A PARABLE ABOUT LOSING

A PARABLE

Once upon a time, there was a football championship game. The Silvers were the defending champions, but the Golds had a good team. The contest was close and hard fought. In the end the Golds won the game and claimed the championship.

They knew how hard it was to lose a title game. Last year it was the Silvers who had won, and the Golds had to suffer the humbling reality that they had been beaten.

The coach of the Golds remembered how hard it was to display good sportsmanship at the post game interview last year. He took to the bank of microphones and said, “I want to congratulate the Silvers on their hard- fought victory. They are a great team. I am proud of our guys for giving 100%. It was good for the game to have two teams put on such a great battle. We fought hard, but they prevailed. We will turn our attention to next season and try to get better.

But this year was different. This year he would give a victory speech. “What a great game it was. We beat a very good team. Those guys fought hard and they have noting to be ashamed of. They gave it all they had as did our team. Once again this championship game was a wonderful example of how this game is supposed to be played.”

When the coach of the Silvers came to the podium, people expected him to congratulate the winners and thank his team for their good effort. Instead, this was his reaction. “What a travesty! We really won this game. The league should overturn this result. They cheated. The refs were paid off. Even the scoreboard operators were in on it. They put too many points on the board for them and took points away from us. They were holding on every play. They greased up the ball so we could not catch it. They moved the yard lines so that we were short of first downs. I will not concede that we lost, and I will not congratulate them because they did not win.”

When asked if he had any proof of these claims of cheating, he said, “I am sure we will find some. We could not have lost this game. We are so much better than they are.”

Though the golds have received the Trophy and the parade is planned, the coach of the Silvers will still not acknowledge that his team lost and that the Golds are now the champions.

Which of these coaches honored the integrity of the game?