Success or Failure? Success of course. The goal was set and achieved. The NBA players showed that they still know how to play “REAL” basketball.
TEAM USA Women's Softball – Silver Medal
Success or Failure? I guess it depends upon how you choose to look at the results.
Goal achieved? Not quite...but goals are never absolutes. Goals are a guideline to help us along the way. Goals are also not usually a “one event” thing. They are set to cover a specific period of time with a certain desired result to achieve.
If you want to look at one game, the final game, you could say we failed to win that game. But if this is how you look at your goals and your life, I think you would be robbing yourself of many blessings and the joy of many successes. Let's take a look at the bigger picture.
4 Olympics. 22 wins in a row. 32 wins, 4 losses. 3 Gold Medals, 1 Silver Medal. 51-1 margin of victory in the Athens games. 58 – 5 margin in all games including the final in Beijing. And what happened in the final game? Did we embarrass ourselves, did we play so terribly we shouldn't be allowed on a softball field ever again? Heck no!
Japan rose up to the challenge. Especially Ukiko Ueno. Tell me you wouldn't be proud of her if she was your daughter. 21 innings. Three games back to back to back. Her arm had to be ready to fall off. Did we let down...no..Ueno climbed up. Twice Team USA had the bases loaded. Ueno battled out. She only struck out 4 batters. We were hitting the ball. But sometimes the ball just doesn't go where you want it.
Laura Berg said it best when I interviewed her in Irvine on Team USA's final exhibition stop; “we have a target on our backs.” Everyone wants to go out on top she said.
Team USA Softball has probably achieved a far bigger goal than winning one Olympics. They have done more to advance the sport of softball worldwide than any other single group or event. They have opened new doors for thousands, maybe millions of young girls with the advancement of softball, and even more importantly, with the class and character that has been exhibited by Team USA.
There is a quote the “success breeds contempt.” The original quote by Aesop was “Familiarity breeds contempt.” Unfortunately, in youth sports today we often see the first practiced. Some kids get on the winning team at an early age. They become successful. And often, even though they may not be one of the top players on the team, they (many times following the words of parents) look down on the less successful or lesser known teams. They sometimes feel invincible and only see losing as ultimate failure. Parents have split friendships because of an error, or because one's son or daughter was not on “that” team.
Team USA Softball is still the best team in the world. As one friend of mine said “how is it that you beat a team two out of three and they get the gold medal?” This Olympics only served to remind us of the oldest and probably truest axiom in sports; “On any given day.....”
Congratulations Team USA Softball. You had one heck of a run. I believe softball will be back in the Olympics and when it is, Team USA will still be the team to beat. You have shown character, class, and professionalism on the world's biggest stage. You have shown what the Olympics are supposed to be about.
