Sometimes you just have to admit when you’re wrong.
Last night I had a great battle on the table with a pretty good player in our league. As we battled back and forth we got to hill-hill and the match came down to a great shot and easy 8 ball in the side pocket. What should have been a well-deserved victory turned sour quickly after the final ball fell. See, I did the unthinkable and didn’t mark the pocket. As I was going to shake his hand and praise him for a great match he pulled out the unthinkable (in my mind) “you didn’t mark your pocket” card.
The fact that he pulled out the card and was claiming victory wasn’t the problem. The problem was how I handled it. As a pretty casual “rules” player I’m far from worried about people marking pockets or being late or taking too long on a time out. I don’t really care if you play slow or slop in every shot. I play to have fun and anyone who knows me hears me say the same thing before any big matches…”Shoot well, have fun and remember, we’re not out here saving lives”? To me it’s not winning or losing, it’s the competition I love. I never want to win on a technicality. It’s just not in my genes.
But that is not the point of this post. The point is the self-reflection I’ve had this morning on how poorly I handled the situation. Instead of simply acknowledging he was right, I lost my cool and called him out for being so petty. The problem is he wasn’t; I was. Rules are rules and unfortunately, metaphorically I finally got a ticket for speeding. Just because you’re speeding and don’t get caught doesn’t mean you’re not breaking the rules. APA states you must mark your pocket when shooting the eight ball and clearly I did not. I was speeding and got caught. It’s not the cops fault he caught me; it’s my fault for speeding.
So why the post? I realized, when I got home, the opponent I played wasn’t the asshole, I was. Rules are rules and even though it’s not the way I want to win it doesn’t mean he is not in the right taking the win on a technicality. My post is twofold:
Sportsmanship means more to me than winning and losing. I failed miserably in that category last night and for anyone else who’s ever done what I’ve done remember, it’s just a game and we’re not saving lives.Winning isn’t everything and deciding on how you win is just as important as the win itself. At the end of the day, stay classy. The APA gives us players a great league to play in. It’s called the APA but the organization is nothing if it doesn’t have good people playing in it. I want to be one of the good guys
To my opponent last night, I want to publicly apologize for my actions and foul mouth after our match. You did not deserve my wrath just as much as I did not deserve the win. The next time we meet I’ll start the match by shaking your hand with a beer attached (I think you drink Pabst or Miller Lite). I have to remember my own words, “We’re not saving lives out here”.
More importantly I have to remember this: “Because God loved us first, we can extend His love to others – no matter what they’ve done”. I can do better.