Definition of Sportsmanship

For my husband's sake, I did not blog about how he ended his winter basketball season with the Super Ball Hog Ninjas 0-8, but I think he's moved past it now.  Really, he had a great attitude about it, albeit a bit disappointed.  But he's since started the spring league, and five of his former teammates decided to stick around for the next season, the outcome of which is yet to be determined.  Will it be another crushing defeat or a triumphant comeback?  Aye, time will tell (say that sentence with an Irish accent). 

They lost their first game of the spring season 66-45, but at halftime the score was within one point, so they held their own for awhile.  The Ninjas finally won their first game last week, beating a team who didn't make it into the "low" league because it was full.  They defeated this team 85-37, a very similar reflection of the Ninja's first game ever when they lost 67-22.  I did not witness the victory, but when Matt came home and told me they won, I was torn emotionally.  Thrilled for Matt, of course!   Relieved they finally won a game, you betcha!  It was a confidence booster for sure!  But I felt bad for the other team...the Ninjas WHOOPED them, gave them the same crushing defeat as they themselves had experienced...they showed NO MERCY!  "Why did they have to score so many points on them?", I contemplated.  I really felt sorry for this other team.

To his credit, Matt handled the whoopin's he experienced like a true sportsman, never complaining, and never once did he pout saying, "I just wish they didn't stomp us out."  So this is my own weird, messed up notion of sportsmanship:  when winning, a team should kindly not obliterate the other team!  Matt says I don't know what true sportsmanship is, that teams never compromise a game (i.e. miss shots intentionally or run slower or guard less) just to soften a loss.  I guess in my head that makes sense, but my heart says something else, because after Matt's blow-outs, I figured the Ninjas would be kind enough to not do that to another team; but instead, they sure strut their stuff!  It was probably all cooped up inside 'em after all this time, and I'm sure it felt good.  But really...85-37, was that really necessary?  It just seems a little over the top to me.  Am I really all that whacked?  Are blowouts wrong?  I'm probably being all girly about this, and somewhere in those big ol' sports rulebooks are rules against what I'm suggesting.  But as a wife sitting there watching her husband's team get blown out of the water, I am a little more compassionate towards the other teammates and their families viewing the slaughter.  I had the slightest inkling of hope that my husband wouldn't be the one doing the slaughtering.  Maybe that's why I was never in sports.