Winning

Disclaimer: This is not a comment on who won the Super Bowl or how they won it. Nor am I making any assumptions regarding who may of may not have let air out of one or more footballs before or after any game for any reason. This is a comment on the definition of winning.

Typically, winning is measured in numbers of points scored. If you have more points than the other guys at the end of a game, you won. If you have less, you lost. But is that really true? Is that what we tell our children before and after little league games, "If you don't score more points than the other team, you are a loser"? Is that what we say when we lose to a cheater, "I saw that guy pull a few Aces out of his sleeve, but his Full House beats my Straight, so technically he still won"? "Winning," as defined as ending the game with more points than your opponent, is a flawed definition. There are ways to lose and still end up with more points, and there are ways to win and still end up with less points. To borrow a phrase that many a father has told to their children, "it's not whether you win or lose; it's how you play the game."

Winning, in my opinion, has less to do with technically winning, and more to do with playing well and maintaining high standards of sportsmanlike conduct. Think about how well you normally play, in practices and in previous games. If you play that well or better in any given game, then I'd say you did pretty well in that game and you can count it as a personal victory, whether the final score reflects that victory or not. Also, ask yourself whether you exhibited good sportsmanship. If you lost your cool, fouled a guy, yelled at the ref, or cheated, then you lost at least that part of the game, no matter what the final score says.

This is brings me back to that quote from Elder Richard G. Scott. Most elements of sportsmanlike conduct can fit comfortably under the header of Christlike attributes, and God encourages each of us to do our best and reach our full potential. If we played the way that God wanted us to play, we won, no matter how the rest of the game played out. If we fell short of that goal, in any way, for any reason, then we clearly have some room for improvement, even if the score says you had a perfect game. By this new definition of winning, there's only one person who ever played a "perfect game," and He never scored a touchdown in His entire career. Still, by the standard of personal conduct and by the final score of number of souls saved, I'd say that Jesus won, and is still winning, and as long as we're on His side and following His example, so are we.

I didn't watch the Super Bowl. I don't know who won or lost. I know that the Patriots scored more points than the Seahawks, but I don't know who played a better game, either in conduct or in skill. And bear in mind that there can be winners and losers on the same team. Whoever deflated the football(s?) was a loser, but the rest of the team, who probably didn't know anything about the deflation, still may have won. Whenever you play a game, or do anything else in life, make sure that you do it according to your moral standards and that you do it as well as you can. That way, you will always be a winner, even when you lose.