Everyone knows that throwing a tantrum after a losing game is bad
behavior. People will say that you are a sore loser, ill tempered or
more often than not, a bad sport. One should ask, why? Seriously, you
just lost a game; if you were a truly good sport, you would have won
right? Yes, of course, it has all been said and done; sport teaches
discipline or patience, or perseverance, or acceptance, or self worth,
or a hundred dozen other positive virtues. But if that really were
true, should not all our athletes be canonized as saints? Does Tiger
Woods not know how to swear? Will David Beckham never, ever do wrong?
Is Wayne Gretzky beyond bad manners? The point of the matter is, no
matter how well you play the game, or how much you have mastered a
sport, can one truly ever be, a fair sport?EvolutionLet
us face it; the human psyche is designed to reject the feelings of
defeat. We are genetically engineered to want to do better. Losing
triggers negative reactions from our mind, teaching us, training us,
evolving us to dislike losing. In fact, this factor, combined with our
natural level of self worth, or pride as others may put it, creates
intolerance to losing. This is how we humans moved from becoming cave
dwellers into penthouse suite residents. Somewhere, thousands
of years ago, early man decided he was not going to take a beating from
some mammoth ever again. Thus was born hunting, and the first sport man
partook in was that of survival; or so we assume, provided that there
is as of yet, no evidence that a primitive form of Texas Hold em Poker
has been found.Looking back on this, it is not so surprising
that we would like to swear our lungs out the next time we land on the
water hazard on the eighth hole. It is simply our genes telling us that
such poor performance is an unacceptable standard. That, and the fact
that it truly is frustrating to buy so many replacement golf balls.Letting the Steam OutIt
is inevitable that when playing competitive sports, someone has got to
lose, so why can not we all just be truly fair and let the loser belt
his frustrations out? When we win, we get to experience the glory, and
the gloating, in all its absolute glory. Who are we then to deprive our
opponent the right and opportunity to sulk, complain and make excuses
for having lost the game? Do we not all deserve a few moments to lick
our wounds? As much as people might say that winning is not everything,
it still feels better to win.Thus we now come to the conclusion
that we live in a world that is intolerant of both losing and feeling
sorry for losing. Those who lose are expected to still smile and cheer
on the victor. Indeed, by creating the label of sore loser we grant
no one the right or dignity to express a sense of emotional defeat when
experiencing loss.Calling it EvenIs it really
that bad? No, it is not. No amount of embarrassment, shame or
incompetence brought about by losing a fairly played game or match
would ever come close to the amount of fun and enjoyment we can get
from playing itself. Besides, the less time we spend feeling sorry for
losing, the faster we can start playing another round. GP
