Is second place the first loser?

Ormond Beach Observer
Sports

The first organized sporting event I ever played was a middle school football game, and with less than a minute left in the fourth quarter, my team was down 33-0 against our crosstown rivals. I was furious. But when we got the ball, on the first play, I ran for a long touchdown to erase the shutout, and I gave our fans something to cheer for. As selfish as it may sound, I left that game feeling a lot better than I would have, had I not scored that touchdown.

This past weekend, I had the privilege of watching hundreds of high school student-athletes compete at the FHSAA Track & Field Championships at the University of North Florida. While many sought the coveted gold medal, only one could stand in the middle of the podium, bend his/her head down and then look up into the stands with a big smile and a new, shining medallion gracing his neck.

For some, winning would have felt great, but doing better than expected didn’t feel bad either. As Matanzas’ Tahiem Shakir waited for his fifth-place medal for the high jump, he conversed with his fellow opponents with his characteristic smile and friendly personality, and then he hugged and congratulated his teammates, Savannah and Kinley Drummonds, on their fourth- and fifth-place pole vault finishes.

“A lot of the guys kept saying they didn’t want an eighth-place finish, but how many people can say they’re the Top 10 in the state in anything,” Shakir said.

There was also a girls 4x100 relay team that took third place, and they seemed happier than the gold-medal winners. They never stopped smiling, waving and laughing on the podium, and when they heard how fast they ran, their joy multiplied. If only the same thing could be said about another third-place winner…

A female runner, from Miami North West, exhibited the worst sportsmanship from all the participants I saw. When some athletes didn’t get first, they planted their faces in their hands, while others just took some time to themselves. Not this one. After refusing to smile on the podium, she refused to take a customary picture with the winner and second-place finisher, who was on her team, and when she hopped off the podium, she threw her medal in the dirt and walked away. Some people say she’s ultra-competitive. Others will call her a sore loser.

How do you view everything after first place? Are everyone losers, or are there winners, in their own rights?

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