Blogtrek

Tie Games

I didn't watch the Baseball All-Star game as I was doing other things last night, such as preparing my workshops for SUUSI. But I had been a long-time fan of baseball, more so than for other team sports; in general, I could care less about televised sports events, except running and some Olympic events. I have been an old-time fan of the Rochester Red Wings and consequently the Baltimore Orioles. But one reason I have been disinterested is because I don't like rooting for a team; I get depressed when that team loses. And there is one thing about a baseball game: it is structured so that always one team wins and the other loses. It is a win-lose game. If the game is a tie, extra inning after extra inning after extra inning is played until one team wins.

So I got a bit of a surprise this morning when I found out that the All-Star game ended in a 7-7 tie after 11 innings. Like many things in the 21st Century, this game was weird. It was arbitrarily ended, with the score a tie. There was no winning or losing team. And the fans could not take it. They complained that they were cheated because a team did not win. It almost seems that they would prefer their favorite team lose than have the game be a tie. They wanted their money back. Sorry, fellas. The ball team and its owners promised you 9 innings when you bought the ticket, and these two teams gave you 11 innings. I say you got more than your money's worth. There is such a big desire for winning in our society that people can't tolerate a tie game. When they get one, they complain about it, although admittedly the abrupt ending of the game because they "ran out of pitchers" seems a little strange; past teams have played up to 15 innings in All-Star games. There wasn't even a Most Valuable Player. Come on. There should be some player who was most responsible for helping his team to tie.

But the main thing is that people were disappointed by a tie game. I like a tie game. Both sides can come out as winners. Both played well, and the other team could not defeat them. That's ideal. A tie is win-win, and should make all the fans happy. There are ties in other games. A chess game need not end in a win. Many games played by grandmasters end in draws.

To me this passion for winning is potentially harmful, since if there is a winner, then there is a loser, and the losers are made to feel bad. Activities are the best when everyone is a winner. If people acted as though making everyone a winner was a top priority for every person on the globe, there would be no international conflicts or wars. What a world that would be.