A great World Series, even though the wrong team lost. 🙂
It was a great World Series because both teams came back when it would have been easier to stay down.
It’s easy to do well when things are going your way. The real test is not to fold and not to give up when they aren’t. That separates the men from the boys.
Arizona took a hell of a wallop last week at the Stadium. Many, maybe most teams, would have rolled over and played dead. It’s happened often enough in World Series history.
But Arizona didn’t.
They got back up and ripped the world championship out of the Yankees’ ever-clutching hands, out of their ace reliever’s hands.
They earned this championship, and I’m sure the Yankees have great respect for their most worthy opponents.
This is the way it should be in sports.
Sure, you can be a fan and root for your team, but in the long run, it’s the game and the competition that matters more than who wins or loses. This World Series will be remembered for a long time due to the competition, not because of who won.
Sports is a competitive test. When competition is keenest, that’s when sports is at its best. When even the loser can walk away knowing he has nothing to be ashamed of, that’s a great game.
If you think the only thing that matters in sports (or any other competition) is winning, if you can’t appreciate the greatness of a game or series or opponent when you or your team gave its all but ended up on the wrong end of the winning stick, you just don’t get it. That’s just so stunted.
Sports at least used to teach that the competition was more important than the score. That’s what the word “sportsmanship” means. It’s a sadly neglected concept nowadays, and that’s a shame.
It’s a shame because sports is an analogy of life. Only the infantile think they always have to win, or else. Who ever wins all the time in life? Being gracious, win or lose, is a good quality to have. It means you have class.
That doesn’t mean you want to win any less. You just realize there’s more to the game than just winning or losing.
So congratulations from a Yankee fan to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Well done, and thanks for a great Series!
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