Sazar
07-28-09, 07:12 PM
The attitudes in sports in the USA basically SUCK.
It's win at all costs. You lose, you are a failure. And the people setting the standards are couch potatoes who could never dream of being a star in the first place.
2 recent examples. USA soccer's de-facto B team lost to Mexico 5-0 on home soil and all of a sudden, the google news feed was full of stories of how over-rated the team was and how awful a loss this was and so forth.
Internationally, other countries and professional teams play their B squads and under 19 or under 21 squads all the time and they lose as well. I don't see anyone condemning their national sides this badly when they were obviously in a situation that didn't mean THAT much. Soon the full strength squads will compete and we can decide whats up then.
In the meantime, all the new "experts" should stfu and sit down. They obviously haven't got a clue what they are on about.
The 2nd example is Michael Phelps losing to a german swimmer.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/more/07/28/phelps.coach.ap/index.html
Reading Phelps comments and his coaches, it's almost like he's not supposed to lose to anyone else. All of a sudden the new suits that others have which are better than Phelps' suit is cheating? What about at the Olympics when he won 8 golds? He had a better suit than most of the competition (Speedo had the best suit then). Do we throw out those victories?
I didn't hear other swimmers throw hissy-fits and whine about losing. I didn't hear their coaches calling out the swimsuits and saying the records should be tossed.
However, we have elevated him to such a level that if he doesn't succeed, its because he's not 100% (a la Serena Williams who apparently has never lost a match in her life) or because the other guy had a better suit.
His perception is a direct result of us raising him to this level that he is just expected to walk in and claim the prize, he almost shouldn't even be expected to try (even though he trains so hard). Others train too and deserve the respect and congratulations for WINNING instead of excuses being made. Lebron's team lost to a better TEAM and yet he threw a hissy fit.
You can't always win and learning that even the loser is performing at an amazing level should be taken into consideration and their performance appreciated.
It's win at all costs. You lose, you are a failure. And the people setting the standards are couch potatoes who could never dream of being a star in the first place.
2 recent examples. USA soccer's de-facto B team lost to Mexico 5-0 on home soil and all of a sudden, the google news feed was full of stories of how over-rated the team was and how awful a loss this was and so forth.
Internationally, other countries and professional teams play their B squads and under 19 or under 21 squads all the time and they lose as well. I don't see anyone condemning their national sides this badly when they were obviously in a situation that didn't mean THAT much. Soon the full strength squads will compete and we can decide whats up then.
In the meantime, all the new "experts" should stfu and sit down. They obviously haven't got a clue what they are on about.
The 2nd example is Michael Phelps losing to a german swimmer.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/more/07/28/phelps.coach.ap/index.html
Reading Phelps comments and his coaches, it's almost like he's not supposed to lose to anyone else. All of a sudden the new suits that others have which are better than Phelps' suit is cheating? What about at the Olympics when he won 8 golds? He had a better suit than most of the competition (Speedo had the best suit then). Do we throw out those victories?
I didn't hear other swimmers throw hissy-fits and whine about losing. I didn't hear their coaches calling out the swimsuits and saying the records should be tossed.
However, we have elevated him to such a level that if he doesn't succeed, its because he's not 100% (a la Serena Williams who apparently has never lost a match in her life) or because the other guy had a better suit.
His perception is a direct result of us raising him to this level that he is just expected to walk in and claim the prize, he almost shouldn't even be expected to try (even though he trains so hard). Others train too and deserve the respect and congratulations for WINNING instead of excuses being made. Lebron's team lost to a better TEAM and yet he threw a hissy fit.
You can't always win and learning that even the loser is performing at an amazing level should be taken into consideration and their performance appreciated.