Losing out on their time to shine

Sporting News, The, March 7, 1994 by Richard Lapchick

This winner-take-all tone is a no-win proposition for American athletes

What does it tell us about American if we portray athletes, coaches and teams as "losers" if they don't win a gold medal, the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the World Series, the Final Four or a national title in college football?

If speedskater Dan Jansen had not won the 1,000 meters in the Olympics, would we still be weeping for him because he had missed seven previous attempts at gold medals in four separate Olympic Games?

Because Jansen obviously is a nice guy who has endured tough times, the talk about being a loser and choking was more like a whisper. But it was there. This man had made four Olympic teams, a feat only a handful had accomplished. Even if he had lost the 1,000-meter race, he should have been viewed a hero. Should have, but it wouldn't have happened that way. It would have been like all the he-can't-win-the-big-one stories after the 500-meter race.

There were no whispers about the Buffalo Bills. If the media accurately reflected fans across America, then we didn't want to see the Bills in the Super Bowl again because they already were proven losers. Three strikes and you should be out. Don't spoil the part again. But they were there and lost again. According to some, the Bills were the worst losers ever. But how is it that we can't see that these men and their coach made it to four consecutive Super Bowls? In this winner-take-all society, that news is only part of Monday's trash.

The Orange Bowl between Nebraska and Florida State, which was to decide the national championship, was supposed to be a laugher because Nebraska and Coach Tom Osborne were 8-12 in bowl games, including six consecutive losses. Losers and chokers. Never mind that Osborne has college coaching's 10th-highest winning percentage ever. He can't win the big one. If a couple of questionable calls had gone the other way, Nebraska would have won and it would have been called a great upset.

It's not new. In the early 1980s the word was out that North Carolina Coach Dean Smith couldn't bring home the final prize. It seemed no different in 1982 when Georgetown's Fred Brown had the ball and Georgetown had a chance to win in the closing seconds. The dirge for Carolina was being hummed when Brown threw the pass into James Worthy's hands and suddenly North Carolina was the national champion. The stigma was gone, Smith was a winner. He always was, and his astonishing winning percentage should prove it.

The end of the 1986 baseball season provided two of the worst examples of calling winners "losers." In the American League playoffs, California ace Donnie Moore, his team on the verge of a World Series berth, yielded a game-tying home run to Dave Henderson of the Red Sox.

In Game 6 of the '86 World Series, Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner let a grounder go through his legs that allowed the winning run. Instead of winning the game and the Series, the Sox lost both and the Mets were world champions. At that point, Buckner had a 17-year career batting average of .292.

How did the world look at Moore and Buckner after their mistakes? The pressure was so intense that Moore had a breakdown and finally committed suicide. His wife said the pitch led to it all. The grounder definitely led to years of anguish for Buckner, who finally moved from the Boston area in 1993 when acquaintances of his children continued to torment them about the '86 Series.

America has become addicted to this new concept of winning: There is only one winner -- everyone else loses. I believe it is a malaise that is distorting our self-image. With all due respect to Charles Barkley, our children definitely look to athletes and coaches as role models. If 12-year-olds discern that people who have overcome enormous odds to make the pros or the Olympics are being called losers, what will they think their chances for success will be?

How many kids choose not to play sports because they fear being called a loser? Without the pressure, playing sports can teach positive social and life skills. There is little doubt that this sideline-sitting contributes to American kids being among the least physically fit in the world.

Let's get them back in the game and let them have fun playing sports. They can be winners whether they achieve that ultimate victory.

Participation is what sports are supposed to be all about.

Richard Lapchick is director of Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society and a regular columnist for The Sporting News.