NFL coaching legend Vince Lombardi’s immortal quote “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” doesn’t define what winning is. What are you talking about when you use the words win or winning or winner? It mainly depends on what your point of view is. Where does the meaning lie for you? If you have those answers and a plan even when you lose, you score a win.

Changing the face of a game

I began with a football analogy so I will use a football related incident to draw upon. In the 1980’s a springtime football league blew in and fell out. The league, the USFL, left it’s mark behind. (For more information on the USFL read, Donald Trump: From Rosie to The Apprentice to Miss USA) The upstart football league left behind a legacy of changes, coaches and players that reformed the face of the NFL. The USFL essentially made pro football a better game for the player and the fan.

Sort of…

When is a loss a win? The answer is all in the aftermath. When the losing side creates positive change is one response. Another is when the loser walks away with everything and the winner has gained nothing. In sports we see this all the time. A supposedly weaker team rises to the challenge of a dominant team only to lose by a fluke or a bad call. You look at the players after the contest. The winners have shallow smiles and display forced pride. Sometimes when you hear them speak, it sounds like they are making up excuses for the win. With the losing team you can feel they are applying restraint in order not to celebrate. Yet you can see they know what their team accomplished that day. They were better for the loss because they answered the questions within themselves. As for the the winners, they find themselves asking those same questions about themselves. Not every win comes with pride.

The upcoming 2008 political battlefield

This pending presidential election has the potential to turn America on it’s ear. We have the first bonafide woman candidate for President in the modern era. There is an irony in Hillary Clinton running for president. There was a time during her husband’s presidency (you remember Bill Clinton of the Lewinsky cigar fame) when the joke was Hillary was running the country. Now she not only has her chance, she can fan that old sentiment for votes.