Thursday, March 05, 2009
Was Christ a Winner?
CNS News covers a story about athletic competiton amongst "Christian" schools and a situation that has gotten way, way out of hand. One girls basketball team beat another 100-o and the wining schoo'ls administration asked the coach to apologize, he refused and is now out of work. Said the school:
Start with this - what is more humiliating? - to have played your hardest and lost big, or to have your opponent obviously tanking the game and still lose? I, for one, think the latter is far more humiliating. I have actually been through this.
My high school football coach was a great coach (went on to win several Division 3 national championships at Wheaton) and my senior year we had a great (undefeated, ranked #1) team. We shut out two of the opponents on our schedule that year scoring more than 50 points. Some of us on the sidelines took this as an opportunity to play around. We wanted to start switching jerseys and positions - you know offensive tackles playing wide out - that sort of stuff. While we did play the third and in some cases fourth string, we never did anything that would be obviously trying not to run the score up.
Somewhere in the second quarter when our #1 running back crossed the goal line, backwards, coach showed him the showers. We got the message real quick.
Humility is not a denial of our capabilities. Humility is thinking about the other, particularly as more important than yourself. It has nothing to do with winning or losing. Obviously tanking a game is rubbing your opponent's face in their lesser abilities. It is putting your own "sense" of humility first. It is not about asking what your opponent's needs are, it is about aswaging some misplaced guilt at being good.
We tend to forget that God is humble. He is good, competent, powerful, sinless, a winner, and He is humble. Winning, even winning big, does not demonstrate a lack of humility. Thinking that it does shows that one is thinking about winning and losing more than character and your opponent.
Oh, one last comment - In my athletic "career" I have also been the other end of the whole lopsided outcome thing - more than once. One time our opponent just played hard - as did we. We shook hands when it was over, our team took the lessons to practice and we got better. Next time we played them it was a near thing, and the year after that....
The other time the opposition got all showboat-y "trying not to run the score up." That's the one where the fight broke out.
Think about it.
Technorati Tags:jesus, winning, competition
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
On its Web site last week, Covenant, a private Christian school, posted a statement regretting the outcome of its Jan. 13 shutout win over Dallas Academy. "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition," said the statement, signed by Queal and board chair Todd Doshier.Said the coach:
"In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Web site, I do not agree with the apology or the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel embarrassed or ashamed," Grimes wrote in the e-mail, according to the newspaper. "We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity."At first glance, the whole thing seems ridiculous to me, but if one thinks about it, it gets interesting.
Start with this - what is more humiliating? - to have played your hardest and lost big, or to have your opponent obviously tanking the game and still lose? I, for one, think the latter is far more humiliating. I have actually been through this.
My high school football coach was a great coach (went on to win several Division 3 national championships at Wheaton) and my senior year we had a great (undefeated, ranked #1) team. We shut out two of the opponents on our schedule that year scoring more than 50 points. Some of us on the sidelines took this as an opportunity to play around. We wanted to start switching jerseys and positions - you know offensive tackles playing wide out - that sort of stuff. While we did play the third and in some cases fourth string, we never did anything that would be obviously trying not to run the score up.
Somewhere in the second quarter when our #1 running back crossed the goal line, backwards, coach showed him the showers. We got the message real quick.
Humility is not a denial of our capabilities. Humility is thinking about the other, particularly as more important than yourself. It has nothing to do with winning or losing. Obviously tanking a game is rubbing your opponent's face in their lesser abilities. It is putting your own "sense" of humility first. It is not about asking what your opponent's needs are, it is about aswaging some misplaced guilt at being good.
We tend to forget that God is humble. He is good, competent, powerful, sinless, a winner, and He is humble. Winning, even winning big, does not demonstrate a lack of humility. Thinking that it does shows that one is thinking about winning and losing more than character and your opponent.
Oh, one last comment - In my athletic "career" I have also been the other end of the whole lopsided outcome thing - more than once. One time our opponent just played hard - as did we. We shook hands when it was over, our team took the lessons to practice and we got better. Next time we played them it was a near thing, and the year after that....
The other time the opposition got all showboat-y "trying not to run the score up." That's the one where the fight broke out.
Think about it.
Technorati Tags:jesus, winning, competition
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
