Comments on: It Sucks to Win Silver

By: jerry

jerry — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:55:12 +0000

Darwitz was 100% right! I don’t know of any pro athletes who play for 2nd best. You always play to be the best, like the saying goes “second place is the first loser”. These athletes have been training for years, it’s in their mindset to be the best, no one plays to be second and anyone who doesn’t understand this has obviously not played any competive sports in their lives! It wasn’t poor sportsmanship, they weren’t complaining or bitching about the refs or anything like that, they were sad because they didn’t win. I”m glad she told it the way it is.

By: Joey

Joey — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:10:48 +0000

Ms. Darwitz has nothing to apologize for. Anyone who has been in her place knows exactly what she was feeling. You devote your life to achieving a goal and you work your heart out and end up with second-best. There’s no consolation in that. The letdown is unbelievable. So don’t be too hard on her expression of disappointment. Until you’ve been there yourself, you have no idea of the empty feeling you come away with.

Yes, it’s a part of sporting competition, and it’s part of life. But that doesn’t make it any easier, and there’s no requirement that you have to like it or be phony cheerful about it.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:15:30 +0000

Natalie Darwitz should be commended for telling it like it is. She expresses exactly what any of us would feel if we were in her shoes, if we have the courage to be honest with ourselves. Play hard and do your best? Always. Play by the rules? Absolutely. Lose the game? It sucks. Losing always will suck if you play to win, as every competitor knows.

Coming in second is probably the toughest thing in sports. Winners get all the glory and remembrance. No one remembers who came in second. The runner-up plays their guts out and is left with nothing but a consolation prize at best, and that is no solace and in some ways hurts more than helps. When you reach that pinnacle game and fail, it is the failure that you remember. That is the source of the heartbreak and disappointment, to come close but fall short. I for one will not begrudge a player for an honest expression of that disappointment because it is the most human of all emotions.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:37:59 +0000

Yes, and then you’d have no chance of winning. Again, not what sports are about, in my opinion.

I think it’s so interesting, the different ways people look at the point of competition and the honor it is to go out there and duke it out for one of the most prestigious prizes in the world. Part of dedicating one’s life to anything is knowing that you may lose. Sitting in your hotel room doesn’t set you apart from anyone. And I for one am not slagging Natalie Darwitz for her efforts or as a human being. I’m just going to agree to disagree – thanks for the opposing viewpoints.

By: MICHAEL

MICHAEL — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:34:10 +0000

I, too, believe Ms. Darwitz hit it on the head with her comment! One way I look at her position is this….when she and her team awoke that Saturday morning, the Bronze Medal had already been won. Their game was going to decide who WINS the Gold Medal. The LOSER of that game would be ‘given’ the Silver Medal. Therefore, a person could feel as, “We could have just stayed in our hotel rooms or just showed up and sat in the middle of the rink and we would have STILL gotten the Silver Medal!”

An OLYMPIC Sliver Medal is definitely something to be proud of in ones life….but it SURE isn’t what they fought so hard for!!!

Miss Natalie….I wish I could buy YOU a drink (and a cigar if you want) for being so up front and honest. Don’t let anybody change you! You ARE a winner!!!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:35:05 +0000

You can be disturbed all you want, but the fact is that Natalie Darwitz was honestly sharing her emotions in, if you didn’t notice, the locker room after the game. That is where she made her statement. During the public ceremony they swallowed their pride and took their consolation prizes and gave honor to the winners. They left the ice quickly (as they should have) to allow the victors the stage. Nothing I saw indicated any degree of poor sportsmanship. If there is any poor sportsmanship and dishonesty, it is with those who would deny these young women an honest and reserved expression of their feelings. What they showed in public was perfectly understandable and not inappropriate in any way, at least for those with any measure of compassion and understanding. Saying you should just tuck your feelings away and wait until you are in your car or the restroom is silly. You don’t just switch off strong and deeply felt emotions. Most human beings are wired that way.

Darwitz should be commended for having the courage to voice honestly what she was feeling. Her comment was a statement of disappointment that the team did not achieve the goal it set for itself. There was no disparaging of the opposing team, or the officiating, or lack of effort. They just lost. And if you have the heart of a competitor, losing sucks. Saying so is not poor sportsmanship, it is honesty.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:14:38 +0000

I have heard this described as “grieving in their own way” several times and this is disturbing me. They can grieve all they want, but sportsmanship is important regardless and what they all showed (besides the goalie, who held herself together admirably) was petulance. Take it in the locker room. Grieve in your car. But on the international stage – millions of dollars aside – hold your head up. Otherwise, in my mind, you lose twice.

I think I’m watching the Olympics from a different perspective if medals don’t count and only two teams do. And I wouldn’t bother with those Olympics. I have pro sports for that, all year, every year.

By: ParentopiaDevra

ParentopiaDevra — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:50:42 +0000

A shut-out always feels, to me, as if the game wasn’t really played. I want both teams to at least score. I do agree that it sounds like a bad sport. One reason it bothers me, although there are others, is there are young athletes out there, watching the game and considering that some day they too may win a medal at the Olympics. Not a dream every person is guaranteed to achieve, but having an Olympian medalist diminish the importance of what was won, is in my opinion, a really lousy thing to have done.

By: James T.

James T. — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 14:07:40 +0000

Give the kid a break. Ms. Darwitz was simply expressing the disappointment of coming so far and failing to achieve your goal. There are few of us who haven’t been in the same boat at some time. The silver in tournament-style competition is a bit of an albatross, a third wheel. You aren’t awarded a silver medal or trophy because you won, you get it because you lost, and that’s the memory you have, losing your last game. That’s what really sucks. When you lose the championship game, consolation prizes mean very little. So have a little compassion and understanding for the long faces. For many, it’s a once in a lifetime shot, and when you don’t achieve it, there is disappointment beyond measure. So give the kids a little space to grieve in their own way. I know, it isn’t the end of the world, nobody died, it’s just sport, blah blah blah. But until you’ve been there, you don’t have any idea of the letdown.

Natalie Darwitz is expressing the heart of a true competitor. You can’t be satisfied or happy about finishing second. There is no shame in trying your best and losing fair and square (which they did), but it still doesn’t mean you have to be happy about it or satisfied. You play to win, not finish second. That doesn’t mena winning at all costs, but it does mean playing to win within the rules. The recipients of the gold and bronze medals won their last games, the silver medalists didn’t. That’s what “sucks” about “winning” the silver.

By: MyLisa

MyLisa — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:54:44 +0000

Glad to find your post–I couldn’t believe it when I heard that comment (and she’s the captain!), yet yours is the only confirmation I’ve found today that it was actually said. The tears of frustration are completely understandable, and I’m sympathetic, but the players had plenty of time to suck it up and be gracious for the ceremony. Very sad that so few of them managed. This, plus some of the dissension coming out of the ski team, seem to demonstrate the ill effects of a generation raised to believe winning is everything. We owe it to our youngsters to teach them how to lose gracefully.