To Win or Lose
How to win or lose the right way.
It was Saturday morning, the day of Timmy's first
baseball game of the season. He grabbed his glove,
hat, and cleats and headed out to the field. He had
butterflies in his stomach. He had never been both
this excited and nervous at the same time. Once he
got to the field, the scent of the freshly cut grass made
him smile. He was here and ready to go.
As the game went on, Timmy noticed that both teams
were equivalent and it was going to be a tight game. The
score went back and forth all game. Luckily, Timmy and
his team had last licks. They found themselves
down one run with two outs in the last inning. They had
runners on second and third, but there were two outs. It
was Timmy's turn to bat. He hit a high fly ball to center field.
Everything seemed to go into slow motion. You could
feel the tension in the air. The whole game was riding
on this one hit. The whole crowd was silent, all watching
one baseball. Timmy watched as the outfielder got
under the ball and put his glove up, just as he was
taught to do. He was so busy watching his hit that he
almost forgot to run. Just as the ball hit the outfielder's
glove, he dropped the ball. Timmy got a hit. Two runs
scored. Timmy just won the game for his team!
Timmy was so excited that he had just won the game, that he never looked out towards the outfield. The game was over. One team was celebrating at home plate, the other still out in the field in awe of what had just happened. The boy in center field just put his head down and ran to the dugout. He did not want to talk to anyone, he was too embarassed.
After all of the chaos has calmed down after the big
victory, Timmy glanced over towards the other dugout.
He was shocked to see how sad the other team looked.
He could hear them wispering "How could he drop that
ball, he lost the game for us". Timmy suddenly felt terrible.
How could his team treat him like that? He isn't perfect,
he dropped a ball, it's OK. He decided he wanted to do
something, but what?
Timmy left his team celebrating and headed to the
opposite dugout. He could see the outfielder walking
away while his team laughed at him. He must feel
terrible. Timmy approached the other team and asked
them why they are laughing, it's OK for people to make
mistakes. He then ran to catch up with the boy. They
talked for a few minutes about baseball, about how
even Derek Jeter drops a baseball sometimes. They
began to laugh about it. This made both Timmy and
the outfielder Patrick, now his friend, feel better about
this game. Plus, they have the rest of the season to go.
Timmy learned a very valuable lesson that Saturday. It is important to make sure you pay attention to other people's feelings. They say that "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me", but we know that statement is false. What Timmy showed today was good sportsmanship by supporting those that feel down when playing sports. Sports are fun, and they always should be.