Friday, September 03, 2004
RESEARCHERS PROVE IT IS "IF YOU WIN" NOT "HOW YOU PLAY THE GAME"
By Stockton
Most of us grew up hearing that age-old adage, "It's not if you win or lose, it's how you play the game." The adage is designed to encourage good sportsmanship in children. Kent Crowley, a researcher at John Hopkins, has just completed a ten year study that debunks that often repeated adage.
"Basically," said Crowley, "our research indicates that's a big pile of shit. Today, it doesn't matter how you play the game, it is 'if you win or lose'. And you know what? We think it has always been that way. The adage was merely a way to make a loser feel good about him or herself."
Crowley and a team of researchers study the adage for ten years. Their findings completely contradict what our mothers used to tell us.
- Not one obituary reviewed stated "....died on....he/she was known for being a good sport."
-Even historians didn't know who Thomas Hendricks was, despite his "good sportedness."
-No one could name the captain of the 1980 Soviet Olympic Hockey team.
-One person in ten could discuss Hubert Humphrey's accomplishments and those people got the accomplishments wrong.
-Michael Dukakis declined comment.
The researchers conducted a number of interviews during the course of the study. The findings are startling.
Multi-Billionaire Bill Gates is pretty happy having won his game. "I don't think I'd be where I am today if I worried about how I played the game."
Attorney General John Ashcroft feels the same way. "I lost to a dead guy and now I'm Attorney General of the United States."
Al Gore and Samuel Tilden presented an interesting anomaly for the researchers. Both Gore and Tilden played a good game, won and then lost anyway. "For Gore," says Crowley, "the adage might have to be changed. Something like, 'It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's who you know on the Supreme Court."
One change found by Crowley is what he calls vicarious bad sportitude. "Years ago, men and women were responsible for not only what they did, but what people did in their name. Now a man can have other people destroy an opponent, sit back and say it wasn't me, and still be called a good sport. You saw this with President George H.W. Bush and Lee Atwater. The gentlemanly George Bush left the dirty work to Atwater and was still able to look like a good sport and a winner."
The conclusion reached by Crowley will stimulate controversy for years to come. "Ultimately," says Crowely, "it appears that more people prefer to be rich, healthy winners to poor, sick losers who demonstrated good sportsmanship."
|
By Stockton
Most of us grew up hearing that age-old adage, "It's not if you win or lose, it's how you play the game." The adage is designed to encourage good sportsmanship in children. Kent Crowley, a researcher at John Hopkins, has just completed a ten year study that debunks that often repeated adage.
"Basically," said Crowley, "our research indicates that's a big pile of shit. Today, it doesn't matter how you play the game, it is 'if you win or lose'. And you know what? We think it has always been that way. The adage was merely a way to make a loser feel good about him or herself."
Crowley and a team of researchers study the adage for ten years. Their findings completely contradict what our mothers used to tell us.
- Not one obituary reviewed stated "....died on....he/she was known for being a good sport."
-Even historians didn't know who Thomas Hendricks was, despite his "good sportedness."
-No one could name the captain of the 1980 Soviet Olympic Hockey team.
-One person in ten could discuss Hubert Humphrey's accomplishments and those people got the accomplishments wrong.
-Michael Dukakis declined comment.
The researchers conducted a number of interviews during the course of the study. The findings are startling.
Multi-Billionaire Bill Gates is pretty happy having won his game. "I don't think I'd be where I am today if I worried about how I played the game."
Attorney General John Ashcroft feels the same way. "I lost to a dead guy and now I'm Attorney General of the United States."
Al Gore and Samuel Tilden presented an interesting anomaly for the researchers. Both Gore and Tilden played a good game, won and then lost anyway. "For Gore," says Crowley, "the adage might have to be changed. Something like, 'It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's who you know on the Supreme Court."
One change found by Crowley is what he calls vicarious bad sportitude. "Years ago, men and women were responsible for not only what they did, but what people did in their name. Now a man can have other people destroy an opponent, sit back and say it wasn't me, and still be called a good sport. You saw this with President George H.W. Bush and Lee Atwater. The gentlemanly George Bush left the dirty work to Atwater and was still able to look like a good sport and a winner."
The conclusion reached by Crowley will stimulate controversy for years to come. "Ultimately," says Crowely, "it appears that more people prefer to be rich, healthy winners to poor, sick losers who demonstrated good sportsmanship."
