Bunch of losers

I’m fresh out of NCAA basketball tournaments. The men are done; Connecticut won. The women are done; Connecticut won.

Each tournament started with 64 teams. (Yes, there were a few more that “played in” to the men’s tournament, but I’m going to ignore that because I don’t really understand how that part works or why it exists.) Only one team in each tournament got to the end without losing…I think I mentioned they were both from Connecticut.

So, everyone in Connecticut is jumping for joy and 49 states are full of losers. In fact, 126 of 128 teams in the two tournaments are losers. After all, all those teams lost the last game they played. They all walked off the court in defeat. Only those hustling Huskies from Connecticut won.

And basketball players are not the only ones who are mostly losers. (I’m a baseball fan in Chicago, so I’m very familiar with losing.)

Salesmen typically fail more times than they make a sale. Weeds grow in farmers’ fields. Paint peels off houses. Basements leak. Tires go flat. Students have trouble with math and reading.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that I am surrounded by failure. And there is no denying that I contribute to this epidemic of falling shortness.

I never lost a national championship game. But I fall short daily of some ideal or other. And some of these failings often lead me to the confessional.

Losing a basketball game doesn’t trigger a need for confession (unless you bet on your own team to lose and intentionally throw the game). In the normal world of one team is better than the other, the losers have not sinned by committing turnovers or missing clutch free throws.

They just didn’t do as well playing a game. Likewise, people who fail in business or farmers who have weeds in their corn aren’t sinning – they just aren’t as smart or talented as they would like to be. But most of us spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about things that, if they fail, do not result in sin.

Losing a basketball game is a disappointment, not a sin.

Failed business may result in a foreclosed property – but that isn’t a sin.

A failed corn crop may mean financial ruin – but that isn’t a sin.

Lots of things we may view as less problematic – a lie, cheating on an expense account, a bribe to get a favor – are sins. If we don’t get caught and don’t think anyone was hurt, why would a little bribe be as big a problem as a failed business?

In practical, earthly terms, it likely wouldn’t be. But those aren’t the terms that matter in the long run (eternity). The things that get a person to confession are the ones that count, and ones we should really worry about. And they are the ones for which we can be forgiven.

But if I ever have a grandchild who is a great basketball player, I might recommend University of Connecticut.