Winning is Hard

“You need to lose a game to go before you can win a game to go.”  I think the idea behind this cliché is correct but Frisbee players, in their infinite ability to misunderstand, often lose sight of the underlying meaning.  It is incredibly difficult to win.  Winning is hard.  It is not easy to win.  Wanting to win isn’t enough.  Trying to win isn’t enough.  Playing to win isn’t enough.  Winning is really hard.  Undervaluing or disrespecting the process that goes into winning is a guaranteed way to lose.

When I think about Jimmy Mickle, his Freshmen year he lost in prequarters, Sophomore year he lost in Semis, Junior year he lost in prequarters, Senior year he lost in prequarters, and in his fifth year he broke through and won the title.  Obviously this Colorado team had tons of talent and was incredibly good, but so are all the other teams at college nationals.  I think what set this group a part was the collection of fifth year seniors who had intimate knowledge of just how difficult it is to win at Nationals.

I think Pitt is the cleanest example of the value of knowing how hard it is to win a title.  Alex Thorne and Tyle DeGirolamo spent three years getting knocked out before reaching semis.  In their Senior and fifth years they knew exactly how difficult it was to win a title, and they were able to convert.  The following year they fell short but think about who the super stars of 2014 were: Max Thorne, Trent Dillon, and Pat Earles had never not won a national title.  The last time Marcus Ranni-Dropcho didn’t win a title he was a freshmen.  Do I think that Pitt got complacent or didn’t respect how difficult it is to win?  Obviously I don’t know but I do think that losing, a gentle reminder that winning is hard, has made Pitt in 2015 more powerful than we could have ever imagined.

When CUT lost in semis of 2013, their entire senior class had never lost before reaching the final.

When Florida won in 2010, they were coming off of a 2009 where they didn’t qualify for nationals.

Illinois 2012 had 0 players that had ever lost a game at Regionals.  Then we lost two in one year.

MSU lost the 4 games to go through 2010, 2011, and 2012 before winning one in 2012.

NUT 2014 was a team of kids who couldn’t even spell Nationals.  They were a group that had to struggle to qualify for regionals in 2013.  Is it even reasonable to expect them to know how hard it is to win a game to go?  I am sure they knew they’d have to “work hard” but they had no experience or front row tickets to give them any idea of how hard it is to win.  They had no idea of what “work hard” actually meant.

Success is a goal that a team can and should work toward.  Success can give peace of mind, it can be measured, and it can be improved upon.  Winning is a wrathful and fickle god.  Winning doesn’t need to be worshipped, but it demands respect and penance.  It asks you to pay with more than “effort”.  Fail to give winning what it demands and you will be chewed up and spit out in the most unceremonious of ways.  Fail to give winning the respect it deserves and you will never be able to win.