Florida Catholic | Editorial

Joy of sports doesn’t flow from winning alone

Published: 10.05.07

For sports fans, it’s that most wonderful time of the year. The baseball playoffs are under way, the football season is in full swing, basketball and hockey are about to start. NASCAR’s chase is heading toward the finish line. It’s a wonder that ESPN doesn’t nearly explode with all the highlights and scores.

Miracle of miracles, the “lovable losers,” the Chicago Cubs, actually clinched their division and face the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League Division Series. I’m a native of the Chicago area and a Cub fan like my father (my mom was a White Sox fan, but he loved her anyway). I also lived in the Phoenix area for 18 years and got to see the expansion-team D’Backs get their start — and win the World Series just four years later, something the Cubs have never done in my lifetime — nor in all the years my dad was alive and rooting for the North Siders. So, it’ll be tough for me to decide which team to favor in this NLDS (no, it won’t — go Cubs!)

Dad passed away four years ago, hanging on just long enough to see the Cubs clinch their last division race. He would even have been happy for Mom when the White Sox eventually won the World Series a couple years later. There’s something about sports that gets people excited whether they’re playing or cheering. My 10 siblings were split almost evenly between Cubs and Sox fans and there was all manner of good-natured banter about it — including hiding Mom’s White Sox ornament on the Christmas tree so well one year that she called me in Florida to find out whether I’d actually put it on the tree or absconded with it. Sure it was there; it was just so far back in the boughs, you couldn’t see it. It was all in good fun. That ended up being Mom’s last Christmas with us, but at least she had seen her team win the Series.

Team spirit, community spirit and rivalry can be healthy. The Florida Knights of Columbus hope to bring the wholesome aspects of sports and competition to our state’s youths every year with several rounds of contests. Basketball, soccer and spelling bees are featured in various events to promote sports skills, youth leadership and family unity. Says one Knights organizer: “We teach kids how to handle competition — win or lose. I’ve seen kids cry because they didn’t win. But I tell them they are a winner — just showing up makes them a winner” (see story, Page A1).

That attitude reminds me of a time when I coached a t-ball team when my kids were little. We stressed the fundamentals — as far as I was concerned, t-ball is like organized sports with training wheels. It’s not about keeping score or winning, but about learning how to play as a team, and how to play baseball. Other coaches yelled at their players, “You’re not trying hard enough.” We just wanted the kids to make some effort at learning the skills.

One afternoon at practice, the ball was hit into the outfield. As the centerfielder chased after it, he ran alongside the ball until it stopped, then picked it up and threw it in to the infielder. Our other coach working in the outfield said, “You know, you don’t have to wait until the ball stops to pick it up.” “But I like to run,” the centerfielder said. You can’t argue with that, I guess. Nope, if sports teach you to have fun, you sure can’t argue with that.

So as these sports seasons converge, let’s recapture the joy of that 8-year-old running in the outfield. At the same time, it can’t hurt to root for the Cubs.

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