Why winning isn’t everything
20 Feb 2013
MARK KEOHANE, in his Business Day Sport Monthly column, says we live in a miracle country and it’s time we started appreciating the miracle of sport.
Sport is entertainment and it is also about effort. A fixation with just the result is going to lead to a lot of heartache.
It wasn’t that long ago when South Africa wasn’t allowed to compete internationally. Familiarity breeds contempt and irrationally so.
Feel good about the joy of indulging in the performance of South Africans, who are among the best ever produced in their respective codes.
We put huge pressure on our performers to produce every time, but the fans and the media have as much of a responsibility in their performance post match.
We also need to grow up and show some perspective to the effort of the individual or team and give credit to the quality of the opposition. There are times when they just are better and they actually win and we actually lose.
For those who are inspired to live in this country only when South Africa wins, take some responsibility for your own emotions. Similarly, don’t blame a poor SA performance for your depression. No player is losing deliberately and no national player should be subjected to the hate and vitriol published on Twitter.
It sickens me that people can actually feel a justification in the abuse and believe they are owed something by the player and that the player has a responsibility to ensure their happiness. The abuse is disgusting and can never be justified. There is so much to applaud and there is a generation of South African performer that is the best ever produced in this country. What a privilege it is to watch them at their peak.
Look beyond the need for a winning result and imagine South Africa being in sporting isolation. It is pathetic how fans think players are there to instil nationalism. Go do that yourself and start enjoying the sport and keep perspective.
There is life the next day and sport always gives your team or the individual a chance to get it right or to flop.
It is an honour to play for one’s country, but it is not a crime to lose and supporters need to take their insecurity and deal with it.
In the days of isolation we never played anyone and never lost. So we allowed ourselves to believe we were the best in everything. The reality is we are not the best in all things sport and that does not deserve the crassness I read on Twitter.
I get irritated with a lot of our sports media coverage, especially in newsprint. It is always all or nothing, as if every win defines the miracle of this country and defeat brings the possibility of doom. Inspire me with a solution instead of repeating what I saw on television 24 hours earlier and what I have read on the Internet a day earlier.
The media is more guilty than the fans in the buzz and the blowout. I have been as guilty as anyone at times of my career so I certainly don’t preach from a pedestal of purity, but rather from a place of apology.
The daily sports media though need to get a grip and invest in some perspective.
An example was the Proteas ODI series defeat against New Zealand. The Proteas did not play well but the game was apparently in crisis after the series defeat and the euphoria of being the best Test team in the world a few days earlier was an afterthought.
The hysteria was excessive, just like the condemnation and ridicule of New Zealand’s tour only a few days earlier. Appreciate the players and the fact that it’s not you out there on days when all is failing save the potency of the opponent.
There’s an added spice when you know you are watching a performer unrivalled in their field and at the peak of their performance.
The South African bowling attack gives me that sense of awe. Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis evoke a similar emotion and Graeme Smith is just never going to get the reward for his effort. No other Test captain in the history of the game has achieved as much.
Smith, having gone past 100 Test matches as captain, still has his doubters. Give him a break. There is a serious projection of insecurity and delusion among many of the South African fans in the way they react to the players.
A guy like Smith must be judged on how he plays and not for how his gum chewing may irk you. It is massive what he has achieved yet there are so many who burden him with not wearing enough flags on his T-shirt and not being proudly South African.
This is sport. Nationalism looks after itself and it can’t be all taken from the player’s performance. We owe the player the simple courtesy of a dignified interaction that does not start with an attack on his mother’s hair colour and outright abuse.
Grow up you trolls or inspire with your cleverness.
Oh, and one last thing, why the obsession with having to feel the need to retire great players at the start of a season because they are supposedly blocking the path of a 21-year-old?
Give the more mature form players the necessary respect. They’ve earned the right through performance to a bit of loyalty. Our rugby players offer the promise of silverware in Super Rugby but the enjoyment must also be in the performance.
Bafana, in African soccer’s big bi-annual one, were brave and belligerent in a tournament I hoped they could win but never quite had the conviction to believe it was possible. They lost in the quarter-finals on penalties, which was a cruel yet also a dignified exit for the hosts. Dignified in it allowed us to dream of what could have been without confronting the reality of what would most likely have been had they advanced to the semi-final or final.
Bafana played with passion and the support of a nation was a boost, but there are limitations to the current side and the desire to associate with success should also not be confused with the expectation that if they don’t win a tournament they have failed.
Equally our Super Rugby teams.
– This article first appeared in the March issue of Business Day Sport Monthly, which is distributed FREE with the newspaper on the second last Friday of every month.
1,128 Comments
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20 Feb 2013, 08:59 am
@stormersboy-94: Why? He must make the switch eventually.
Did you see Brok was dropped
20 Feb 2013, 08:59 am
Stormersboy – I have to agree. He surely can’t be 100% at the moment. Big risk taken by Naka!!
20 Feb 2013, 09:00 am
@RL-97:
excuse me I need to vomit
20 Feb 2013, 09:00 am
@gunther-99: His Leatherman is more Micra than Supertool.
20 Feb 2013, 09:02 am
@RL-97: You shop at the wrong butchery.
20 Feb 2013, 09:03 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-84: bakkies please not by my full name … just call me guppy.
20 Feb 2013, 09:03 am
@Sasuke-101: No, it may injure him again and destroy his career.
He can’t scrum well at LH, so Th will be even more of a stretch IMO.
@CharlesM-102: Yes, maybe he’s forced to as they have 2 other decent loose heads in Trevor and Caylib. Short at 3 though, as you say a big gamble..
20 Feb 2013, 09:03 am
@NZINCHINA-91:
Mate, I’m stuck at work…I bought a matress and put a shower in down here…the missus isn’t impressed though.
20 Feb 2013, 09:05 am
@Te Rangatira-108:
ha all you need now is SKY and you’ll never have to go home
20 Feb 2013, 09:05 am
@NZINCHINA-103: I don’t know why there is cat or dog meat in the mix.
20 Feb 2013, 09:05 am
@RL-110:
sounds like there could be
20 Feb 2013, 09:07 am
@stormersboy-107: Oh i see.
20 Feb 2013, 09:10 am
@NZINCHINA-109:
hehe….that’s the plan…
20 Feb 2013, 09:10 am
@Dilligafrican-105:
Redpussy is a dumpster diver.
20 Feb 2013, 09:11 am
@Sasuke-112: Just an opinion mind you, but both Charles and I played in the front row, and know well just how different LH and TH can be, which is why I think it’s a mistake.
But obviously Naka doesn’t so maybe we are clueless after all
20 Feb 2013, 09:12 am
Looks like we still can’t organise a trial in a courthouse.
20 Feb 2013, 09:14 am
@stormersboy-115:
20 Feb 2013, 09:14 am
@stormersboy-115: We clueless?? …never lol
20 Feb 2013, 09:14 am
Mandy Wiener of Eyewitness News sends this picture of officials at the court briefing the media, and says members of the public are asking to be let into the overflow room, “citing their race as the reason for being excluded”.
Aluta continua.
20 Feb 2013, 09:14 am
@gunther-116:
Whats the latest there?
20 Feb 2013, 09:17 am
@gunther-114: and you really thought the boerewors you ate on Saturday was made of 100% beef and coriander.
Nc nc nc – you ate minced cow peepee.
20 Feb 2013, 09:17 am
@NZINCHINA-120:
It’s farking chaos.
One journalist has fainted. Yesterday the officials told the journalists to sort it out amongst themselves as to who goes in.
Today there are two hundred journos there and it looks like they are going with the same plan.
The eyes of the world are on us.
Outstanding.
20 Feb 2013, 09:19 am
@CharlesM-118: I cannot think of any international class player who could/can play both positions well, if at all.
Those that do like, CJ, are good at neither.
Maybe Coenie will be the first..
20 Feb 2013, 09:20 am
@gunther-70:
come on Gunner, technically speaking that’s nonsense.
there is a very clear and legal technical definition for what constitutes boerewors.
any type of suasage product not adhering to the legally defined stipulation thereof is not in fact a boerewors at all.
so to correctly answer his question i suppose you meant to refer to ‘wors’ rolls which in most often likelihood are indeed the product of ‘tits, aresholes and some coriander’ as you put it.
however, he in fact asked you asked you what goes into a ‘boerie’ roll.
perhaps you need to determine the source from which you acquire your boerewors or at the least scrutinise the sellers at stadiums more carefully and question whether the sausage they are selling to you is indeed boerwors or rather just wors.
you will agree, a practised eater thereof will be able to determine the veracity of any claims as to whether a sausage is just a wors or rather a boerwors quite easily.
don’t mislead these Kiwi’s.
@NZINCHINA-67:
like the Reinheitsgebot (German Beer Purity Law) regulation which sets out a very specific rule for what constitutes a beer and the way it is produced, we have similar rules for boerwors.
http://www.doh.gov.za/docs/regulations/1990/reg2718.pdf
and if it’s not made by these rules then its just wors of some or other kind, of which there are many, but which is almost universally of inferior taste and quality. also, as Gunther pointed out usually the worst of the meat is used in its production.
20 Feb 2013, 09:20 am
@RL-121:
The key is to get to know your local butcher.
Or in your case get to know the bins at the back of his shop.
20 Feb 2013, 09:20 am
@NZINCHINA-120:
690.BrumbiesBoy:
19 Feb 2013, 23:02 pm Pasop Francois Hougaard. Today’s Star quotes an unnamed weapons expert describing the Vector .223 rifle, one of the six licences Oscar Pistorius applied for last month… “You would use it for shooting springbok at long distance – it’s perfect for that.” #ironic
20 Feb 2013, 09:20 am
@gunther-122:
Ugly stuff all round.
20 Feb 2013, 09:21 am
anyway, i have a busy day and lot of work,
cheers all
20 Feb 2013, 09:22 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-124: I was quite surprised to find that Nataniel’s wors is tastier than I expected……….
20 Feb 2013, 09:22 am
@RL-106:
hehe
not even redGuppy..?..
20 Feb 2013, 09:23 am
@BrumbiesBoy-126:
scary stuff looks like it was only a matter of time
20 Feb 2013, 09:23 am
I remember the u9c rugby coach tellingf us winning isn’t everything either. The team won 2 from 11 that year.
20 Feb 2013, 09:23 am
@stormersboy-129: Sorry forgot the
just for all you without any sense of irony.
20 Feb 2013, 09:26 am
@stormersboy-129:
you mean the Shorite Checkers stuff?
i dont think he makes it though.
he just the face which markets the national boerwors championshship winners wors, isb’t it?
20 Feb 2013, 09:27 am
@gunther-122: And you have of course seen this as well?
“Members of the public are demanding access to overflow room citing their race as the reason for being excluded.”
Mand Wiener on Twitter.
The eyes of the world indeed……
20 Feb 2013, 09:27 am
must say that SA Rugby magazine site has some decent rugby stuff on it….
20 Feb 2013, 09:27 am
@stormersboy-133: Ja-ja
20 Feb 2013, 09:28 am
loved the Spies vs Vermeulen arcticle
20 Feb 2013, 09:28 am
@BULLET-132:
I played against a Japanese schools side once and the coaches last words were…’Remember Vietnam’
20 Feb 2013, 09:29 am
@stormersboy-129: you went down on Nataniel – and you guys wonder why we call you brokebacks
20 Feb 2013, 09:30 am
I have 2 sons and it’s interesting to see the dynamic when it comes to winning and losing. The standard “it’s more important to participate than anything else” is a maxim long espoused by the schools.
My Son lost it when he came second at athletics day in spite of not really training, and all the moms were checking him skeef. I went up to him and said “Son, I think it’s great that you hate losing. Remember that feeling, get out there and do some training so you don’t feel that way again next year. But for now, suck it in and go and congratulate the winner, and shake the hand of the 3rd placed guy too and say well tried.”
If he still comes second in spite of putting in a lot of effort, then the speech will be a bit softer.
Try telling a 10 year old or any champion that winning isn’t everything and see the response you get.
20 Feb 2013, 09:30 am
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-135:
Indeed I’ve already posted that one its a gem.
20 Feb 2013, 09:32 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-134: Yes it’s pretty decent for store bought stuff. Good in a pinch
i have a great butcher up the road who makes me wors without any gluten (bread crumbs) in it as my oldest cannot have gluten. It’s good stuff. You have to order it though so planning ahead is important.
20 Feb 2013, 09:32 am
Ooops there is the
I saw it too late storm boy.
20 Feb 2013, 09:33 am
@stormersboy-129: lol
20 Feb 2013, 09:37 am
@grant10-136: Yeah Keo is lagging behind. But I find it quite slow, i get this message about a running script slowing down the website.
20 Feb 2013, 09:38 am
@stormersboy-143:
yes, it is.
in fact most of their boerewors types are quite good.
i’ll tell you, it is better than most of the stuff i’ve bought at Pick n Pay and Woolworths.
but i agree a speciality butchers is usually the best way to go for quality meats.
ok i’m out
cheers
20 Feb 2013, 09:38 am
@Te Rangatira-139:
Embraboer.
20 Feb 2013, 09:39 am
@Sasuke-146: same….miss the rugby stuff….
20 Feb 2013, 09:40 am
@stormersboy-141: Cool story bro#nottrolling
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