Tym Glaser, Associate Editor (Sport)
TUESDAY WAS just like any other day: I woke up (which is always a good start); counted my fingers and toes (all 20 still present and accounted for) ... ; picked up The Gleaner off the balcony ... ; and then my world turned upside down.
In startling black and white, right before my eyes, I read the sporting unthinkable: The Jamaica cricket team, needing only four runs for victory against the Leewards at Kensington, accepted the umpires' offer of bad light the previous afternoon and trundled off the ground for a draw - a draw! A DRAW, I say!
Now, I don't know about you, but I was brought up to play games to win from cricket, tennis and Aussie Rules to Trivial Pursuit, Cluedo and chess, my objective was victory nothing more, nothing less.
Nothing wrong with that, everybody did. Heck! It wouldn't be fun if I wanted to win and my opponent(s) just were playing for (get this) fun.
Remember that hoary chestnut: "It's not if you win or lose but how you play the game"? What a crock. It's all about winning, baybee.
Well, it was until Monday, November 28, at about 5:00 p.m. when Jamaica's procrastinating final pair chose the haven of the dressing room over glory.
Sure, they might have lost but so what? This is sport, it happens.
Now, if I was the captain of Jamaica, there would be no way I'd allow them in the club house. One of them had been hit, the Jamaica 'brains trust' argued after the draw. Boo, hoo, this is sport and pain's part of the deal.
It was too dark, they said.
To see what? The pedestrian medium pace of Adam Sanford?
SANFORD OR US
Nope, when that final duo looked to the clubhouse for stay-or-go advice, I would have made sure they got the message by lining up the rest of my side just in front of the building and swinging their bats like cudgels and say something like: "Sanford or us, boys ... your choice". I'm kinda sure they would have batted on.
Still, maybe I've got this all wrong and there's nothing wrong with getting in touch with your more feminine side and not going for victories but rather basking in the fun of competition.
Yeah, draws just may be cool. Let's take away things like extra time and sudden-death shoot-outs. Let 'em draw, tie, stalemate.
Just imagine how much fun that would be. Michael Jordan ... Bulls down by two ... clock running down ... game about to end. Does he put up a dagger-in-the-heart three to win the World Championship?
Nah, sah. He dishes the ball inside to Luc Longley for a two and a TIE. Ultra-cool.
Tiger Woods ... 18th green at Augusta ... fourth round ... 20-foot putt to win Masters by a stroke. Does he try to drain that baby? No way! He lags it up to two feet for an easier two putt and DRAWS. Green jacket shared, you beauty.
It just doesn't quite seem the same to me, though. Something's missing. Oh, I know what it is: the essence of sport. Why compete if you're not doing it to win?
As the great Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi once said: "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing". I'm with him.
