As I watched a boatload of some really compelling college football games this weekend, I became emotional. Not a shock for those that know me, but here is my point. I felt bad for those people that have never felt the incredible high of winning, or suffered the despair of losing.
Seeing these young men, after each game, laughing, crying, hugging, and kneeling reminded me of so many times on the field of sport that I felt all those emotions myself. I know exactly how the winners felt, exalted by reaching a goal they had set for themselves, likely when they were just starting to play sports, of winning a championship.
Unfortunately I know, all too well, how the players on the other side of the field felt as they supported each other after failing to achieve their goal. The overwhelming heaviness of losing is indescribable, unless you have put yourself out there, and lost.
As Billie Jean King said above, winning and losing teaches you about life. Sometimes the lessons suck, and sometimes life can be wonderful, but if you never give yourself a chance to experience either, life can be empty.
Trust me, nobody enjoys losing. Not in sports, not in love, and not in life. Losing is hard, winning is the easy part. The journey in getting to either, that is what makes life so sweet. All the work, all the frustrations, all the learning, that is what makes the highs so high, and the lows so low.
It doesn't matter if you play pickleball, or weekend golf, playing in a competition where someone, or some team, will be crowned the champion is an experience that you must put yourself in at least once in your life. To experience winning, or losing, even just one time is worth doing so.
If all you do is watch someone else trying, well, then you end up like these idiots.
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