winning is underrated.

you've heard the quotes.  everyone recognizes winning is better than losing, and some people go further than that.  Vince Lombardi famously said that "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing."  here's my perspective: irregardlessly of how much you value winning, you should value it more.  not just SHOULD, but you WOULD, if you fully understood it's importance.  that goes for Lombardi, too.

that being said, is there anything worse than losing?  if you give your best, you shouldn't have regrets.  but, you can give your best and still make mistakes.  and dwell on them.  i mean, finishing second place is awful.  you were right there, and fell just short.

no one but the losers remember second place.  and second place does remember, trust me.  i have memories where i actually wince every time it crosses my mind, and i can only imagine it will always be that way for me.  but first? first is symbolic.  first place gives you a reference point for everything else.  that's why i was so pleased to hear that our Collegian team from last year at Hillsdale won an award.  well, a lot of awards (i'll put up a link to any articles i find).   the 2010-2011 Hillsdale Collegian won First Place General Excellence in our division at the Michigan Press Awards.  basically, we were judged to be the "best" weekly paper in the state of Michigan.

i'd never really thought about our chances.  i did know that we had a great team, and we had a great time.  it wasn't just the seniors, either, we were solid through and through.  though we each will treasure the experience individually, it's really awesome to be able to attach the official sort of recognition as well.

one thing bothers me about winning — relativity.  there's always someone better out there.  so you can very rarely be satisfied, because other people won't allow it.  i know competition should be a personal thing — comparing yourself to others is trouble.  but think about it.  let's say a friend of yours wins first place at a track and field event at Hillsdale, which is Division II.  you're trying to brag on them a little, and someone always jumps in and says something like (and i'm paraphrasing to highlight the ridiculousness) "this guy i went to high school with runs track at Ohio State"  ...!!.. so, just the fact that a higher level of competition exists is supposed to make all of your friend's accomplishments impotent.

are you following?  or should i start over?  that's why winning the Superbowl is different than winning the Major League Soccer championship.  both are the highest level of competition; in one sense, legitimate championships, but the Superbowl-winning team truly is the best football team on the planet.  no one can downplay their accomplishment. the MLS champion team has to deal with the existence of the European leagues. all of their hours of physical and mental training, their sacrifices, the whole package can be negated instantly by some a**hole who says "well, they probably couldn't beat Arsenal."  it's not REALLY negated, but if you're in that setting, how can you respond to such thoughtlessness??

someone in charge decided to give me first place for the best-designed sports page.  my initial reaction was pure unadulterated surprise.  my second? "so..i had the best-designed section of the worst-designed section.."..in a sense, answering the afore-mentioned critic before he has a chance to comment.  on the one hand, it's probably true.  on the other, it's unhealthy to obsess over relativity.  i need to take it for what is, a compliment on a job/performance where i invested everything i had over the course of an entire school year.

besides that, there's something to be said for finding the right place for you to compete, and compete successfully.  i got into the journalism program by being the guy who could write decently, for a jock, essentially.  i rode that role to the editor position, and didn't look back.

maybe i learned something by deciding i was going to play basketball in college, and failing. basketball is the toughest sport to get a scholarship for..think about it.  of all the major college sports, it has the smallest rosters and is the most dependent on pure physical gifts (namely, height) for success.  hard work only gets you so far, kids.  it's naive to ignore natural ability and, my favorite, "luck"..

how can i bring this around... winning.  relativity.  design. ah, yes.  even though i'm tempted to downplay it, that award is big for me (ignoring the fact that a lot of my difficult designs were done by Joel and Liz — again, thank my awareness of "the critic" for that observation).. ability to design something well implies creativity in some capacity, does it not?  i've never been creative; calculative would be far more accurate.  i'm intimidated by creative people.  musicians? wow.  i mean, you can't teach creativity.  but have i learned it, somehow?  or maybe designing a newspaper can be a technique..

maybe there's hope for me.  thanks, MPA's.