« PHP – Storing GPS Waypoints In MySQL | Logo In RSS Feed – In WordPress Blogs And Elsewhere »
Graceful In Defeat, Humble In Victory
February 1st, 2009 @ 10:23:51 | Sports
4:30 am – the iPhone alarm goes off. I continue to fight the thought of continuing the blissful sleep induced in part by Holy Sheet and the thought of waking up to see the Men’s Finals of Australian Open on ESPN. Well, the fight lasted only 15 more minutes and the latter won – I am very glad it did. Sipping the hot chai that Prashanth prepared, we watched as Rafael & Roger showcased a classic battle for the next few hours, that often seemed like a well-orchestrated 2-person symphony [the adjacent photograph comes from the gallery in Australian Open website].
As someone who stopped watching this game after the likes of Sampras, Graf, Agassi, Edberg, Seles retired – citing lack of grace as the prime reason – what followed this game was even more wonderful. Roger breaking down into tears after loosing, Rafael & Roger exchanging genuine mutual admiration for each other and portraying a living example of the very definition of sportsmanship – being graceful in defeat and humble in victory … gave me chills. It wasn’t just me, dear friends Prashanth (who watched the game all along) and Adam (who joined for the coronation festivities), agreed too. And I am sure, anyone that has played good at any level in their life would agree as well.
If this game – between these two – was any example of how the game used to be played and how it should be played, I felt I had missed a lot by not watching any of their previous encounters. And more importantly, if you were like me (thinking the grace factor no longer existed), I am happy to realize that it’s very much alive and kicking!
Fast forward several hours – somewhat of a lame Super Bowl XLIII turned into an exciting contest in fourth quarter. Don’t get me wrong – every team that wins the big one deserves some credit and as is the case, it gives them the (often abused) right to say just about anything they like. But for the coronation ceremony (master of ceremonies from NBC, FOX & CBS, the winning coach, winning owner, winning players and even the league commissioner) to completely ignore to publicly acknowledge the efforts of loosing team is beyond ridiculous. It wasn’t just the Super Bowl, but the grace evidently didn’t get its due credit in the AFC & NFC Championship games held about two weeks ago.
Being humble in victory DOES NOT make the victory any less heroic/valuable/memorable and I hope this is the last time I see such things in what has become a very favorite game of mine in recent years. When players of recreational leagues & bush leagues across this planet take a moment after the game to appreciate the efforts of the other team, I don’t see any reason why the professional leagues can’t do it on the so called big stage.
Mr.G
You are just so true to the point. Roger is such a great human being with enormous talent. He is my hero. I love him. It was such a treat to see him last year in US OPEN. I have this Ausie open speech on my DVR and have seen it so many time. Rafa and Roger showed everyone how humble they are. Rafa has never flaunted his win over Roger in the winning matches. He always controls his emotions and shows respect to Roger. I love Tennis and want to go see all over the world to see these two great players.
G ! I concur with you. At the end of the day, the Super Bowl winners are the “World Champions” !! Is the world really shrinking ???
Hey G, totally agree with you.
I have always believed, the higher you go, the humbler you ought to be.
It is commendable that it is seen in atleast some winners.
Loved the way you put it: “Graceful in defeat, humble in victory”. Very true.
Really wish we found more of it.
[...] It wasn’t just the Super Bowl, but the grace evidently didn’t get its due credit in the AFC & NFC Championship games held about two weeks ago. Being humble in victory DOES NOT make the victory any less heroic/valuable/memorable and I …Continue Reading… [...]
hey dude.. u saved me the trouble of going through the usual post slam blog….. it was jus perfect… i guess we have got used to the spectacular battle on the center court around the world by these 2 grts… well we did see the other side of the battle too… it was such a touching moment…. it showed the urge each had to win and i guess only nadal knew wat fedex felt for the defeat…. well said G…
though the super boul was oht
Good cheap flights to everywhere can be easily searched if there are available resources catering to this kind of services like cheapflights4.net