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"Every time the ball hit the rim and rolled off into the other team&amp;#039;s hands, my stomach sank. My son&amp;#039;s basketball team hadn&amp;#039;t won a game the entire season, and it was painful to watch from the sidelines. Out on the court, however, it didn&amp;#039;t seem quite as agonizing. In fact, losing has been a wonderful thing for these boys.  When my son&amp;#039;s basketball team took the court the other night for their final regular season game, we were all hopeful that this was their night. The other team hadn&amp;#039;t won a game, either, and, though they had five subs and we had none, we crossed our fingers for the Bad News Bears of basketball. But by half-time, we were down by eight points, and our guys looked winded. The coach gave them a pep talk, and they took the court again, seemingly undaunted. Yet my stomach kept churning. Every time our team scored, we parents cheered a little too loudly, as though we&amp;#039;d won a hundred bucks at Bingo when we had expected to go home empty-handed. In the last quarter, we scored a few and the other team scored a few, until we were trailing by only two points.  In the final minute of the game, my son&amp;#039;s teammate got the ball, dribbled past mid-court and\u2026and\u2026the clock ran out. We lost by just one basket. In fact, we lost all our games. A few nights later, I told a friend about my son&amp;#039;s losing basketball season, and he replied, &amp;quot;0 and 28 is better than 28 and 0.&amp;quot; In other words, you learn more by losing than by winning. I think that goes for us parents, too. In the playoffs, my son&amp;#039;s team had to take on one of the top teams \u2013 a team that&amp;#039;s more &amp;quot;28 and 0&amp;quot; than the other way around. I settled on the sideline for what I expected would be a trouncing \u2013 but it never happened. In fact, my son&amp;#039;s team was scoring so much, they were actually ahead by a few points at several moments in the game. I took a picture of the scoreboard in case the lead didn&amp;#039;t last. Our guys were chasing down balls, passing and shooting like never before -- and their shots went in! In short, they were playing out of their minds. The parents were getting louder and louder, and other teams were streaming into the gym to watch the showdown. With just minutes left on the clock, the score was tied, and the other team fouled. One of our kids got two foul shots \u2013 and missed both. The crowd groaned. Now with less than a minute left in the game, we fouled and the other team got a foul shot \u2013 and it went in.  The play started up again, we got the ball, dribbled past mid-court and\u2026and\u2026the clock ran out. We lost by just one point.  And yet, there were no tears. No long faces. No kicking basketballs and storming out of the gym. (Not even for the parents.) My son and his teammates lined up, shook the other team&amp;#039;s hands and thanked their coach for a good season. A losing season, yes, and yet, a team full of winners who probably learned more about life than the kids who took home trophies. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/a2208/sportsmanship-losing-basketball/>