Winning and Losing

We all like to win. But sometimes we get carried away with it enough so that we forget certain things.

I remember the episode of "Bewitched" where Samantha, who was hiding in Tabitha's preschool classroom, heard the teacher say, "It's all right to lose. But it's grand to win." To which Samantha rolled her eyes, as if to say, "THIS is what you're teaching my child?"

As I said, we all like to win. We often forget, however, that there are other things involved in competition. Like sportsmanship, for example.

A while ago, I wrote a column on how distracting foul shooters is not good sportsmanship, even though the NBA seems to condone it. Lately I have seen some of the cheerleading squads jump in at the high school level. Madison, in particular, has one "cheer" where they stand there squawking like some kind of sick bird when an opponent is at the foul line. Really??? I think it's time for the cheerleading coaches to re-evaluate what's important. I talked to two former HS basketball cheerleaders, who told me their squads never did that. One, in fact, said that they weren't allowed to. But we're in the 2010's now-- bigger, stronger, faster, ruder.

BTW, if Madison really wants to distract the foul shooters, it seems to me they shouldn't all "squawk" at the same time and pitch. They should just squawk randomly and at different pitches, so the shooter can't tell what is coming next. I shouldn't say this, because I am apt to give someone ideas. But I dare Madison to try that, and see how well that goes over. C'mon, girls. I dare you.

OSU's loss to Kentucky in the "Sweet 15 and one Sourpuss" has brought forth FB discussions that make me think of other issues. Some people think they didn't try hard enough. Now and then, that is an accurate assessment of a team's performance. But I think it is overused, and I don't think it applied here. The Wildcats had a good strategy, and OSU had an off-shooting night. For the most part, I think that was the explanation. But when a favorite loses, there will always be some that say that they didn't try hard enough.

I was amused by the announcer's assessment of the upset at game's end. He talked as though it was a huge one. In fact, the Buckeyes were 5 1/2 point favorites, which pretty much by definition makes it a mild one.

I think sometimes, tournaments make people forget their mathematics. True, OSU was the overall #1 seed. But it was commonly said that there is no dominant team in the tourney, and that going in, any one of 20 teams could walk away with the title. Now, consider Ky was a #4 seed. That's effectively equivalent to a #13-16 ranking. If such a team would have beaten OSU on a neutral floor during the regular season, sure the fans would have been disappointed. But it would have been considered a minor upset, and we would have heard about how one can expect these things during the course of the regular season.

Yes, the tournament is different from the regular season, and there are certain aspects in which teams prepare differently. But playing one's best is not something that can easily be controlled. Yes, the great players tend to ramp it up (thank you, Eric Wedge) when the game is bigger, but even they can't totally control how they play every game.

I go back to a former softball teammate of mine-- a longtime veteran of the local lots. She said that "When you take the field, you never know just who it is that is going out there. It could be Steve the hero, or Steve the goat. And I have learb=ned over time that you can't control it."

One other thing that I think probably all sports fans as well as athletes are sometimes guilty of, at least to a degree, is that we tend to take somewhat of a Machiavellian attitude. That is to say that we look at it as though we are the only ones who affect the situation.

For example, about 15 years ago, a friend of mine and I went to the Horseshoe in Columbus to cover the HS state track meet. Edgewood had a runner named Andy Greicius, who was one of the top distance runners in the state. I think it was the mile race we were watching, when Andy was winning, but eventually the guy in second place caught and passed him, and won.

My friend said something to the effect of how Greicius blew it, and I said something of the opposite opinion. My friend responded by saying, "When you run a race, you're supposed to go out there to win. You do everything you can to win."

I didn't say anything, because I didn't want to get into an argument. But though I couldn't disagree with the statement, shouldn't it apply to the other guy too? Don't you think he was doing everything within his power to win? Yes, you do everything you can to win, but in most races, especially of that level, there are others who are doing the same. Then it comes down to who is better that day, which might be because they are a better overall runner, or because they had a better strategy, or because the weather conditions favored them, or because one had a good day, or because one had an off day. Or a host of other reasons. You are not the only runner in the race, and the fact you are doing everything you can to win doesn't mean you are going to win. It does mean that you left everything on the track, and if you win, great. If you don't, you have nothing to regret.

Greicius tried his best. The fact that he did everything he could to try to win, or the fact he went to a school in our coverage area (which is what the comment in effect comes down to, when you think about it) doesn't mean he was going to win. And the fact he did not win doesn't mean he didn't do everything he could.

I suppose that being a fan of Cleveland pro sports teams helps us remember some of these issues. After all, our teams *never* win the championship (or they haven't, from 1964 to this point). I guess that as a result, there might be a tendency for us to think about some of the issues that go into them. Maybe that's why I spend so much time thinking about them...

The Dislike Button

Taking advantage of a grumpy mood to run down a few things that irritate me in one way or another. Hope I don't offend anyone. I'm sure not all of you will agree with all of them. Even the first one, I know some people won't agree at all:

*The North Face-- I'm sure they must make good products, because of the husiness they do. But anyone who is smug enough to put their name on BOTH sides of the product...

*The 3-point shot-- John Thompson once said that he would rather see a small circle around the basket, inside of which all baskets made count for 3 points. I wouldn't go that far, but he gets it. I get much more pleasure from seeing a team work for an easy shot than seeing someone heave one in from far outside. One fan I talked to said that the 3-pointer ruined basketball. Again, I wouldn't go that far. But it could disappear from all levels of basketball over the summer, and I wouldn't miss it.

*Warrensville Heights High School-- This is sad, in a way, because I spent my K-3 years in the system. But the high school, and really the whole system, has become a total disaster.

There are times when you need to sit down, think about things, and realize that what you have on your hands just does not work-- and then tear it down and start over. They really need to do this. Keep the expensive gym (a stupid use of money, given the state of things) and destroy everything else.

*Our country's continued resistance to revamping the health care system--Don't get me started.

More to come...

2 years already??

My dad, Myron W. "Bill" Goldman, passed away two years ago today.

I can't believe that much time has gone by already.

I still catch myself thinking that I have to pick up the phone to call dad to tell him something, or that he's doing something in his condo near Shaker Square. But then again, I still catch myself having similar thoughts about my mom. She passed away in 1991.

When my grandmother passed away in 1987, dad said he felt like an orphan. I thought that sounded strange at the time. Actually, I didn't identify with that until recently. Now I'm starting to feel that way sometimes.

That "circle of life" stuff doesn't apply to everyone-- I don't have any children of my own-- but I do feel that in some ways, my role in the human race has shifted a bit. I used to depend on my parents for everything when I was a lot younger. I don't have anyone depending on me in quite the same way, but now, as someone who has passed the median age (not sure what that is or when I passed it, but I know I have), there are many people who depend on people of my age group to lead the way in certain aspects, I guess.

Dad passed away at 4:15 a.m., March 14, 2009, peacefully in a hospice at Montefiore. He had lived the prior 60+ years in the Cleveland area after being born and raised in Auburn, NY, getting his degree from Cornell University and serving in the Navy in the Pacific in WWII.

My sisters and I have tons of fond memories, from the entire span of time we shared. And I'm very glad that he got to know all 3 of his granddaughters. (My mom passed away before the oldest one was born.)

I'm thinking of you today, dad. I do every day.

Various short comments

I'll have some comments that are very short-- often one-liners.

Here's the first one: Shouldn't that annoying baby on the e-trade commercials be an annoying toddler by now?

(If you look close, you can see that the so-called actors change periodically-- which, of course, they have had to.)

OK, I'm going to add the second one, since the occasion came when my pizza arrived as I was writing the above:

The pizza came with coupons that expire 2/28/11. How generous!!

Bracketology

Go Buckeyes!

I have watched so much NCAA basketball over the last several days, and the big dance hasn't even begun yet!

Unfortunately, given the amount of HS basketball I watch during the winter, and given that most of whatever time I have left that I wish to devote to bball usually goes to the Cavs (yes, I'm a die-hard), I don't get to see much college basketball through most of the season. Now I finally have the chance. I'm always interested, whether or not the Buckeyes are good.

One thing I wanted to say about the interview with selection committee chairman (also OSU AD) Gene Smith. Or rather, something I would like to say *to* him: Dude, why even bother?

Most of that interview settled or accomplished nothing. For example, the first question he was asked was why Colorado was omitted from the field. I'm paraphrasing here, but his answer was something like this:

"Colorado is a good team. We considered them seriously. There were 15 criteria on our nitty-gritty list. Different committee members placed different values on the various criteria. In the end, Colorado received less votes than other teams, because too many committee members felt there were other teams that were more deserving."

Ummm, gee, thanks. That really clears THAT up.

Anyway, the tournament should be fun, as always. I don't think there are any real juggernaut teams, but I hope I'm wrong, and Ohio State turns out to be one, and the biggest one...

Snow Day

As my neighbor just said to me as I trudged into the house, I thought this was pretty much behind us.

We have a snow day at work. I didn't know, but rather than check first I decided to go in anyway, because I have work to do. But when I got there, I could see there was a chance my car would get stuck going into the lot. Having had a similar experience at home recently, I got disgusted and decided to go home.

When I got home, I found that I couldn't get into my driveway. (My snow plow guy has apparently decided to take a snow day too.) I tried to park on the street, but I was unable to do that. Feeling as though I was out of options, I parked in a major lot about a half-mile from here, and walked home. (I realize this is contradictory in some ways from what I did at work, but there are differences which I won't go into now.

Here's my main point: I hate inter. I hate the snow, and I hate the ice. I especially hate driving in wintry conditions.

There's really no reason for me to be in this part of the country, except for the ties that I have here. My dad pretty much felt the same way. He once told me that if he were going to move to a warmer climate, the time to do it would have been after he got his social work degree at SASS (of CWRU). Me too. Not SASS, but after I graduated from college. The fact is, I thought about it before and at that time, but it would have been a Herculean task for me, given the circumstances, which were that I was very shy at that time. (I found out later that I had what is now called Social Anxiety Disorder, which I don't think had even been discovered yet.)

Well, then again, if dad had moved, he wouldn't have met mom (and to quote Edith Bunker, "and Gloria would have looked different"). Had I moved, there are things that wouldn't have happened.

Still, I think about moving, although I doubt I will, at least for a long time. There are too many things that tie me here that are very important to me.

I have always liked two of the seasons. And in more recent years, I have come to appreciate fall, once I am able to put aside the fact that it reminds me that winter is coming. But to me, about the only redeeming value that winter has is that if you leave something with mayonnaise in your car overnight, it might still be safe to eat.

One person I know told me he adapted to winter by learning how to ski. Well, the metal pin in my shoukler has an issue with that. Actually, the more important thing is that I didn't like skiing before I got hurt (in 1980). As a rule, I don't at all like to feel as if I am not in control of my feet. That goes for ice skating and roller skating, as well as other things. And even if I liked skiing, that wouldn't make up for the driving. So either I am stuck, or I will move. Maybe someday...