On Sportsmanship

Recently, I've read several stories about high school sports matches that ended up in lopsided scores. Oh well, it happens. During my sophomore or junior year, our school's football team lost 55-2 so we laughed about it from the stands.

It bothers me, then, that there are people that feel the need to complain on behalf of the losing team, that routing an opponent is unsportsmanlike, and that players and coaches of the winning team should burn in hell. Typically, in these cases, the losing team issues a comment defending the winning team's actions.

Now, my high school didn't exactly have a reputation for strong athletic performance. As a former high school athlete, I was involved in many games that involved blowout scores. Being on the losing end of this was pretty disappointing, but what I hated most about it was that there would be a "mercy rule" where the game would automatically end when there was a certain score difference. I didn't care if I was losing by one point or a hundred points, I just wanted to play.

When high school students lose a sports match, they don't need to be pampered and hugged and given some brownies. This is particularly true when the opponent is known to be a significantly better team. You were expecting a loss in the first place, so you just get on with it. Look at what (if anything) went well and learn from what the opponent did better. Going home crying because the other team beat you by a lot is unacceptable past age five.

In fact the only thing more humiliating than a resounding defeat would be to learn that your opponent played easy because they thought your feelings would be hurt if they didn't. In fact that would be quite the opposite of sportsmanship, which I think is playing fair but as hard as possible. To not do so would be disrespectful. Stop bickering.