Posted by Todd Zywicki:
Lombardi and Sportsmanship:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_05_29-2005_06_04.shtml#1117724831
In the midst of an otherwise insightful column on the demise of
sportsmanship, Burt Prelutsky has this clunker:
Those days [of Bobby Jones and good sportsmanship] seem very long
ago. Since then, we've seen the canonization of Vince Lombardi,
whose inane comment that "Winning isn't everything, it's the only
thing" has come to be regarded as being every bit as inspirational
as the Sermon on the Mount.
No, no, no!!! What Lombardi meant is the exact opposite of what
Prelutsky (and others) ususally take it to mean. Prelutsky implies
that it means "anything goes" in the pursuit of victory, including
cheating. Lombardi would be horrified to hear that his famous phrase
was interpreted in this fashion. Lombardi clearly meant it to mean
that "the struggle and work in pursuit of victory and trying to win
was the only thing"--i.e., if you are going to play, you should play
your hardest to win and challenge yourself to the maximum of your
strength, character, and abilities, rather than dogging it. This means
working hard every day and sacrificing for the team goal of winning.
The phrase has since been transformed into the meaning that Prelutsky
ascribes to it.
Here's the way that David Maraniss puts it in his wonderful biography
of Lombardi, [1]When Pride Still Mattered (storngly recommended):
What he said, or meant to say, [Lombardi's supporters have]
claimed, was that winning isn't everything, it's the only thing
worth striving for, or winning isn't everything, but making the
effort to win is.
***
[T]here was a crucial distinction in his philosophy between paying
the price to win and winning at any price. He did not bleive in
cheating to win, and he whowed no interest in winning that wrong
way, without heart, brains and sportsmanship. Although he never
shied away from the violence of the game, insisting that football
was "not a contact sport, but a colision sport," he did not
encourage dirty play.... Winning in and of itself was not enough
for him. His players knew taht he was more likely to drive them
mercilessly after they ahd played sloppily but won than when they
had played hard but lost.
The fact that Lombardi's words have been twisted over time says more
about the generations that succeeded Lombardi than it does about
Lombardi.
For what its worth, I have always been intrigued by Maraniss's
decision to write a biography of Lombardi after his famous biography
of President Clinton. I suspect that the explanation may lie in this
discussion--I think Maraniss sees Lombardi as personifying his
generation (God, country, family, duty, discipline) in the same way
that he sees Clinton as the personification of generation (Baby Boom).
So they are really generational studies told through the lens of
particular individuals.
The transition between these two generations may also help to explain
the change in the interpretation of Lombardi's famous expression over
time. Incidentally, in the book Maraniss tells a fascinating story
about how that famous phrase made it to Lombardi's lips.
References
1.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684870185/qid=1117724723/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-5390802-0456765?v=glance&s=books
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