It was a big weekend for high drama sports contests. The San Jose Sharks lost in the fourth overtime of a conference semifinal game against the Dallas Stars (and even for a non-hockey fan, it was an enthralling, inspiring contest to watch as the players fought for their 2008 Stanley Cup dreams for more than five hours).
The NBA playoffs continue (and continue…and continue…I am not an NBA fan, but live in a household full of them). NCAA spring sports seasons are winding down, and championships are being settled. High school teams all around the country are going through their races, paces, and brackets, too, in pursuit of the best of the best bragging rights for the year, and beyond.
In all of these valiant pursuits of victory, there are celebrations and high-fives all around for the winning team. For everyone else, there’s great pride in the pursuit, in having competed well, and plenty of pain in having lost.
Rarely, there is tragedy, as well.
That was the case with the 2008 Kentucky Derby. The first filly in years, Eight Belles, broke both front legs just after a second-place finish, and had to put euthanized right away on the track at Churchill Downs. That’s the loss of a second prominent racehorse in just a few years, coming as soon as it has after Barbaro, the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner, broke his leg so badly. Despite heroic efforts to save him, he was eventually euthanized early in 2007.
Time will tell, but it may eventually turn out to be the case that racehorses are more able to handle the life-and-death risks of the world in which they compete if they are bred with an eye more to a superb blend of strengths, not just for speed.
In all of these thrilling contests – hockey, basketball, horse-racing, and many more, victory is won so often by the competitor or team with the championship blend of strengths, along with the heart – and more than a little luck, too – to see them through the all-involving battle that leads to the top.
