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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">Sport and Society for Arete </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">June 30, 2022 </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">“Winning Isn’t Everything, it’s the Only Thing” and “Just Win Baby!” are two of the most familiar slogans in competitive sport. To be called a “Winner” is considered a high compliment, while being called
a “Loser” is generally considered an insult. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">In the past week, two high profile sports events consumed much of my attention. In both, there were winners and losers. However, in both, it was the losers who held most of my attention. In one case,
I had a strong fan interest in the outcome, and, as it turned out, I ended up on the losing side. The Tampa Bay Lightning’s defeat in the Stanley Cup Finals was, for me and other Lightning fans a difficult pill to swallow. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">Seeking its third Stanley Cup in three years, the Lightning were overmatched and their quest ended at the end of Game Six in Tampa. This was a series that featured great play by both teams. However,
from the beginning, it was clear that the Lightning would need extraordinary effort and some luck to win. Game Six was in some ways a microcosm of the overall series. Tampa took an early lead; Colorado tied and took the lead in the second period; and, in the
third, the Lightning offered everything they had trying to tie and then win the game. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">What was striking about the third period was watching the Lightning expending their last ounce of energy. The players looked as if they were skating through mud; they had difficulty controlling the puck
when it was on their sticks; and the passing was just a bit off. By the middle of the third period, the Lightning were totally gassed. Their exhaustion was palpable. Bent over at the knees at each stoppage of play, it seemed remarkable that they could continue,
but they did. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">Although the Lightning lost, it would be inconceivable to describe them as losers. The score was somehow less a story than the performance. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">The other competition was a first-round match at Wimbledon in the woman’s draw. In that match, the major attraction was Serena Williams, who was returning to high level tennis for the first time in just
over a year. The forty-year-old star is always of interest on, and, often, off the court. In this match, she was facing Harmony Tan, a French player making her first appearance at Wimbledon. For Tan, the task at hand was daunting, as the match was featured
on center court, and she was facing a tennis legend. I tuned in primarily to see Serena Williams begin her quest for another grand slam win. I stayed on to watch a three- hour match of determination and survival that ended with an unexpected outcome. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">The setting was different, but the outcome had similarities. This was a three-set match in which the tide shifted back and forth as the clock moved forward. For over three hours, Serena Williams and
Harmony Tan gave everything they had in pursuit of a win. For Williams, this was another opportunity to add her name on one more line in the tennis record books. For Tan, the task was initially to avoid being overwhelmed by the moment, the place, and the opponent.
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">In some ways, this was not a great tennis match. Play at times was ragged, and Serena was clearly a long way from consistency in her game. In the first set, it seemed as if Williams would produce the
expected outcome until Tan won five of the last six games in taking the set. The second set produced a remarkable second game that lasted for twenty minutes with Williams finally winning the crowd-pleasing marathon game.<span style="">
</span>Serena then rolled through the set, until just near the end when Tan showed new life capturing one game. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">The third set began with Williams taking an early advantage, but, in the end, the set reached a tie breaker in which the first player to reach ten points with a two-point lead would be the winner of
the set and the match. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">The tie breaker started with Williams winning the first four points, but Tan won the next five. After the tie at five, Tan did not fall behind again; and in the end, after three hours and eleven minutes,
Tan won the tie-breaker 10-7 and the match. It was in many ways a stunning upset. When it was over, the crowd roared their appreciation for what they had witnessed, despite the fact that the crowd favored Serena throughout the match. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">In her post-match interview, Tan expressed surprise that she had won. Serena Williams expressed her disappointment, but also said that she had done all she could; she had given everything she had that
day. “At some point you have to be OK with that. And that’s all I can do. I can’t change time or anything.” Both players had given it their all, and that made it a win for both, as well as the fans. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">Once again, sport shows us that it is about competing and giving the best you can, and, in those circumstances, there are only those who compete and win and those who competed and do not win. There are
no losers. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don’t have to be a good sport to be a bad loser. </span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"">Copyright 2022 by Richard C. Crepeau </span></p>
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