Saturday Morning Sports Stories Posted On A Sunday

I have slept in four different beds in five nights. I haven't been able to really keep up with things, but two stories have stood out to me, the Mark Mangino story and the France-Ireland World Cup Qualifying game.

Jason Whitlock has a couple of commentaries on Mangino. This morning's article basically asks "How important is winning?" This is also the underlying question of the France-Ireland handball. At what lengths should coaches, organizations, teams, and player go to win? I played enough athletics to know that most coaches, organizations, and players would answer "anything within limits" to win. The limits differ, but the objective of sports is to win.

The things that bothers me about Mangino are the personal nature of his attacks, and his commitment to the idea that he is helping his players succeed in life. He probably has helped a lot of players do better than they would have if they didn't have a college scholarship. His "tough love" has probably helped a lot of players get past bad habits and lack of discipline. But what for? Winning college football games? I guess the question becomes is winning football games closely correlated with winning in life? I know they are somewhat correlated, but how closely?

It is the same thing with the France-Ireland thing. I know if I was Irish I would be pissed. I know the French feel that the win was tainted, but what is the right thing to do? And a bigger question, does the outcome of the game really matter in the grand scheme?

My philosophy has developed to the point where I believe the games don't matter as much as the seasons, and the seasons don't matter as much as the decades, and so forth.

The real thing that amazes me is that we are wealthy enough to care. Bill Simmons is paid millions of dollars to write about games. He gets to write a long column on one decision in one game that will in all likelihood not make a difference. And I get to read it even though I haven't slept in the same bed in consecutive nights this week.

Is the "win-at-all-costs" attitude what has gotten us to this place? Is the commitment to the attitude the difference between Bill Simmons success and writing a blog that no one reads? Is it the difference between six and five figures? Is it the difference between finishing and not finishing?