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Everyone's a winner in girls' 400 relay (Nice story)
Pittsburg Post-Gazette ^ | Mike White

Posted on 05/13/2005 11:16:27 AM PDT by fso301

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To: poobear
Big "f"ing deal. One of them fell. Relays alway run the risk of one of runners falling. Geez!

Oh, if only that big, bag hockey team would've "taken back" some of the goals they scored on me in the state tournament . . . my team might have made it out of the first round, and then I'd know what it feels like to be a winner! Sniff, sniff.

41 posted on 05/13/2005 11:40:06 AM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: Semper Paratus
Similar to a basketball player for a girls HS team who broke her foot and was 1 point shy of the school record and the other team let her hobble downcourt for an uncontested layup.

Sounds like a plot line to a King of the Hill episode.

42 posted on 05/13/2005 11:41:28 AM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: Hemingway's Ghost
Oh, if only that big, bag hockey team would've "taken back" some of the goals they scored on me in the state tournament . . .

If only Chris Webber didn't call time out....

If only Scott Norwood would have kicked it through the uprights.....

If only, if only, if only.........

43 posted on 05/13/2005 11:43:27 AM PDT by gdani
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To: Redcloak
Agreed. Bigtime. I ran track. I wasn't good at it and used it to keep in shape for football. Falling and bad baton exchanges is part of the game.
44 posted on 05/13/2005 11:43:41 AM PDT by Dan from Michigan ("Fire Stabenow in 2006")
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To: gdani
If only, if only, if only.........

If only Donovan McNabb didn't have a tummy ache . . . maybe Belichick should give the Iggles a do-over?

45 posted on 05/13/2005 11:44:32 AM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: Trailerpark Badass
Which would be a far more valuable lesson for these children than any glory they might attain winning some stupid high sports competition.

Who knows, someday down the road, maybe one of these girls will be an Olympian trailing the leader and the leader falls but remembering what happened to her in high school, she will on live worldwide television do the same.

Maybe it won't be public but for these girls advancing "underservedly", sometime down the road, this event will remain with them and they will hopefully do the same to someone.

46 posted on 05/13/2005 11:45:00 AM PDT by fso301
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To: vollmond
Somewhere, somehow, someone other than the runners benefited from this.

Their parents, who ran thier kids around the lat 15 years trying to help their kids do well in sports. < /I gotta run my girls to softball lacrosse swimming and dance this weekend!>

47 posted on 05/13/2005 11:45:11 AM PDT by ctlpdad
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To: Hemingway's Ghost
After all, why not give someone else a chance to feel groovy? Probably the only way the Lions will ever win a Super Bowl.
48 posted on 05/13/2005 11:46:51 AM PDT by Dan from Michigan ("Fire Stabenow in 2006")
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To: fso301
THIS is a prime example why women aren't as effective in leadership roles as men are. Nor should they be as trusted to make the right decisions when the chips are down and hard decisions need to be made.

Sure, it's a feel good story, but for goodness sake, they LOST!

49 posted on 05/13/2005 11:49:44 AM PDT by Balding_Eagle (God has blessed Republicans with really stupid enemies.)
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To: Hemingway's Ghost

"Good winners don't step aside so that the loser can win."



Well said. This to me is the crux of the matter. Losing is the toughest thing in sports but its also the strongest motivator and the best teacher. A winner who denies a loser his loss is selfish. Your point seems to be a profundity lost on some.


50 posted on 05/13/2005 11:50:09 AM PDT by macamadamia
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To: dsmatuska
Even better sportsmanship would have been to urge the other teams not to step aside.

I agree. I wouldn't want to win thanks to the pity of others. That's not a win.

51 posted on 05/13/2005 11:50:42 AM PDT by Gator101
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To: fso301

Suppose one of the other teams...one that everyone thought had no chance of winning were leading the race and dropped the baton. Do you think this gesture of good will would have been extended to them?


52 posted on 05/13/2005 11:51:05 AM PDT by Senior Chief (Here I am, right where I left myself.)
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To: fso301

Sorry, this is WRONG WRONG WRONG AND WRONG


53 posted on 05/13/2005 11:51:27 AM PDT by OldFriend (MAJOR TAMMY DUCKWORTH.....INSPIRATIONAL)
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My daughter's High School track team has been state champions for three years in a row. The 4 x 400 relay team ran their best ever time in the state final last year and still lost to a faster team. It happens. Move on. Competition makes everyone better in the long run. You win or you lose. Geesh!


54 posted on 05/13/2005 11:52:53 AM PDT by Rocket1968 (No more Daschle - No more Daschle)
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To: kabar

Sounds to me like the Norwin girls were tired of having track practice everyday after school and were anxious to start having fun in the nice weather. The girls from Norwin I played basketball against in 1988 wouldn't have done this...of course they were (beep). ;) Just kidding


55 posted on 05/13/2005 11:54:07 AM PDT by WV Mountain Mama (Behind every successful man is a woman rolling her eyes.)
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To: Senior Chief
Suppose one of the other teams...one that everyone thought had no chance of winning were leading the race and dropped the baton. Do you think this gesture of good will would have been extended to them?

No, which is why for this really to be a complete example of sportsmanship, the team that lost should have refused the other teams offer of forfeiture.

That still shouldn't take away from what the forfeiting girls did.

56 posted on 05/13/2005 11:54:16 AM PDT by fso301
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To: macamadamia
Well said. This to me is the crux of the matter. Losing is the toughest thing in sports but its also the strongest motivator and the best teacher. A winner who denies a loser his loss is selfish. Your point seems to be a profundity lost on some.

Why thank you. The hockey teams I played for gave me a lot of experience in losing!

57 posted on 05/13/2005 11:54:45 AM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: Hemingway's Ghost
Baloney: good sportsmanship means being a good winner and a good loser. Good winners don't step aside so that the loser can "win.",/i>

I think that decision is best left to the winners. There have been instances when a tennis player or golfer will overrule a call or admit an unseen error in the name of sportsmanship. Lutz Long helped his opponent Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympics. Michael Phelps gave up his earned spot on the relay team to give a teammate a shot. There are plenty of historical examples of sportsmanship. Winning is not everything, nor the only thing.

58 posted on 05/13/2005 11:54:48 AM PDT by kabar
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To: Hemingway's Ghost

I completely agree. The team failed, regardless of how good they were. The Jets were the best team in football, before meeting the Colts in Superbowl III. Namath guaranteed the win by a the underdog and came through 16-7, and I don't recall seeing Baltimore step down from the World Champions dais, because they thought NY was the better team.

To quote one of my new favorite movies, The Incredibles: "They keep finding new ways to celebrate mediocrity. It's insane!" -Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) and Helen Parr (Elastigirl) :"Everybody's special, Dash." Dash Parr: "Which is another way of saying no one is."


59 posted on 05/13/2005 11:56:52 AM PDT by the lone haranguer (Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia)
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To: beaversmom
ping
60 posted on 05/13/2005 11:57:17 AM PDT by onef
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