February 3, 2014 (Monday)
Football reached its climax for the 2013 season with last night’s Super Bowl. It turned out to be a very one-side game making Seattle fans happy, Denver fans sad, and everyone else bored to tears. Reminds me of some of the Super Bowls of the past.
The game itself, it seems to me, has become almost a sidelight among all the activities involved in the Super Bowl frenzy with celebrities, shows, parties, awards, installations, etc.
In the “good old days,” before the Super Bowl, the conference championships ended the season. The teams with the best records won, and the playoffs were a distant idea. There were two champions in those days, but staging a showdown between conference champs makes one champion a winner and the other champion a loser. Sad.
There’s a song that fits this scenario: “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues.” Words of the chorus are, “Some gotta win, some gotta lose.”
Realizing that the win-lose issue is strong, psychologists have come up with what is called, “win-win,” which almost always produces good results for marriages, businesses, group dynamics of various kinds, almost any situation that involves interaction between individuals or groups.
Competition is here to stay. There will always be winners and losers, but in our personal, day to day relationships, there is no better guideline for us than “The Golden Rule,” which delights in the good fortune of others.