The Ides of March is fast approaching, which signals that we are fully into that madness called college basketball and its NCAA Championship competition. Our media pundits are fully engaged in identifying who is in and who is out, and of course, who is on the œinfamous bubble. Its one of the very few occupations that has the freedom to give all the opinions one might have and never have to be held accountable for what comes out of their mouth.

I suppose that is the nature of opinions anyway, but I think there is a big difference when I express my opinion to my neighbor or an opinion that is expressed and heard by millions of people. I say this because a big part of the œmadness conversation is regarding who is about to lose their job because their team didnt get picked for the playoffs.

How many times do you think that public opinion about a particular coachs prowess has opened the door for the coach to be fired? After all, if you heard it on TV it must be true?

What is the criteria for judging a coach? Why, won-lost record, of course. Is that it? Who set the standard? Lets blame it on the general public. Lets put it in the laps of the administration of any college or university. Lets point the finger at somebody else, anybody else.

First of all, who educated the general public anyway. Why coaches of course. I hear coachs say all the time how much they œhate to lose. Duh. Is there anybody out there who LOVES to lose? Is it the end of life as we know it when we lose?

It is totally an identity/survival conversation. That is the lowest level of living. The nature of any game is that it is DESIGNED to produce a winner and a loser. So, why are we shocked and surprised when that happens? If you choose to play the game it is built in that your efforts will be directed at winning.

There is so much more available and it’s available win or lose. The opportunity to test oneself. The endeavor to master something. The experience of fulfilling our intentions and commitments in concert with other human beings, you know, that œteam thing.

No one is going to remember your won-lost record. They will remember what you brought to the table as a human being and how you used your influence to make a difference in the world. Here is a possibility that I have:

 COMPETITIVE ATHLETICS”AS A POSSIBILITY

¢ A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE ARE REWARDED FOR THEIR HARD WORK

¢ AN INTERACTION THAT BRINGS OUT THE VERY BEST IN HUMAN BEINGS

¢ AN ENGAGEMENT THAT ALLOWS FOR FULL SELF-EXPRESSION

¢ THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH OTHERS TOWARD A COMMON GOAL, RESPECTING EACH PERSONS INDIVIVUAL DIFFERENCES

¢ AN OPPORTUNITY FOR HEROIC AND ORDINARY PERFORMANCE TO EQUALLY INSPIRE OTHERS TO ACTION

¢ THE POSSIBILITY TO HAVE AN ENGAGEMENT THAT HAS THE PARTICIPANTS FULLY PLAYING TO WIN AND, AT THE SAME TIME, PRESERVING THE DIGNITY OF ALL INVOLVED

¢ A TIME WHEN THE FIERCENESS OF THE COMPETITION REPRESENTS THE INTENSITY OF OUR LOVE FOR OUR OPPONENTS AS WELL AS OUR TEAMMATES

¢ A POSSIBILITY FOR EVERY PARTICIPANT TO KNOW THAT THEY REALLY  DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

¢ AN INESCAPABLE DEMONSTRATION OF OUR FUNDAMENTAL STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES, AND THAT WE CAN EMBRACE THEM EQUALLY

¢ A TIME TO GIVE AND BE SATISFIED

Take the time to go to lulu.com and review the selection of books by Coach Todd that are especially useful for those in a leadership position.