Champions
In order to start writing about champions and winning, it is necessary to have an understanding of the terms that I will use throughout these blogs. I have found and observed that words associated with sport, like other words and such in our society have taken on shades of gray.
With this muting and nuancing of words and their meanings comes confusion. Borders and parameters go away and virtually any meaning for a particular word becomes acceptable. With respect to sport, this hinders individual progress, dulls the outcomes and perhaps robs us of future great champions.
A sporting contest, implies a competition between individuals or teams where the performance is measured and scored. This means at the end of any single, completed contest there are only three possible results, a tie(no decision), a win or a loss. The individual or team who has the best score or time is the winner. Unless otherwise noted in a particular blog, winning is defined as first place.
The word champion has various meanings in sport. In the Olympics, there is the Olympic champion also known as the gold medal winner. This well earned title lasts a life time, but after 4 years there is a new Olympic champion replacing the victor from the previous Olympiad. For some, Olympic victory is the single biggest victory and potentially the only big victory in their careers and for others it is one of many victories. Similarly, for example, golf and tennis have their US Open Champions and defending champions and multiple champions.
There are end of season champions at virtually every level of team or individual sports. These champions are given such titles as club champions, league champions, city champions or NCAA champions. In general, the title champion is conferred on the winner of an end of season event or a single contest deemed worthy of producing a champion versus a winner. For the purpose of these blogs and unless otherwise noted, the definition of a champion goes one step further than the winner of a single event or season ending event as described above.
Champions are those individuals who win and win and win. They win throughout the season, they win the playoffs, season ending titles, Olympic gold medals, world championship gold medals and any major event that defines their sport. Further, they seem to do this on a regular basis, more than once. The champions are regularly on the top of their sport. They are on the top because they win. They are the athletes to beat.
The research for this book was based on individual sports versus team sports as individual actions were easier to measure. For example, we can look at the Los Angeles Lakers or the Chicago Bulls over certain periods and call them champions. When we start to pull those teams apart individually, we find Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. These are and were the individuals on their respective teams who represent the champion mentality that I found in my research. Yet, Kobe had Shaq and Jordan had Scottie Pippen. These two great champions were surrounded by teammates whose presence and skills made winning championships possible. In the case of Kobe, some have argued that it was Shaq and not Kobe who led the Lakers to victory. With team sports the one caveat is that winning and losing is dependent on an entire team.
Losing is a term that defines the other side of winning. Losing has nothing to do with one’s humanity. It is a result of a contest on any given day that presumably could even change after the next competition. After losing a competition, an individual or team then become the losers. Any reference to losing or loser is simply a definition of the other side of winning. With every winner there is a loser.
We can say that time just ran out for the losing team. We can say that it was a hard fought competition in which there are no losers. There are a variety of ways to describe the results of a competition, but for the purposes of these blogs the definitions will be kept simple.
Winners are the individuals who win a specific competition. Losers are the individuals on the other side of that victory. Champions are the athletes who win and win and win. They win at every level and they do so consistently over a period of time.