Monday, April 25, 2011

Bowling Quote of the Day--Del Ballard Jr's Opinion of Good Losers

"You show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser."
--Del Ballard Jr.

Do you agree?

4 comments:

  1. It's a silly adage, and Del was neither the first nor the last to repeat it. It is generally used to defend poor sportsmanship, but sometimes just when someone is unhappy about having lost and questioned why they take it so much to heart. Used in either context, it has no basis in reality. Not knowing in what context Del used it, I would certainly withhold judgment.

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  2. Those are good points in the comment above, and without context it's hard to judge Ballard's use of the statement.

    Judging on the statement itself though, literally, it's true, and therefore a pointless statement. Obviously, a good loser is a loser. But if I'm a loser, wouldn't I rather be a good loser than a bad loser? I say yes.

    I respect the competitive nature of the comment, but have never agreed with it in the past and won't now.

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  3. Well said. A reciprocal version of the statement might be something like, "Show me a bad loser, and I'll show you a loser who's also a jerk."

    Or something like that. I'd rather be a good loser, but I can't say I always have been, especially in my younger years!

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  4. Heartily agree with the previous posters. There is no excuse for being a jerk when you lose.

    This is especially true for professionals.

    There's a huge difference between having a loser's attitude (ie the expectation and acceptance of losing before the fact) and being a good loser.

    Kerry

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