Tom Hanks famously said in “A League of Their Own’” that “There’s no crying in baseball!” and for the most part that should be kept to. There’s a sense of toughness in athletics and to show emotion in such a way will be considered weakness and opponents will use it to their advantage. I would agree with that unspoken rule except for one thing. If you give everything you have, put every ounce of determination you have into something and have your goal come within your grasp only to not reach it, then yes, you can show that sort of emotion. It only proves the fact that you are in the moment and playing with your heart and that is admirable.
This comes to mind because last weekend, the Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Florida Gators in the SEC Title Game and in doing so ended Tim Tebow’s goal of going undefeated and winning the National Title in his final year of college football. As the clock was ticking away it became apparent that Florida would not win and Tebow came to the realization of his failed goal, the camera showed him crying and a national TV audience saw him at his lowest point.
Today, if you were to Google the words “Tebow crying” you would come up with numerous posts, videos and blogs criticizing him for crying on the field. I don’t agree with them. I think it just shows that he’s a competitor that gives his all and wants nothing more than to win. Tebow did go shake hands with Alabama players after so it’s not like he ran away crying. He was still able to be enough of a sportsman to acknowledge a good game by the victors even when it crushes your dreams. That’s something everyone should look at and take note.
I’m not saying I want to see every everyone crying after a loss. Far from it. This was the last step before reaching a goal. It was so close but all of the hard-work, determination and energy was not to be. Championship games are a place for emotions because everything is on the line and anything afterwards is just a consolation prize. Athletes do what they do to be recognized as the best at what they do. Competition thrives on this and any competitor who doesn’t give it everything they have doesn’t really want to win.
This isn’t the first time an athlete has been criticized for crying after a big loss. Just Google “Adam Morrison crying,” “Terrell Owens crying,” “Allen Iverson crying” or “Brett Favre crying” and you’ll come up with countless pages of criticism. While some are alligator tears (Brett Favre and Terrell Owens sometimes) others just show athletes as humans and that they are invested emotionally. They put their mind, body and heart into what they are doing and when they fail they do care about it. We should all put that much dedication to our goals in life. When was the last time you put real dedication to one of your life goals?
Comments
No comments.