Maybe sports is like life... after all

I am pretty tired, normally, of all the sports, military, life and death discussions. Sports are games. And at the end, professional sports don't really change life very much. But there are some pretty good journalists who are into sports, and at times their writings have more global lessons.

Today's column in the Washington Post by Tom Boswell, about the futility of the Washington Redskins, which just lost to the Detroit Lions (being a Detroiter by birth--well, I was born in Mt. Clemens, but I grew up in Detroit, my loyalty is still to my birthplace, Detroit...) which had lost 19 games in a row, including every game last season, touched a chord for me.

I think he describes DC to a "T" in terms of how the city is timid, fine with mediocrity, and somewhat loose and corrupt, at the least unethical, when it comes to a lot of government dealings (i.e., the arrest of a City Council staff member on bribery charges, the passage of some ethics legislation that lacks any sanctions or other teeth, how Councilmembers produce legislation for property tax abatements, how the Executive Branch increasing governs at whim and power rather than by system, etc.).

From "In Big Picture, Redskins' Focus Disappeared Long Ago":

... That's the right attitude, without a doubt. Will the Redskins adopt it? To do so, they may have to fight through an incredible amount of self-delusion about the talent level on their team. This week, Clinton Portis said he thought the Redskins had the most talent in the NFL. Comments like that have been common in the Redskins' locker room for the past 10 years -- regardless of all available evidence. Not only is the view tolerated at Redskins Park, it is encouraged and marketed. Where does this fallacy arise? In the owner's suite, where the price of players is equated with their performance?

They refuse to define themselves by the final scoreboard but, instead, cling to their own private view of themselves and their far higher value -- sometimes based on their performances in other years or even on other teams.

After a wonderful 10-catch, 178-yard game, wide receiver Santana Moss fell into the deepest and worst snare -- and one that constantly catches the Redskins. Moss said many reasonable things after this defeat. But he also said the magic words that always make my skin crawl in a locker room. "We are the better team," he said. ...

The Redskins aren't losers. But they will never be elite winners, especially in a team sport, until they defeat the idea that their potential, their fame or their wealth matters at all. Only their performance -- which is kept on the scoreboard for a reason -- counts. That's why teams beat individuals. ...

When the Redskins stop treating outcomes like this, or their losses last year to the Rams and Bengals, as flukes, they will have taken the first step toward minimizing them.