July 23, 2012

When Winners Lose …

My son is passionate.  There are some things he loves very, very much.  God. Family. Service. Cheese. And Baseball.  These are the things he puts his heart and soul into.  It is so fun to watch him invest time in the things he loves. It is so rewarding to see him improve himself and others by doing these things.

This weekend his baseball team {aka: The Little Team That Could} played in the State tournament.  The fact they even made it to States was remarkable seeing as how they lost EVERY SINGLE game during the regular season. But by a sheer miracle, they decided to give winning a try during the District Tournament. And guess what? They liked winning.

They were already one win into the State tournament when I went to watch Big C on Saturday. It was raining and record cool temperatures had fans in coats and umbrellas.  My dad came with me to cheer our boy on. The Hubby was there too – in uniform as a coach!

The game was an exciting one!  At one point we were down 4-0.  Then it was 6-4.  When it was 10-4 and the other team seemed unstoppable, emotions started to come to the forefront. These boys wanted this so badly. Somehow they were able to decrease the lead to 10-9.

My boy hit like a pro.  When he wasn’t hitting, he was either in the dugout yelling his voice hoarse or in centerfield running around trying to find traction on damp grass.

In the end the other team got the win by one run, 12-11.

If you ever want your heart to break, watch 14 year old boys lose a tough baseball game when they’ve played their hearts out.  There is crying – not out of poor sportsmanship, but out of exhaustion, frustration and just sadness and it is devastating.

I’m proud of Big C.  He was a leader on this team.  He improved his skill level.  He didn’t complain. And he dropped his muddy, dusty clothes off in the laundry room after every game for me to clean.

He’s a winner in my book. Even if his team lost.

5 comments:

squeezeme said...

Big C, you are a Champ! Just reading about your game and the neck to neck scoring had me cheering to my computer screen. Matt and I just told Emmeline yesterday that one of the things we hope for our children is for them to find a passion and work like crazy towards that passion. Not everyone finds a passion in life. You've found one and you've worked hard. Congrats!

Here's a quote my girls were given as they just finished a community theater production....
"Don't be sad it's over. Just be glad it happened."

Anonymous said...

It's great that they battled so hard. That's what life is like. You try your best and you still fail sometimes.

The Queen Vee said...

I agree with the above two comments.

Chris is a super young man. I know he gave it is all and even gave up a better option for the day (at least in my opinion) He's a winner even when his team loses.

Apis Melliflora said...

Big C...wish we could have been there cheering with the crowd! You played with all you had...with Olympic spirit. Way to go!

Aiketa said...

It so hard when you have done everything possible and even though you lose (even more when the score is so tight). But I think this is the only way you can consider you are a winner... because you have done EVERYTHING!

Your Big C. is sure a great young man!!!

Your post made me think of this video. It's about a Catalan soccer team that never wins but they fight... Well I think it's worth seeing.

https://vimeo.com/25397042