The Kentucky, Syracuse, North Carolina, and Kansas basketball teams all have things in common this season. They each won their conference regular season championship, but lost in their respective conference tournaments. From a basketball perspective, those losses don’t mean a whole lot. The first three received number one seeds in the upcoming NCAA national championship tournament and Kansas is a two seed. That means they are among a small number of teams favored to win the national championship.
But it got me thinking about the way our culture tends to view winners and losers. Teams that finish second are often considered losers. When I was a kid the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL were a great team, making four Super Bowls and losing all of them. The Buffalo Bills played in four consecutive Super Bowls in the 1990s and lost all four. Four times each of these teams was the second best team in pro football and people called them losers.
It’s only gotten worse in recent years, with people of all ages talking more smack than a sane person can tolerate. We place little value on sportsmanship and teams overcoming challenges to achieve more than was expected. We value winning and little else.
Don’t get me wrong…I like winning. I’m pulling for the Big Blue to bring a national championship to KY. If they lose I’ll be disappointed, but I won’t consider them losers. It has already been a great season.
Problem is we carry this attitude about sports into other areas of life and make ourselves miserable because…well because we cannot be number one at everything all the time. If the only way to be a winner is to be perfect, then we’re all doomed to be losers.
Are these people winners or losers? You decide! People who:
- Who do their best
- Who overcome challenges
- Who grow and get better
- Who sacrifice for the benefit of others
- Who are faithful and consistent
I know what I think. What do you think?
Pastor Steve Hogg
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