What Can We Gain From Losing
Rob Hammersmith
Friday April 6, 2007
I didn’t realize why I like to watch the boardroom scene until Donald Trump mentioned recently that a person’s real character isn’t revealed when they win, but when they lose. And there have been some entertaining characters revealed on that show in the attempts to defend ones self in the boardroom.
But what does this have to do with the Columbus Destroyers?
Am I suggesting that someone should be fired after the loss to Dallas? No, not at all.
The Apprentice boardroom is just an example of the character revelation that the Destroyers players, coaches, and even fans, are going to go through after this heartbreaking loss.
What will we all do? Will the players point fingers? Will the coaches make changes? Will the fans bad mouth the team on the Internet message boards? How will we all react?
I have to say, that loss hurt. I still can’t believe the Destroyers were up 37-7 on Dallas and somehow ended up losing. After watching the Ohio State Buckeyes lose three nights earlier, in what itself was a pouring of salt into an open wound caused just months earlier by the same Florida Gators, my first comments after the Dallas Desperados winning field goal were “I’m tired”.
Central Ohio sports have really tired my love of sports recently. Not only the whole “Florida/OSU - football/basketball - National Champion” thing, but the OSU NCAA tournament games with Xavier and Tennessee, last week’s Destroyers/Georgia win, the close Destroyers losses to Chicago and New Orleans… the list of recent heart wrenching games seems to go on and on.
But I’m sure other fans reactions were far more than just my “I’m tired” comment. I’m sure some of the comments aren’t fit to print. But if you pay enough money for tickets, parking, and refreshments, you’ve probably earned the right to say whatever you want, especially if you’re still going to come back and buy more Destroyers tickets again.
But what’s really important is what was the reaction in the Destroyers locker room? How did they respond? What were their first comments? More importantly, what are they going to do?
In the grand scheme of things, perhaps this heartbreaking loss is exactly what this team needed more than anything else. If the Destroyers had gone to Dallas, stumbled out of the start and trailed for the rest of the game, they would have come home with a loss that everyone expected them to come home with. The game would have had no meaning whatsoever. And what would a win in Dallas have done to the character of these players? Ultimately it would have masked for one more week the flaws that obviously exist in this team. If these flaws are to be addressed, they need to be revealed, which is exactly what this heartbreaking loss can do if they let it.
These aren’t new flaws either. They carried over from last year. The 2006 season ended with a 35-3 2nd half choke job in San Jose. At half time of that game the Destroyers were up 44-33, and 30 minutes away from securing a playoff spot with a win. So, including that game the Destroyers have not only choked four times in their last six games with the game on the line, but they’ve also blown half time leads of 11 points, 14 points, and 23 points in the process.
Before the season began, I wondered if with all the new faces, would the team recall how they felt coming home from that season ending loss in San Jose. But ultimately for an event to have any positive change on human character, it has to be more than just remembered. It has to hurt. It has to motivate you to never want to feel that same way again. Remembering is not enough. The memory has to motivate.
And unless that motivation is there, these flaws that frequently plague the team in the 2nd half are not going to go away, and the team is going to find itself in a situation like the 2006 San Jose game again. Why? Because the New York Dragons and the Austin Wranglers aren’t playing like the same teams they were last year, which means even if the Destroyers look to finish the season with a losing record, they will be teetering on the cutoff line for a playoff spot once again.
The bottom line is this, if this team needed a heart breaking loss to generate the motivation necessary to instigate the change this team needs, I’m glad the heartbreaking loss was a game the Destroyers were expected to lose, and not a game the Destroyers were expected to win.
But if this team doesn’t learn a darn thing from that loss, then not only was it heartbreaking, but also worthless. Lets hope something positive and worthwhile results from this. Because like I said in my first article for the 2007 season, there is a more appropriate phrase for this season than “We Believe…” In the immortal words of Twisted Sister, “we’re not gonna take it anymore!”
Rob became an Arena Football League enthusiast when the Destroyers moved from Buffalo to Columbus after the 2003 season. Rob and his wife have been season ticket holders for the Destroyers since they arrived. Rob was born and raised in Central Ohio, attended The Ohio State University and has now worked for the past 15 years in the area. Despite attending Buckeye games for decades, Rob has found that Arena Football tops his list of sporting events that he likes to attend.
