“Winning or Competing — The Conundrum”
Recently, while reading the morning newspaper a quote attributed to the Legendary NFL Coach Vince Lombardi, immediately caught attention. It said :- “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”. Coming from a Icon who in the course of a Stellar career as Head Coach of Green Bay Packers had led them to three straight and a total of five NFL Championships in seven years in addition to winning the first two Super- bowls, the quote on the face of it appeared to be an oddity. Having been brought up on a diet where competing and not just winning was given primacy, where fair play and a balance between ends and means was a fact of life, did not this quote, coming from a venerated and admired personality, reflect some kind of a mercenary attitude- a winning at costs mentality- as also exemplified by the “Sandpapergate” episode, about two years ago, wherein the Australian Cricket Team was caught in a controversial and covert ball tampering scandal leading to punitive action against several star players, including its Captain.
However on further research (thanks to the glories of the Internet), what became apparent was, that he was using these words to stimulate, encourage and inspire his team to reach the pinnacle of glory. It transpires that the attitude that he was trying to instil in his players individually and in his team collectively ,was to win, to beat the other guy ,“but to win fairly, squarely and by the Rules”. The motive being to instil a brute mentality in his team to win, not at all costs, not by adopting unfair means, or questionable tactics but by putting in the extra yards, walking the extra mile, and by exhausting your limits of endurance, testing your capabilities, overcoming your weaknesses and exploiting your strengths to be the last man standing- to develop and sustain the winning habit.
While on this issue, the collateral thought that comes to mind, is that, in every field of human endeavour, it is people who compete intensely, put in the extra effort, but stick to the rules of the game are people, even if they do not have the best of records, who go down in History as greats, icons, people worthy of emulation and definitely to be inspired from.
In this context the attitude and behaviour of the Australian Cricket Team alluded to above readily comes to mind. By resorting to acts which were definitely beyond the spirit of the game, if, may be, not the written laws, they brought their Country, the glorious game of Cricket, their team and definitely the individuals involved untold infamy with far- reaching and long-lasting consequences. A quick and swift response, effective punitive action and a perceptible behavioural change not only prevented the situation from leaving a permanent damage but resurrected the game and provided a second wind to its Chief protagonists. However what remains to be seen is -whether they would go on, inspite of their individually phenomenal Cricket prowess, to be recognised as all time greats, the names of which scarcely, if ever, recede from even the remotest corners of our memory. It would take a superhuman effort , by cricketing accomplishments and impeccable conduct ,both on and off the field, on the part of the protagonists involved to get over the taint of their actions and erase the unsavoury episode from public memory.
The other contrasting example, which is definitely worthy of emulation is exemplified by the on and off field behaviour of the tennis maestros — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. While each of them, is a legend in his own right and individually intensely and fiercely (and that is as a mild word at that) competitive, collectively they have ruled the world of tennis for the better past of last two decades. However their conduct, bordering on perfection, but definitely impeccable has never crossed the defining borders, of what Vince Lombardi calls “winning squarely and by the rules”.
By their conduct and demeaneour, both on and off the tennis court, they have been role models and ambassadors, not only for tennis but for every field of endeavour in which human beings compete and strive for winning or gaining recognition. In their careers spanning more than one and a half decades each, there has not been a single instance of bringing the game or even the world of sport into disrepute — indeed their on-field rivalry and off-field friendship (if not camaraderie) conforms to the highest levels of human interaction and exhibits an unbelievable commitment to fair-play wherein the balance between ends and means gets exemplified and comes into distinct focus. While their careers have had their own mix of successes and failures(with the former far surpassing the latter) and they have mixed records against each other, their conduct has never, even minutely transgressed the limits of decency and fair-play. Infact just emphasising the contextual importance of losses in an intensely competitive scenario, Rafael Nadal is quoted to have said in 2011 –“If you don’t lose you can’t enjoy the victories” .
On another level, while the desire to excel and win is perhaps the natural and expected focus of any individual in any field of human endeavour, the mere privilege of playing and competing not only fairly but also fully by putting in the best effort is also something to be appreciated. While dwelling on this, the story of the British Athlete Derek Redmond readily comes to mind — not only for it is note-worthy, but also for the fact that the principal incident of his life , has been etched in my memory as I witnessed it live on Television as it happened in the 1992 Summer Olympic Games held in Barcelona, Spain. Widely tipped to win the Gold Medal in the 400 meters sprint, he, rather unfortunately, and obviously most painfully, midway into the race, tore his hamstring but continued the race, forlorn, tears rolling down his cheeks and of course limping in obvious pain (anyone who has had a torn hamstring would readily testify to the excruciating pain and extraordinary discomfort that comes in its wake). He continued the race limping and with assistance from his father completed the lap to a standing ovation from the packed crowd. While officially rated as “did not finish”(having been assisted by his Father), the incident has become an integral part of Olympic folklore, with the International Olympic Committee featuring it in its “Celebrate Humanity” videos and has been used by Visa and Nike in their commercials specifically for the the epitomisation of courage that he displayed.
While Derek Redmond has also had a stellar post-retirement career, it is incidents like these, which ,while emphasizing the need to win attitude, counterbalance it with a desire to compete fairly and completely with all the resources at one’s own command and striving to optimally realise one’s own potential -to become better than your old best self.
Before concluding, a quote attributed to Pat Summitt, the legendary American Women’s College Basketball Head Coach that I recently came across, readily comes to mind
“You cannot always be the
most talented in the room,
But you can be the most competitive “
Modified for our discussion it can and does mean- you might not always win, but you can definitely compete fearlessly and fairly. Happy competing.
PS:- If most of my examples come from the field of sports, it is because I personally have been a passionate, follower ( definitely not a player) of sport — and its stories inspire me no end.
