Winners and losers.

Too bad life has to be that way, but there are winners and losers.

Sometimes you are disappointed, other times you aren't.

That's just the way it goes.

Sometimes the disappointment is out of your control. Other times it's unfair.

But what is always under your control is how you react to disappointment.

How you choose to handle it is up to you.

Over the years in this business I have witnessed firsthand how people deal with disappointment.

And sometimes it isn't pretty.

You've heard the old phrase, "Don't shoot the messenger." Well, the small daily newspaper is the ultimate messenger.

And believe me, people are shooting us all the time.

Sometimes we deserve it. Many times we deserve it. Like when we butcher someone's name or bungle the facts.

But lots of times people fire shots at us just for reporting something disappointing.

This happens nowhere more often then in the sports department, where virtually everything they cover involves a disappointment.

The athletes they are writing about are winning and losing.

Sorry, but for every winner, there is a loser. It's the way life is.

Lots of people talk about athletics as a good training ground for the real world.

It teaches lessons about teamwork, responsibility, character and problem solving.

I couldn't agree more.

I think athletics does all those things.

Why, then, when we report that someone loses, does is become so troubling for people?

I guess some people want athletics to be a life lesson for winners only.

I've noticed a disturbing trend in some T-ball leagues over the past few years.

They've stopped keeping score. That way, the theory goes, everybody is a winner.

I suppose that's one way to look at it. But there's another way to look at it.

Nobody is a winner.

I guess that's the way I see it.

Really, what kind of lesson are the no-score games teaching? That there is something wrong with competition?

Where is the reward for your effort? Where is the sense of accomplishment? Where is the value in the contest if you don't know the outcome?

I know why the no-score thing cropped up in the first place.

Parents will tell you it's because the children were being emotionally harmed by losing at such a tender age.

But I know the truth.

No-score games weren't devised because of children. They were devised because of adults.

The kids don't mind winning and losing. I think they have a pretty good handle on it, actually.

I have yet to see a kid emotionally damaged by a Little League loss.

Parents are another matter. My kids were in Little League. I have seen the emotional eruptions of parents at Little League games.

I am surprised they can find umpires for those games. It's never the kids you see ranting or raving, it's the adults.

So the proponents of no-score games can say anything they want about why it's necessary to protect our youth.

They're just blowing smoke. What they're really trying to protect is their ears. They don't want to hear adults shouting obscenities from the stands.

I suppose it only makes sense, then, that when we report that someone loses it makes people mad.

Problem is, there is no way to avoid it.

What do we do when your little Johnny or Susie is standing at the free throw line with two seconds on the clock and his or her team down by one point?

He or she bricks both free throws.

Ooops.

Now what?

Do we report that or do we leave it out to spare little Johnny or Susie the embarrassment?

The answer should be obvious.

But in today's do-whatever-is necessary-to-avoid-hurting-anyone's-feelings society, there are plenty of people who think we should leave out that part of the story.

Of course, if the rest of little Susie's team would have played a little better along the way, she wouldn't have been in the position to win or lose at the end.

The loss doesn't really rest solely on the shoulders of little Susie.

But now we're back to that life thing again. In games like that, what do you suppose fans will remember? The kid that missed a layup in the third quarter or the kid who missed the free throws at the end?

That's not fair. Sorry. That's life.

When sportswriters cover events they don't go out of their way to make somebody look bad. They call it like they see it. They're trying to paint a picture of the contest.

The picture includes a winner and a loser.

Don't worry, moms and dads, your kids can handle life's lessons on winning and losing - including any press coverage they may receive.

Kids are more resilient in that regard than we think.

I know that's true because when my kid loses, he handles it better than I do. [[In-content Ad]]