I have what you might call a competitive spirit and I HATE to lose—always have, probably always will. I mostly hate to lose at sports, but I can make a competition out of most anything, and I still hate losing, even a board game or an arcade game, but mostly sports. So, you can accept this for what it is, a sports column.
At times, losing felt like failure to me. But make no mistake, there is a huge difference in losing and failure, especially in sports. And, make no mistake, you’re not a loser just because you’re on the short end of the scoreboard when the buzzer sounds.
One of Webster’s definitions of lose is “lose a prize or lose a contest.” Since this is a sports story, we’ll use these definitions for lose. Now, Webster’s many definitions for fail range from “to fall short,” or “to fade away or die,” or “to be unsuccessful.
Many of the definitions for fail or failure sound close to the same as some of the definitions for lose. So, let’s simplify the definitions for this commentary by using Danny’s Sports Dictionary (DSD), which is a book that will never be completed yet will meander through this author’s head until the end of time.
Let’s look at losing versus failure according to DSD. “Losing” is defined as “having less points at the end of the game but being coachable and well prepared while doing everything within one’s power (leaving it all on the field) until the clock shows zero, even when the odds are overwhelming against you, and then, studying your performance in the loss and doing your homework to correct the mistakes by me as to improve my execution on the field or court.
On the other hand, the DSD says “Failure” is giving up, quitting, being un-coachable, failing to properly prepare for the contest, making excuses instead of taking responsibility, and refusing to take notes and learn from the lessons given me during the loss.
The difference is not just about effort, it’s also about attitude. Failure is quitting before the game is over. Losing is getting knocked down and getting back up until time runs out. It’s important for everyone that we don’t confuse losing with failure. Get back up, you’re still in the game.
Losing is hard, failure is easy.
