I must admit to telling my nephews and niece at every opportunity that winning is the most important thing. It’s a fact of life, and it’s vital that someone drills it into them. They are kids of the generation that receive a trophy for walking through the doorway and a standing ovation for staying awake in class. They don’t even have school vice captains anymore – it’s felt that being a deputy is too belittling, so they just have 2 sets of captains.
If everyone gets an award for the Darwinian triumph of existing then why bother? Surely this is a great big signal that we can all go ahead and rest on our laurels. Strive no more for greatness, mediocrity is the new black.
But sometimes winning isn’t everything, sometimes working your arse off for years while no one pays attention and almost winning is just as impressive. I’m not saying Sam Stosur (French Open runner up 2010) will never win, but she deserves credit for coming so close this time around. If Alicia Molik had been beaten in the semi finals it would have been front page news, if Lleyton Hewitt had even made it to the quarter finals we would have seen TV promos for the match-up 24/7.
I haven’t seen the media jump on a tennis bandwagon so late in a tournament since everyone decided it was okay to like Jelena Dokic again (for the third time).
So congratulations Sam, because runner up ain’t bad. It worked out really well for Al Gore (though less well for his marriage), Anthony Callea got a career out of it, and Jennifer Hudson eventually scored an Oscar. The second Terminator movie ended up being better than the original, and losing out on first place in the final cheer-off in Bring It On probably made the Rancho Carne Toros better people in the end. I’m even advised (by Wikipedia) that the 2nd coming of Jesus will be a bigger deal than the first.
The most important thing isn’t always winning, it’s trying your absolute heart out to be the best and, for future reference Sam, not choking under pressure.
Painefull Out
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