, and the other gave me the warm fuzzies.
Why? Coaching. Or rather, coaches.
The winning football coach? Took a game in which he was up by TWENTY-TWO POINTS and continued passing for another touchdown in the final 120 seconds of the game. Classless in the extreme. Then after winning the game, he came on the field and taunted a 17 yr old football player from the opposing team by yelling "hey (name) - look at the scoreboard." (as outrageously apocryphal as this story sounds, it was verified with the player.)
What a soulless, morally, ethically bankrupt a**hole. (This is the same coach, by the way, who supported a legal action seeking to allow two of his players to continue playing after being suspended for making death threats against a teacher. )
The winning soccer coach? Came across the field and waiting patiently behind the opposing coach as he spoke to his team for ten minutes. Not once did she try and catch his attention, not once did she look impatient. She stood respectfully and listened intently while he talked to a bunch of players she did not know about the things they did right in a season she had not witnessed. When he finished, she finally stepped forward and congratulated the team, complementing them on their skills and their sportsmanship and thanking them for an excellent game. They beat us by 5 unanswered points, and still she made the boys feel that they had fought a good battle and her team was grateful to have made it past them.
I will start by saying, that I am not an athlete. I did not win one for the Gipper, or do a perfect vault on a broken ankle or run, Forrest, run. Therefore, sometimes the things that sports peoples do boggles my mind.
Regardless, I have a feeling that competition can elevate, and competition can expose what a sad, pathetic little weasel you are.
Case in point: I went to two sporting events this past weekend (youth sports, not NCAA or anything like that) - football and soccer.
Both were playoff games. Both were do-or-die. In both cases, one team heavily outscored the other. The winning football team capitalized on a crucial player's injury and some of the worst officiating I have seen ever. The winning soccer team simply managed to get it in the net, while the losing team couldn't find the goal. Both times the team I was cheering for was on the losing side, but one game left a bad taste akin to battery acid in my mouth, and the other gave me the warm fuzzies.
Why? Coaching. Or rather, coaches.
The winning football coach? Took a game in which he was up by TWENTY-TWO POINTS and continued passing for another touchdown in the final 120 seconds of the game. Classless in the extreme. Then after winning the game, he came on the field and taunted a 17 yr old football player from the opposing team by yelling "hey (name) - look at the scoreboard." (as outrageously apocryphal as this story sounds, it was verified with the player.)
What a soulless, morally, ethically bankrupt a**hole. (This is the same coach, by the way, who supported a legal action seeking to allow two of his players to continue playing after being suspended for making death threats against a teacher. )
The winning soccer coach? Came across the field and waiting patiently behind the opposing coach as he spoke to his team for ten minutes. Not once did she try and catch his attention, not once did she look impatient. She stood respectfully and listened intently while he talked to a bunch of players she did not know about the things they did right in a season she had not witnessed. When he finished, she finally stepped forward and congratulated the team, complementing them on their skills and their sportsmanship and thanking them for an excellent game. They beat us by 5 unanswered points, and still she made the boys feel that they had fought a good battle and her team was grateful to have made it past them.
posted by Lisa @ 11:35 AM
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