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October 31, 2006
winning and competition
I've posted enough pictures recently, so now we're back to words. I've always been competitive by nature (or is it nurture?), so if I get involved in something competitive it seriously affects my thoughts and emotions. The place where competition is most obvious is sports.
When I played high school basketball, I would sit on the bench (yes, I did a lot of that) and consciously try to make myself not care as much as I did, so that the sting of losing would not be so strong. Of course, we won far more games than we lost, so that was not much of a problem. As my esteemed teammate Courtney Hindman said once: "Winning is fun. Losing is not." At the time I thought that statement was a bit shallow, but now, looking back on my athletic career, I realize that winning was much more fun than losing. While our few losses often taught us important lessons (and engendered shouting lectures from our senior year coach), our wins were more fun. Simple as that.
Winning is fun when you're on a team, but I was never on a sports team in high school that actually won the whole shebang, and by that I mean the state championship. In middle school our eighth grade basketball team went undefeated and won the championship, which was sweet, albeit on a much smaller scale.
The only team for which I ever cheered that actually won state was the girls cross country team my senior year. I had quit my sophomore year but my sisters were on the team. I joined the tennis team, which also won state, but that was neither here nor there for me since I did not qualify for the state team. All this to say, the only meaningful "whole shebang" championship that I ever was a part of as a fan was that cross country team. But while cross country is a great sport and can be exciting, it still doesn't involve quick reactions in high-pressure situations that can make other sports very exciting (e.g. basketball, baseball, football).
As for college or professional sports, I have always been an Iowa football and basketball fan (college) and a St. Louis Cardinals fan (professional). Other than that, I haven't really connected myself to any team long-term (I went for the Utah Jazz back when they were playoff contenders, but that was just a brief stint, and they always lost to the Bulls). No Iowa teams have won any championship in my lifetime, and the last time the Cardinals won the World Series was in 1982, when I was eight months old. So when it comes to exciting "whole shebang" wins, I've never experienced any...until now.
It's hard to describe what it feels like to root for a team that actually won the whole thing, except that it feels pretty dang good. It feels good to know that I have been a fan of this team my whole life (not a diehard, follow-every-players'-stats sort of fan, but more of a I'm-attached-to-this-team-because-of-family-and-tradition sort of fan). So it's not like I jumped on the bandwagon at the last second when they started playing well. Even though I admit to being somewhat of a fair-weather fan, I still have stuck with this team, and that's what makes this World Series win so satisfying. My Red Sox fan professor congratulated me after class today and said, "Feels good, doesn't it?" Yes, it does feel good to win. Hence my remembrance of Courtney Hindman's words.
All this thinking has caused previous thoughts of mine to resurface regarding what competition will be like in heaven. Since winning feels so good, and IS so good, won't there be winning in heaven? But if there is winning, then there must be losing as well. The only conclusion that I can come to is that there will be competition, but there will be no sore losers. In other words, one team will win and the other will lose, fair and square, but there will be no gloating from the winners and no whining from the losers. At any rate, especially since I believe in continuity, I can't imagine a heaven without sports or any other kind of healthy competition. It's such a huge part of what we are as human beings, and in my mind it is not a result of the Fall, but simply tainted by it. Those are my .02 for the day.
| By heiders | 05:03 PM
Comments
Good post. I'm also reminded of Dave pointing out to Dad that high school kids would rather have their team win than get their fair share of playing time. That was certainly true for me.
On another note, yesterday I decided I will write my first book in heaven, since I doubt that will happen in this life.
Posted by: Anna at November 1, 2006 03:09 AM
Ther is a sense in which trash talking is fun (is this good-natured or "fake" gloating/soreness?). And trash talking always presupposes a "next time": hey it's okay you beat us this time because next time, we're gonna trounce you." "Oh yeah? Yeah? Bring it! We'll see who's better next time."
And so on. But in heaven, there will always be room for the "next time." So I suppose competition can continue forever and ever. There is always that "next time" for the losers to "make good." There is always that "next time" for the winners to prove their strength again.
You don't ever peak and then go "now what?" No Olympic medals at the age of 14 and then a life of obscurity.
At least, that is my pocket change, inspired by your .02.
Posted by: funke at November 1, 2006 09:08 AM
