Why We Must Practice Good Sportsmanship | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Sports

Why We Must Practice Good Sportsmanship

It's the only way to help us stay sane.

72
Why We Must Practice Good Sportsmanship
Waiting For Next Year

In the world of sports, it is crucial to be able to support your team with a level head.

I've been a Cubs fan since birth. For as long as I can remember, my family and I have been repping the Cubbie blue. I love my team almost more than anything and they are like an extension of myself. Therefore, it's easy for me to get upset when people say bad things about the Cubs even if it's all in good fun. Look, I know sports can get competitive. It's just the nature of the game. However, that doesn't mean we have the right to be jerks to other people.

The best way to be a good sport is to love your team with everything in you. Love them when they're doing bad, and love them when they're doing good. Let other people love their own team. Not everyone is going to love the Cubs, and that's okay, no matter how hard it is for you to understand why they wouldn't.

There is an Indians fan out there who wants this World Series victory just as much as I want the Cubs to win. If we remember that, it'll make this whole thing a lot more peaceful. We're both going through very long World Series droughts, and we're both the lovable losers in the MLB.

Putting down other people just because you're zealous for your own team is not justified or fair. Friendly competition is fine, but when it starts becoming an attack on other people; that is when it has gone too far.

Me loving the Cubs has nothing to do with your team. My undying love for my boys in blue doesn't challenge your love for your team. Own it, and be proud. Nobody likes a sore loser.

For practicing good sportsmanship, let's take some pointers from our favorites: Javier Baez and Francisco Lindor.

Baez and Lindor are basically best friends; they were back to back picks in the 2011 MLB draft. They both grew up in Puerto Rico and moved to Florida, and connected with their amazing sense of talent. How cool would it be to be on a field with your best friend, even if they're on the opposing team?

Speaking about Baez, Lindor said he texted him asking if winning the NLCS was just a dream. Since both teams won, Lindor replied "I think it is, because I haven't woken up yet."

Let us take a few pointers from their friendship. Despite being on opposite teams in the World Series, they can still be positive and encourage one another. This idea of good sportsmanship is so important and cannot be forgotten, for we are all rooting for the teams in which we stake a part of our identity. Just remember, there's someone else out there that wants this win just as much as you do.

P.S. Go Cubbies.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
ross geller
YouTube

As college students, we are all familiar with the horror show that is course registration week. Whether you are an incoming freshman or selecting classes for your last semester, I am certain that you can relate to how traumatic this can be.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

Bonus points if it is more than two.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

12 Things I Learned my Freshmen Year of College

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

4575
friends

Whether you're commuting or dorming, your first year of college is a huge adjustment. The transition from living with parents to being on my own was an experience I couldn't have even imagined- both a good and a bad thing. Here's a personal archive of a few of the things I learned after going away for the first time.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

Economic Benefits of Higher Wages

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

303236
Illistrated image of people crowded with banners to support a cause
StableDiffusion

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage would not only benefit workers and their families, it would also have positive impacts on the economy and society. Studies have shown that by increasing the minimum wage, poverty and inequality can be reduced by enabling workers to meet their basic needs and reducing income disparities.

I come from a low-income family. A family, like many others in the United States, which has lived paycheck to paycheck. My family and other families in my community have been trying to make ends meet by living on the minimum wage. We are proof that it doesn't work.

Keep Reading...Show less
blank paper
Allena Tapia

As an English Major in college, I have a lot of writing and especially creative writing pieces that I work on throughout the semester and sometimes, I'll find it hard to get the motivation to type a few pages and the thought process that goes behind it. These are eleven thoughts that I have as a writer while writing my stories.

Keep Reading...Show less
April Ludgate

Every college student knows and understands the struggle of forcing themselves to continue to care about school. Between the piles of homework, the hours of studying and the painfully long lectures, the desire to dropout is something that is constantly weighing on each and every one of us, but the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel helps to keep us motivated. While we are somehow managing to stay enrolled and (semi) alert, that does not mean that our inner-demons aren't telling us otherwise, and who is better to explain inner-demons than the beloved April Ludgate herself? Because of her dark-spirit and lack of filter, April has successfully been able to describe the emotional roller-coaster that is college on at least 13 different occasions and here they are.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments