The nobility of winning -- or losing

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Toby Howell, the coach at Western, was beside himself the first couple weeks of the season when it came to playing a game to its conclusion. Both coaches must mutually agree before each game whether to include overtime.

But the first two weeks of the season, the opposing coaches didn’t want to play OT. Turned out, Western and Valencia played to a 21-21 tie.

Such pregame reasoning leaves Howell scratching his head.

“It seems to me like the whole idea is to play to win,” Howell said, “not play to tie.”

I agree. Teams playing for a tie to send a game to overtime makes perfect sense. But making a determination before the game to not play an overtime is exasperating for almost everyone involved -- players and fans.

Ties are weak. There is no nobility in settling for a tie. Coaches worth their salt strive to bring out the best in their players. By failing to play for the decision, coaches are failing to bring out the best in themselves and their teams.

- Martin Henderson