As a guy who has played sports all my life, I definitely understand the importance of winning. It is a big deal. It does not matter if it is a balloon toss or a state championship, winning is important.
It is almost impossible to watch 30 minutes of ESPN without seeing Johnny Manziel’s face plastered all over the big HD screen. I will be honest and say it was hard not to like him when he was beating up on the devil’s team of Alabama, but after a summer documented with Instagram photos full of $100 bills, alcohol and LeBron James, it is hard to smile when you hear his name. He now appears to be the leading poster boy for arrogance.
I cannot help but imagine the days of the 50s and 60s when people enjoyed life and sportsmanship and everyone drank sweet tea. It seems that as scarce as sweet tea is, sportsmanship, honor and kindness are even harder to find.
While I would love to claim that sweet tea is the link connecting the two, I have a pretty good feeling that greed and selfishness is a much more probable answer. Why would Texas A&M bench their Heisman Trophy winner who ups their odds of winning by more than a little bit? The coaches and administrators at Texas A&M obviously benefit from the success of the football team whether monetarily or by new coverage and popularity. It is an easy choice to play the Heisman winner despite his rather horrific antics on and off field.
The notion of winning in today’s society is more important than loyalty, honor or friendship. Coaches and players must do everything in their power to generate more income or get a bigger paycheck. As much as I would love to see a world full of Tim Tebows starting foundations for the betterment of children all over the world and realizing the higher importance of spreading God’s kingdom over winning a game, there is no realization to that concept in our world today.
For every one Tebow in our world today, it seems there must be at least 73 Manziels.
We are all guilty of pride or selfishness. Many of us have put more importance on winning, whether it is in club sports or NCAA Division II sports. In the big picture, we can learn from Tebow the importance of things other than winning, and it is something we all need to learn for sure.
