WINNING AND LOSING-"Winning isn't
everything, it's the only thing!" Red
Sanders/Vince Lombardi
"Half the teams lose! Bill Gaffey
| "Winning isn't everything. it's the only thing."
is quoted much more than "it's not that you won or lost, but how you played
the game!" And no one uses the quote, "Half of the teams lose!" What few people want to accept is the fact that every time a basketball game is played, one team wins and one team loses. That means that every Tuesday or Friday or any day that games are played, half the teams lose. There are over 200 games in Pennsylvania every Tuesday or Friday or other day, and unfortunately half the teams lose. But most fans, especially parents do not want to accept the fact that half the teams lose. This of course does not apply to professional football where ties can still occur even though many of the players did not know. That happened recently when the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cincinnati 'Bungles' tied. Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb when interviewed after the game admitted he didn't know. But that's another story. We are discussing high school basketball. This past week, Mike White of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Jodie Thomas, mother of Beaver Falls football star receiver Todd Thomas, got onto the field after the WPIAL football playoff game between Aliquippa and Beaver Falls, and attacked Beaver Falls coach Ryan Matsook by yelling in his face and bumping him before being restrained. The Beaver Falls Tigers were 3-6 the season before he took over, but he has guided the Tigers to the WPIAL title game the past two seasons and his record is 28-7 record in his short, but interesting tenure.
And in a news conference after the game, Todd Thomas was asked if
Aliquippa's defense had him frustrated. He said, "No, I guarantee
you -- and you all hear me say this -- in basketball we're going to win it
all. Seriously. We're not going to lose a game."
And the way his mother behaves, the basketball coach better see to it that they "win it all." Because remember, we are discussing the reality of high school basketball. Half of the teams lose! Now, we
will have to follow the Beaver Falls Tigers during basketball and see
first if they win, then watch how the parents behave if they don't.
This is just another example of why schools have to play games behind
closed doors and restrict fans from attending. But it is also an example
of the sad reality, that many people will not accept, the fact that -Half
of the teams lose! |
UCLA football coach "Red"
Sanders, in 1950, at a physical education workshop, told the group:
"Men, I'll be honest. Winning isn't everything. Men, it's the only
thing!" Vince Lombardi had long been linked to the quote, but
he claimed to have been misquoted. What he intended to say was "Winning
isn't everything. The will to win is the only thing." “It's not that you won or lost but how you played the game," "When you're young
you believe it when people tell you how good you are. And that's the danger,
you inhale. Everyone will tell you you're a genius, which you are not, and
if you understand that, you win." "Sometimes you play
well and deserve to win but you end up losing. The most important thing for
us is to make sure we're consistent throughout the season." "A champion needs a motivation above and beyond
winning." "Every Tuesday or Friday or any day games are played, half the teams
lose." "We're not going to lose a basketball game." Credits: |
Past editorials HERE