thin skinned

So today's news had a little story about a high school basketball team that won a game by a score of 100 - 0. The story (This link is for a follow-up, not the original) first mentioned that the scoreless team was "learning challenged", but later specified this to be dyslexic and ADD. Now the school of the winning team has made a public apology for winning by such a margin, and the coach of this team has gone on record saying that the team played with, "honor and integrity," and refused to apologize. The coach was fired for his honesty. ( and apparently for letting his team continue to play after they had a 59-0 lead at the half!) The witnesses say that the opposing team played with all of their hearts, but just couldn't get the score. Why the need to apologize? If the team with the big score gives up so that the other can get a few points what are the points worth? What is the use of getting points when the other team is giving them to you?

What has become of schools when they feel the need to apologize for winning? Lately I have realized that I must be becoming an old fogey, because I keep these words so close to the top of my mind, "when I was a kid..." And to finish the sentence this time..." we learned that sportsmanship meant being a good loser as well as a gracious winner. If we took a beating our coach chewed our asses and we worked that much harder the next time. and when we won we thanked the other team for a good game." Never once did our coaches ever tell us to, "take it easy on the other team, we don't want to beat them by too much!" Our coaches made us get every point that we could, if it was baseball we hit the ball hard and ran the bases fast. If it was football we drove the ball down the field any way we could and if it was basketball it was the three point throw every chance we could. Never did it occur to us that we should have "mercy" on the opposition. There was no quarter asked for nor given. Sadly, mine is the last generation to have this experience.

I'm a gen-Xer and that means that half of my generation was raised as a bunch of pussies who barely stand on their own 2 feet and say shit when they have a mouthful. Our parents were the boomers, and so many of them are the touchie-feelie, hippy types who were more worried about being friends with their kids rather than disciplinarians. The other half of my generation was raised by the old fashioned method, a boot to the ass when you were in the wrong and your parents were the bosses of the house and you were the child. Life was about hiding from mom and dad the things that you knew would get your ass in the shit and not getting caught. Our parents weren't our friends. They taught us to have a thick skin and that life wasn't easy and that the world wasn't going to be at our beckon call. We had a thick skin and we were and are prepared for failure and we know how to pick our asses up off the couch and get back to work. We are the ones who are doing the jobs that keep the world moving, because we don't sit around and whine that nothing is going our way. When we get layed off we go out and find a new job. If we have to work at a minimum wage job to get our foot in the door we do it. If we have to work 2 of them to make ends meet, we do it. We were once called the slacker generation, but it was truthfully only half of us. The other half, we went to work and got shit done. The new president is of the last years of the Boomers, but his wife? Oh yeah, she is an Xer and that means that she knows the score.

So the pussy Xers and their sissy kids the generation Y, are the ones who have come up with these things like "Mercy Rules" where teams are not allowed to win by a very wide margin, or they will be penalized. For winning!! It makes me so freaking mad that I wanna go kick some idiot poofter in the balls! (What the hell is the new generation called? Are they Z? or have they come up with something original like the Millenium Generation? I like that!! The Millenuim Generation! That's what I am going to call them !! ) I really feel sorry for the military as these poor saps get older and join the service. Drill instructors really will be a bunch of mommies. Their recruits will not be even the slightest bit ready to be called on their weaknesses. They will have self esteem issues when they are called maggots and cry-babies. Their poor minds are so conditioned that the world revolves around them and their feelings that all that the Millenium Generation has going for it is their self esteem. They have no concept of the real world as a nasty bitch who cares nothing for their feeling and will trip them at every opportunity. How is a mercy rule in sports supposed to help them learn about disappointment? It's okay to be diappointed if the loss isn't so big? right. I don't buy it. Go shovel shit for someone else.

If a winning team feels the need to apologize for playing well, and a losing team has to feel good about their loss, then there is truly something out of wack here. A winning team should be able to enjoy the victory for what it is, a win, whether hard won or an easy trounce. The losing team needs to work harder and maybe they will win one next time. Maybe they spend the whole season as losers, but they will have learned from their loses. They will see what other teams do to win, and maybe they will have a chance to implement what they have learned next season. Mercy rules should be called what they really are "Pussy Rules" because the pussified adults who are in charge don't want to hurt the feelings of the losers. Well guess what? Life's a BITCH! She will kick you in the balls and poke you in the eyes and steal your candy. She will take your boyfriend or your girlfriend, and screw him or her in the closet at the party and then tell all your friends about it!

Cowboy up and get to livin' or get it over with and get to dyin', but get the hell out of the way with your whinin' and cryin'. I'm tired of hearing about bruised egos and mercy rules. If you can't deal with what life has to offer, then maybe you need to run to the store and get a new life!!