RE: 5 straight

["Sampath, Venkatesh" <Venkatesh.Sampath@microcell.ca>]

Hi Caleb,
             Let me start off by saying that this is a disagreement and
not an intention to flame. I take exception to the two statements: 

>1) Winning truly is the only thing in
    sports.    
>
>2) Dave Cowens said it best when he said "losing is like death."  

If winning were the only thing in sports, can you please tell me what
happens to the those who don't win? Since only one person or one team
can win at a time, the other person or team is a loser. So, if losing is
like death, then anyone who loses might as well die. 

I strongly believe in "playing the game in the spirit of the game."
(That's not mine, it's J. Nehru's.) You play hard and you play to win.
But if you don't and you have still given of your best, that's what
matters. You always try to come back the next time and win. There are no
absolutes in sports, just as there are no absolutes in life. Simply
because you win on a given day doesn't make a loser out of your opponent
- - getting to that stage of the championships would be impossible if the
opponent were a loser. Your opponent would be a loser if losing a game
resulted in his/her/their giving up the game altogether.   
 
>The great ones refuse to be happy with anything less than a
>championship, and not coincidentally, that attitude is essential for
>winning a championship.

Exactly. So the loser goes home, does his homework, comes back and wins
the title the next time around. 

Maybe it's just me or maybe it's the American psyche that I don't
understand. But to say that only no. 1 counts and nos. 2, 3, etc. don't
amount to anything at all is a statement I can't, and will not, buy. The
effort that every person puts into his or her work does, in the final
analysis, matter.

Again, please note that I am not trying to discredit anybody. You have
your opinion, I have mine.

venkat