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Originally Posted by Morrigoon
To that end, it would be good for us to do pretty well, but also good for us to not totally dominate. Some close calls, some occasional very near losses, those are good for national goodwill. Though it's good to be victorious, we can't seem unbeatable either.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scaeagles
I'm sorry, but I find this ridiculous. Isn't the Olympics about bringing the best of the world together and seeing who wins? Honestly, if the french (just singling this out as one example) have bad will toward America because they lost the 4x100, that's their problem, not ours.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Morrigoon
I'm not suggesting it as a strategy, but the reality of it is, such things DO have an impact on international relations and on the sentiment one country holds toward another. That's kind of the point. Using sports as a way to compete and yet cooperate with other countries and generate goodwill.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scaeagles
OK....makes more sense (and not ridiculous), but I suppose it is a sad thing that anyone would have to worry about someone disliking them because they win. I will always reagrd that as an issue of the loser having a problem, not the winner. Of course, there is such a thing as being a bad winner, though the initial exuberance of winning doesn't fall into that.
What makes one better in any competitive endeavor is going against those who are better than you and forcing you to find a better way to do things. I don't hate my main basketball rival, but I want to beat them desperately. A couple of years ago I lost to them by 23. Four days later we beat them in overtime because I was forced to try some different things to beat them. Made me a better coach, made my players better, too. And it was one of the most satisfying moments of any athletic moment of my life.
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Since I'm pretty sure my original comment of wanting the world to see that the US was more than just Bush and war prompted this exchange, I'll go on to say graciously winning every event is a lot better than "in your face" winning one or two event
I'll give this analogy - I want the Ducks to dominate the NHL again. But I want the former Ducks to do well in every game they play, except when they play against us. I want every athlete from every country to do their best, but I want ours to win.