all of life is a contest. and you either win or you lose although the ultimate end of the race is a loss of life. it is the goals you accomplish in the middle which defines you as a winner or a loser.

Winning in athletics is a healthy goal, provided that it is put into perspective in the totality of one's life. In high school, I was on a state-runner-up football team. Occasionally, I reflect on the downside of losing the championship and how "we couldn't win the big one." Playing the "blame game" can be painful and scar one's ego. On the other side, our team accomplished a lot, and we would not have gotten that far had we not had a fierce "will to win." The effort and team collaboration in trying to win are the things we should cherish the most.

Nobody wins all the time. We all suffer defeats in life. What really counts is to try to win... to try to be the best at whatever we attempt. A loss is not the end of everything if we have tried our best.

Winning *is* everything, but not necessarily the way we often think of it. Winning doesn't mean you end up with the most points or the most money or the most awards or most popularity, because winning isn't about comparing yourself to others; it's about comparing what you've done to the best that you can do. If you have done all you could, if you have given all you have, then you have won the battle against apathy, complacency, laziness, and every other vice that threatens to rob us of our potential. That, my friends, is winning at Life.

Dr. Ryan's third, and final, interpretation: "Winning is the primary goal in playing sports" seems to be much more plausible than the other two interpretations. However, I think there is a problem. True, for many, winning is the primary goal in playing sports. But Dr. Ryan's position seems to carry with it a sort of principle that may go something like "If S is playing a sport, then S's primary goal is winning." Imagine S is a high school student trying to boost his or her extracurricular activities list, so S joins the basketball team. S does not care at all about winning, but rather that he or she can list "basketball team" on the list of extracurricular activities. On Dr. Ryan's principle, since S's primary goal is not winning, then S is not playing a sport. Perhaps this is not a problem for proponents of this view, and they would claim that S is not playing a sport. I, however, would need more reasons to think that S was not playing a sport.

I always liked the "tough guy" quote from Vince Lombardi but I never thought he believed it. I recently heard someone say that they had John Wooten in to give their people a talk about goals and he spoke for an hour or more and never used the word "win". When asked about it, he said that winning is not a goal. Winning is the reward for exelence in execution. Since Vince only used eight plays because even with hall of fame athletes, that was the highest number that they were able to execute to his satisfaction, I think he and Wooten were on the same page.

Hi Sharon, Happy Holidays! Well, I'm at work now, so I'll have to make this quick, but it seems to me that the primary goal of playing sports ought not to be winning. Actually Sharon, if I'm understanding you completely, it does not seem to me that you believe winning to be the primary goal of sports either. Rather, it seems you are saying that having the goal of winning facilitates other goods (and perhaps other goals): learning (e.g., how to work hard), and growing as a person (e.g., developing courage and determination). As such, in your view winning seems at best to be an ancillary goal, a means to an end, and only important because of its effectiveness in encouraging us to work towards greater goals. If it is true that winning is not a good in and of itself, I would not agree that winning ought to be the primary goal in sports. For if winning is not a good in and of itself, and if the primary goal of players was to win, the results would be disastrous: players would cheat to get ahead, they would take harmful drugs to improve their performance, and they would lose much of the joy of the game to the stress and pressure and disappointment that comes with being too focused on victory -- much as is the case today. Instead, I believe the primary goals in sports should be just those benefits that you believe wanting to win might help bring about: learning, having fun, and becoming a healthier, more fulfilled individual.

This IS a great inspiring thread...briefly, a winning attitude has helped me since I cultivated it growing up in WV through sports and listening to audio self-help cassettes...now 25 years after leaving WVU, I have achieved a great deal 1)due to growing a winning ATTITUDE based on success and FAILURE 2) self analysis 3) NEVER GIVE UP 4) realizing that the long view shaprens the short view and 5) improving mysurroundings ...the late IBM CEO Watson said it best - "If you want to succeed, then double your failure rate".

Ricky Bobby said it well, if your not first your last!

Winning is everything. Defining what it means to win is, however, different for different people, ie, winning is relative. For instance, WVU's basketball team making the Elite 8 in 2005 clearly was a win relative to our program even though we did not advance to the Final Four (note: once we defeated Wake Forest we were playing with house money). Whereas, Kentucky likely viewed itself as having lost even though it achieved the same feet as WVU in 2005.

Although I agree that no one plays a sport (or participates in life) to loose, winning is definitely not the ultimate measure of success. In sports, and particularly in close scoring games, chance plays a huge role. Consider a contest where two teams are tied despite team 1 outplaying team 2 the entire game, and by chance, a fluke bounce or deflection results in the ball / puck ending up in team 2?s possession, and they score. Team 2 ?wins?, as a result of a chance play, and become champions. Team 1 has nothing to be ashamed of, and Team 2 is only champs because of a chance play. This happens more than infrequently. Yes, I realize that one could argue that a team 2 player ?was in the right place at the right time?, or otherwise created the fluke bounce or deflection, but chance plays a role in many ways in sports. Of course, in most cases the winning team is the team that outplayed the opposition. However I truly believe that doing your best, trying your hardest, giving it your all, is the real measure of success, not the final score. The real question is, what is your best effort?

How is winning defined? Is it winning one game? Is it winning the championship title? Is having reached the maximun potential of the greatest number of players?

Now that we won, I think we all know that winning is pretty much everything. Even if we worked hard, worked as a team, etc. but lost, we'd be feeling rotten right now. All Mountaineers are out-of-control happy and proud right now. Winning is everything!!

i agree with coach Rod. I coach future problem solving. I always emphasize the learning and thinking process but do agree if we won itwould be the icing on the cake.

Those who seek to win, solely for the sake of winning alone, may be disappointed in the result at the end of the contest. Those who seek to execute to perfection, in every detail, may be rewarded with winning as the fruit of their labor. Even if the contest ends with them losing, if they have executed to perfection, they will not be as disappointed. They will simply have been beaten by an opponent who executed just that much better, and a great contest will have been had by all.

winning is great but i believe that winning is a team effort and not one person but if you play the best of your ability you are a winner.my grandmother always said in order to be a good winner you haveto be a good loser and show good sportsmanship .good sportsmanship is a definition of a good winner

Although the definition of winning has already been question as to being the victor or just doing the best you can (thus making "winning" relative), it does bring up a point. ALSO...you have to take into consideration that some games are played solo and some are played on a team. Let's say you score 6 touch downs for your football team and rushed for a world record number of yards, but the other team still managed to win because your football team has a horrible defensive team. Do you count that as a loss or is it possible for part of a team to "win" while the other loses? However, let's say you play your best game of tennis (singles) and get beaten. It was a REALLY close game, and was decided after playing deuce in the last point for half an hour and you eventually take 2nd place. So, even though you consider yourself a winner because of the amazing atheletic skill you put out, it's STILL a loss that falls entirely onto you. With both of those examples, I think it would be safe to say that even though winning was your primary goal, setting a world record and getting 2nd place are secondary objectives, so winning is not necessarily everything.

The definition of "winning" is indeed the ultimate determiner of how we answer this question, and I'm still trying to decide whether I agree with Dr. Ryan's third proposition or not. I DO agree with Meg Bulger fully. Sports are all about the things we gain from them. Coaches, players, and fans derive different pleasures from their performance, and so would judge each game (in fact, each game situation) differently. Ultimately, if the player reaches new heights of performance, they have won. If the team reaches new levels of excellence as a group, they have won. If the coach is able to help the player or the team exceed what it has been able to do before, the coach has won. None of us may take as much satisfaction in "moral victories" as we do in those that appear on the scoreboard, but without those small measures of progress, the goal of victory would be impossible. Fans usually lose sight of these smaller measures unless their favorite team has been so miserable for so long that the fans no longer have any expectations. Athletes should never lose sight of the fact that they can win something each time they compete. If they improve their individual skills, become more cohesive as a team, and fully realize the truth that the "sum is greater than its parts", then they will be winners long before that result shows on the scoreboard. If this is what Dr. Ryan meant in proposition #3, then I agree that this sort of winning is everything.

I don't think winning is everything and never will be nor should be considered to be. Too many people use "winning is everything" as a way to excuse their bad manners, bad business practices or just simply plain old dishonesty. Yes, it's nice to win at things, winning because you did your best, but not at the expense of others.

The winner carries with him the quiet knowledge that though he has heard every argument, faced every opponent, felt every criticism, there is no turning back and no accepting defeat. Telling a winner that something is impossible is waving a red flag. He insists on going ahead, persisting until what he is doing is so well-known to him that there is nothing left to do but win. Every winner knows in his heart that he is not alone. His spirit and his dream merge so that even a loss would only be a delay. What we put into an idea, what we dream it can be, what we believer for and work toward is likely to make it take shape.

The answer to this question depends on your definition of winning. For me, the definition of winning, is not gaining the glory, or the trophy or coming in before everyone else. Winning is knowing that you went out there and gave it your all. If you have improvement, or if you know that was the best you could have done then you won. Therefore, winning in this sense is everything, because you do it out of a love for the sport. No matter what, one will always win, as long as they enjoy doing what they are doing and are satisfied. Winning, is everything in any sport, because what determines it, is how you did compared to the last time you played.

In a way, winning is everything, though not in the sense most would believe. You 'win' by doing your best and learning from the experiance, and fixing your mistakes for the next time. Even in sports, there is no true looser unless you give up and choose not to work at what went wrong. Not only that, but if you believe there is no where to improve, then you have lost. As 'Master Yoda' said , " Do or do not, there is no try." -- You can not simply -try- Your best, you must do your best. If you do your best, you've won -- You've won the fight against negitivity, where you thought you could not, you could. If you do not try, you can not win because you did nothing to challenge yourself. Just the two cents from a sophomore in Tennessee who adores and wants to attend WVU. I hope everyone has a wonderful day! Ashleigh.

The major flaw to ever devoting yourself to a cause is that you often lose track of what you are doing. You see only the outcome, and not the path. Historical Connection: George Washington's New York campaign during the Revolutionary War is still, to this day, considered one of the best military campaigns of all time. But he lost nearly all, if not every battle. It is how he withstood all the battles, with such limited supplies, and survived that is important.. Yes, the goal to win all the time can become addictive, easily. It is mentally pleasing to win, and if we win so much, we will still crave that feeling, and we do anything to gain it, blind to what we do. So no, winning is not the most important thing. The journey is more important then the destination.

Winning is everything that matters. In this current day American society your standing is based on acheivement and in order to achieve you must succeed. If winning wasn't important why would we set goals? Athletics wouldn't prosper at all if it wasn't for the inborn desire within all of us to win. People would not lose their jobs everyday and we wouldn't have a daily war watch about what is going on in Iraq if winning isn't important. Professionally people that hold jobs are paid to not do their best but to do the tasks the employer thinks will make the company a 'winner.' A lot of the country's opinion on our current president is based on whether they think they are 'winning' with this president. That can be anything from the war in Iraq to unemployment. Money and Success or winning go hand in hand and in America, there is nothing more important than winning. Like Lombardi said it is the only thing.

This is a question of semantics. "Winning" as a word carries the understood idea that there is some sort of competition present, or at the very least, two conflicting sides that are working towards an end that only one of them can achieve. As the question is stated, yes, winning IS everything, in that for conflict to be present, there has to be an intrinsic desire to succeed. The idea of "don't worry about who wins or loses, just enjoy playing the game" is null... I cannot think of a single example of ANY sport of game where pleasure could possibly be derived with an absence of a desire to win. This question is fouled up from the beggining just because it is a semantically null sentiment... but as it is STATED... then yes, winning MUST be everything, otherwise one would never find oneself in a position where winning and losing were possible outcomes.

Physical activity is important to health and wellbeing. The US tends to focus on sports that have a winner and looser. This continues a dialouge of us and them. However in some physical acitvity is not based on winners or loosers but instead accomplishment, cooperation and perserverance. Some examples are mountain climbing, hiking, yoga, tai chi and hacki sack. While the question addresses winning I believe unity and cooperation are far more important.

Dr. Ryan - great thoughts! I am a former WVU athlete (wrestling) and after I graduated, I lived in China for a couple years. I would get so frustrated while playing sports on college campuses there because often, after playing for 30 minutes or so, I would learn that nobody was keeping score (especially true with volleyball and basketball)! No score was kept, yet the college students on any given campus are out there from sun up to sun down playing and having a great time. Dr. Ryan, you said, "...If we didn?t care about winning, we would lose out on many, if not all, of the benefits." I'm a competitor and get very frustrated when no score is kept, so I agree that winning is very important and that we miss out on many benefits by not striving to win. However, in light of what I've seen in some other countries, I have to wonder how much of the comments here are skewed because of American perspective?

When You're in the moment (the game) winning IS everything. True sportsmanship is how you take the end result. All athletes are winners simply because they want to be at their very best, physically and emotionally. I don't even have the word loser in my vocabulary. You're eigther a winner or you lost. Competition has always been about blood, sweat, and tears, pushing for the big win. Attitude and conduct is what makes Winners.

I read these two articles and ran a scan of all of the above comments, and I was surprised to find no mention of a very important word: forfeit. If winning is everything, it would follow that a victory by forfeit is equally important as a well-fought victory. This, I believe most of us can agree, is not the case. Defining winning as "the primary goal in playing a sport" seems to account for this problem by implying that the actual competition itself is vital to the importance of winning. However, I do not feel fully satisfied by this. I believe the case can be made that "the primary goal in playing a sport" is... playing a sport.

I play chess from time to time as I have become a better player I find that most games end in Stalemate. I find that more rewarding as nobody loses and nobody wins. The mental challenge is still there.

If winning is in fact "everything" as stated, then is winning by deception (cheating or maiming) acceptable? If it is, then sports become dangerous in the fact that saftey, morals and ethics no longer matter or serve a purpose. If it's not, then the dilemma the definition of 'winning' exists. One could define winning chosing to lose honorably rather than win deceptively. In any case, 'winning' cannot be everything as stated. A slippery slope would develop in the idea of what is to be sacrificed in order to win.

The question can't be answered without first defining winning.

When I clicked on this link I was actually quite surprised by the responses I read. I was reminded of the two goddesses Strife, Eris and proto-Eris, from Grekk mythology. Orginially Strife promoted healthy competition between individuals. Who would get the best crops, or who would could make the most beautiful cloak? But then Strife became conrupt as the Greeks entered a new age in civilization; she lead men into bloody battle because they could not accept defeat. Winning isn't everything, because humans are willing to do anything to get everything. When you cross certain lines, like ethics or cheating simpily because you cannot understand that when people compete at least one has to lose, then you are being childish. Ambition is good in moderate doses. It pushes mankind to achieve new wonders of science, art, and technology; however it can cause corruption and callousness. Competing for me is about the effort given. As someone earlier said it's about the blood, sweat, and tears. If I put in my best, physically and mentally, and endure the course no matter the pain, setbacks, or odds, then I have improved myself whether I win or lose. By winning I gain knowledge in being humble, in proving certain strategies, and in my abilities, but by losing I also gain knowledge in my weaknesses, in improving my strategies, and in learning a very important life lesson...there is only one winner, and some days its you, and a lot of days its not, but the effort, the drive, the love of the game all still mean the same whether I got a little metal statue or a pencil mark in a score book or whether I walked home with just a handshake and a smile.

I don't think winning is everything. I do think our society places too much emphasis on winning. The real emphasis should be placed on personal achievement. It shouldn't matter whether you win against someone else as much as continually improving yourself. If everyone constantly works to improve themselves than wouldn't they have achieved there best? Would being better than someone else then matter all that much? I do however, conceed that competitive sports are important and enjoyable in the right context. Society must however, limit the seriousness with which we take our sports. After all, it is just a game.

To paraphase Coach John Wooden, winning is performing to the highest level of YOUR ability, regardless of the outcome on the scoreboard. So, I think winning is extremely important. The question really lies within each person's definition of "winning".

Winning IS important but winning in what context? In the sporting context, we had better be careful about how we go about winning--our children are watching carefully and the lessons we often teach may not necessarily be the ones we truly want them to learn. If sporting rules only apply sometimes or when we're ahead by five touchdowns, if treating the opponent like an enemy combatant is sanctioned then so be it--it's just a game--I disagree with this mindset. Because when it's over, we may realize the cost was too high--honor, sportsmanship, courtesy, playing by the rules makes the victory so much sweeter, I've found. My pet peeves are: in a sporting event when an announcer notes that "it's okay to slug the guy as long as the ref doesn't see it" or "they better hurry up and get a play off before the opposing coach can throw the red flag" or "if the ref doesn't see it, it didn't happen." I would be a hypocrite if I didn't confess that I've been involved in sporting events where I may not have always played strictly by the rules. But, we need to really think a lot harder about the implications of the amoral, immoral, or overly pragmatic impact of how we watch and comment on sports, at all levels. Even Lombardi would agree that winning is so important, especially on the professional level, but with his religious and socio-cultural values, he would also say, "Winning honorably is also part of the equation." So, winning is also fun and learning to play by the rules, no matter the level of competition, is part of the process of maturing and realizing that life in general is not always a winning scenario. Setbacks will be dealt to all of us mortals and one value sports can have is to educate our young about how individually and as a team a citizen (of a community, state, nation, and increasingly interconnected planet) can adapt to changing conditions and learn the value of competing but also the value of empathy--no athlete is Superman, there will be small, medium-size, and large setbacks even in the most amazing triumphs. The opponent you just defeated could be you, tomorrow. Winning is everything we enjoy in life but competing in sports will prepare us to be adaptable to the absolute fact that life is a series of ups and downs. It's how we handle both that define our lives and make us successful (win or lose) in the greater competition of contributing to society and making the world just a little bit better place than it would be without us.

Yes I believe winning is everything if we are talking about WVU winning. Because if we lose a game I gotta say I'm not in a very good mood until we win again. But without losing we won't learn anything and I believe losing makes us as fans work harder and louder.

The preparation which goes into developing a winning mindset is more important than winning itself. Preparation usually includes components of a physical, mental and spiritual nature. The harder you work at all the components which work for you, the luckier you will get.

Winning IS everything. It's the goal we strive for everyday, not just in sports.

But what does that make losing? Is losing everything? Of course not. Just because you don't win doesn't put you on the opposite end of the spectrum.

How you handle not meeting your goals is just as important as winning. Giving yourself the opportunity to win is the key. If you've done that, then losing is easier to take.

If you make winning your absolute priority and you are able to win every time 100% percent of the time. If your body is strong enough to survive this accomplishment, you should be able to make a healthy living as a professional winning at your chosen field which will add fast sports cars, huge sums of money, and insure endless sex partners well into your retirement. Then, I believe winning is everything.

Human behavior is based primarily on risk and rewards, Winning is a reward that is earned and learned through efforts of achievements and frustrations. All demensions of life are preceived as a win or loss notion. Creating a environment in which one can be successfull where people learn to support,encourage and dream is a TEAM! Provide this solid template and you are a winner! be it at home, work,faith etc.. and you are a Winner! Therfore,Winning is everything!!!

Winning and losing are binary concepts that are summed up, in many cases, to macro level measurements (championships, winning streaks, etc.). We know that life, as well as any competitive endeavor, consists of more than a binary system of scoring. Each competitive event, even those events where you compete against yourself for improvement, require scoring/measurement. The binary system of win/lose is the purest form of measurement. So is winning everything? The answer is YES in a binary sense, but no in the "real world" sense. For some people, the binary world is all they care about.

yes, winning is everything! I get so tired of hearing that kids shouldnt keep score, and its how you play the game, not if you win. BOLOGNA!! If you teach kids that its okay to lose now, then they will lose the rest of their lives! When they need to make grades in HS, when they take their SAT's, when they apply for college, when they apply for a job they will be competing. If you do not teach them that winning is essential to success in life than we are teaching them nothing. WINNING IS WHY YOU PLAY THE GAME AND ITS WHY YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING TO WIN THE GAME OF LIFE!!!

Depends on what your definition of 'is' is... I believe winning provides the truest feedback in terms of ability, knowledge, and performance. If one strives to progress and improve and grow and learn at anything (including being a person in society), winning should be everything because it provides the most complete and accurate accounting of your current abilities and knowledge.

Winning is everything because a team is remembered because they won, not because they lost.

Winning isn't everything, but it's a major part of life and competition in our world. Winning isn't only important in sports, but also in our everyday goals and aspirations. In order to win, you have to work for it and it has to be earned. Which is why in sports, the best team wins. There is also an importance of sportsmanship in our world. Not everything is about winning, it's also about learning and improving on your personal goals and achievements. People have to learn to lose at some times, you're not going to win everytime.

I do not believe that winning is everything, but rather that persistence is everything. In regards to athletics, academics, and life, winning or success is definitely more exciting than losing or failure, but winning is still not everything. It is in losing that, I believe, we learn more about ourselves and each other. I feel we learn more how to succeed after we have failed in someway. After a loss or failure, most of us do not quit but rather use our past experiences to try harder to accomplish our goals. It is this spirit to persevere that I believe makes us successful, and why persistence is everything.

Winning and success are measured on one’s own terms. If other’s think we are successful, but we do not feel successful, then we are not really winners. We can learn more through a loss than through a victory because it is more difficult to persist after a failure than after a win. If we persist, we are bound to succeed because persistence after a failure is in itself a success.

In my personal experiences, as a former collegiate athlete (women?s basketball), student leader, and pre-med student, I have learned more from my failures than my victories. By losing a game on the basketball court, losing in a Student Government election, or missing a question on an exam, I have learned how to be more successful. In every victory or successful project I have been involved with, I have found myself using the lessons from my failures, more so than my victories, to help me continue. In each experience, successful or not, we use our past failures to aid in future successes. Persistence is everything, because we must find the motivation to continue after a victory or loss. I believe perseverance is the foundation to any success and is essential in life, and why I feel persistence in athletics, academics, and life, not winning, is everything.

Winning is the ultimate culmination of one’s hard work AND persistence—he who persists shall prevail.
Life is sweeter when we win. Remember how you feel when (if ever) you get a poorer grade than expected on a test which you supposedly studied your butt off to ace. As your smile turns to a frown and a grimace takes its place across your face, think about it. Wouldn’t getting back a great grade reaffirm what you believe you’re capable of thereby filling your heart and soul with pride? That’s winning. Heck, who needs the added stress of substandard achievement.
So, in the grand scheme of things, as an adult, winning surely makes life more fun and enjoyable and thus enabling us to share our contentment with those around us in a symbiotic manner.
Therefore, as one who has had his share of setbacks in life but more recently some well deserved success, give me the fist pumping, chest thumping “I am somebody” reward of winning.

most people think that winning only involves sports what about winning the lottery or a law case.

my answer is yes

Winning is everything, like they always say nobody remembers the losers. people aren’t proud to say its ok i lost, no the best feeling in the world is to say i won not only in sports but in every aspect of life to. winning is the ultimate goal for everyone, who here has not envisioned playing in the world series or a NBA finals and winning the game for the team. who lost the 1993 world series, shoot i cant remember

My answer is: To me it would seem the answer lies within how your prioritize your goals. This might be making a mole hill into a mountain, but I’d like to make an analogy to Viktor Fankl’s book, “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Within the book he talks about the “pursuit of happiness.” Dr. Frankl’s take is that happiness in and of itself can NOT be achieved by the pursuit soley of happiness. Happiness is a by-product of finding meaning and purpose in one’s own life. By forgetting the destination and focusing on the journey we find what’s truly important. So, how does this relate to winning? Just as pursuing happiness is a moot point, so is saying that winning is everything. I think that you would be hard pressed to find any champion who could honestly say that they rose to their level of play soley through an ambition to be the frist across the finish line or the last man standing after the whistle. So what constitues winning? Is it a moral victory? Is it beating yourself? Referncing back to Dr. Frankl “winning” should be a by-product of the journey. The journey is defined differently for all athletes. I think that if you surveyed them a common answer would be maximizing their own performance: being the best they can be. So, the long of the short, is winning everything? No. Each race, each game is a test of your personal best against your opponents best. If each opponent hadn’t put out their own personal best what would the victor really win?

My reasoning is: It seems that this (as well as a significant portion of philisophical questions) is really a smoke screen for something subjective. In this case it’s an individual’s perception and interpretation of the word “winning.” Some might argue that if winning isn’t everything what’s the purpose of competition? Pitting yourself against an opponent allows you to gauge your level regardless of winning or losing. Most of my reasoning is supplied in the above paragraph. Ultimately my perception of winning comes from a priority that lies above my goal of always wanting to be the man on top of the podium. Or maybe I’m just a sore loser. <- only kidding.

my answer: No winning is not everything.

my reasons: Winning is good yes but the lessons you learn from losing is sometimes greater than winning. You learn to be respectful to those who do not win. You learn humility. You learn greater lessons such as how to do better next time around and to try harder.

My answer to the question is no winning isn’t everything. Of course it is the main goal in most sports and other activities in life, but no winning isn’t the only thing in life that is important.

My reasoning is to just sit back and think a minute, have you won everything in your life that you have tried? The answer to that is probably no. It seems that everyone at some point or another is going to fail at something. If you never tried everything that you thought you couldnt win at, how could you ever enjoy life? The whole point of life is to enjoy the time that you have here. Of course you aren’t going to win everything that you try. The real question is did you enjoy your time here on earth doing different things.

If a situation is winnable then winning must be the best possible outcome. However, the conditions of winning are such that somebody must also lose (generally). Winning is certainly not everything because people have to lose for there to be a winner, the desire to win is always going to be present.

My answer is that winning is everything.
The reason is that no one wants to lose. I heard a quote once that said 2nd place is the first loser, and i take that to heart. An objection to this would be that you learn lessons from losing, but those lessons are to help you win the next time. If you won the first time obviously you didn’t need to learn those lessons. Losing doesn’t make you try harder in my opinion because you should give it your all to win in the first place.
Losing doesn’t help you become a better person or better player, it just makes you realize your not as good as the best.

Winning is not everything. If winning is “everything” then your priorities are messed up. It seems to me like this question could, or maybe should, be rearranged to say, “Should winning be your top priority?”
There is a very simple answer to this:
No.
As a matter of fact, there are few things less important than winning.

Why do you want to win? Do you do it for yourself? To make yourself feel better? You should rethink your priorities to determine what is really important. Do you want people to look at you, and say you are the best? Where do you go from there? Why do you feel the need to be looked at as the best? Why does it matter? It doesn’t Do you really have to win to be the best? No. Why do you want to be the best? To be the best you can be is good, but if you overdo it by making winning your top priority then you will be fighting a losing battle. The best you, that you can be, is not a person who values winning so much. Value it so highly, and it becomes self-defeating.

With no real reason why winning should be everything, it isn’t.

winnings always fun, but its not everything. everything is taking something from the competition that u can use to better yourself.

Unfortunately in today’s society it does seem like winning is everything. Kids are getting involved in competative sports at ages lower and lower every year. Teenagers start looking ahead to pro sports, neglecting academics.

A good example of “winning” could be this year’s New England Patriots. After their close win this past Sunday night over the Eagles one of the Patriots player’s was quoted saying, “It was better to learn that we can be beat, even though we still won.” I think this quote says a lot.

Can you really learn how to lose, or how to accept a loss without losing?

According to coach Lombardi winning isnt everything, its the only thing. I do not agree with that because it is about how well you or your team performs. So what if there is no prize for second place, you can still learn and progress as well as the first place team. Winning is just a goal that you set to achieve. The real question should be what is winning?

Yes, I think winning is important. Without winning would we even have a game? However, I strongly feel that winning is not everything. There is so much more than winning to a game or sport or even other things in the world. Actually having gotten the win does not nesecarily mean you are the best. Some times teams have an off game, the weather wasn’t good so the players didn’t want to go all out and injury themselves, or everyone could see the refs were in favor of one team. These things could lead to a misunderstanding of who the true “winner” is. But does it matter so much? If a good game was played and the players took lessons away from it, does winning need to be the only thing gained or lost? Sure, I say you should try your hardest to win, but if you don’t succeed in getting the most points, your still winning in other aspects of the game.

Winning is not everything but in sports there has to be a winner and there has to be a loser. Winning doesn’t mean you have to come in first place or be the champion. It can mean you putting in the effort to make yourself better. In some sports, such as swimming, you need a time to win. If you swim even better then the last time you did, I would consider that person being a winner. Winning is being the best that you can be.

Winnings is so everything! Are you people serious???
Why bother playing if your not gonna go in it to win!!

What if u fear losing?...The cost of not winning?

Winning for some people may be “everything.” To me, I tend to disagree. Winning is a goal, that everyone tries to reach. We set our standards high, not because we like the satisfaction of being let down, but because no one likes to lose. No one can, in life, win everything. I think that it’s all about the amount of dedication and hardwork you put in. For instance, being an athlete of three sports for numerous years, I’ve learned you can’t win them all. It’s not that I didn’t want to win, I didn’t have the right attitude, or I simply didn’t have that “drive” to succeed, because I did. And for most people who knew me, probably thought that winning was my “everything.” The most important thing for me was doing the best I could physically do, and help my team “build on the positive” as my high school coach would say.

I do not believe that winning is everything. To win a game is the point of playing the game in the first place, but many different aspects go in to winning or losing. If all you do is win and win and win, yeah you might be happy with your teams record or what not, but at the same time you team might not bond or have any form of friendship. I believe that winning is like the ‘cherry on top’, but is not necessary. Either way, you will enjoy the icecream, but it might be extra special with the cherry. (the win)

i think winning is not everything. its a great accomplishment. Everyone wants to win. thats the reason we play the sport right? well not exactly. yes, true enough it is a big part of why we play.. but what about the people that only play the sport they play for free education? or to make their parents proud? maybe a social life? in search for friends, or a way to take there frustrations at home out through actvities? those could be all possible reasons people play. theres so many more aspects to the game then just playing and winning.

I don’t think winning is everything, is it something yes but if you lose it’s not the end of the world. Winning is a common goal amoung almost every team but not all some play just for the pleasue of being part of something, to build frienships, to excerise, or just for the simple love of the game. Winning isn’t everything to me because life goes on wether you win or lose, your family and friends will still be there. My friend Alex disagrees because she feels like everything we work for in life we work for to win. Example we work hard to get a higher postion in our work field.

Winning is an amazing feeling that most people enjoy feeling. Though winning feels good it is not everything. There are so many more important things, like the teamwork and sportsmanship you show as your participating in the game. In the end, what do you think is going to be more memorable to you the fact that you won a game or the endless dedication and hard work you put into practicing. Most people will probably remember the dedication and hard work as more of a benefit to them over any of the games they have ever won. Though, not everyone will agree with this statement. Some people may say that winning is everything, and if you don’t win you are a loser. In my opinion, a loser is somebody who doesn’t gain anything from a situation. If you lose a game it doesn’t mean that you didn’t gain anything from the experience If you lose a game it doesn’t mean that you didn’t gain anything from the experience. You didn’t just learn how to stay dedicated no matter if you win or lose, but you also learned that losing just means that you may need to work harder to succeed in the future.

I believe that winning is everything in sports. I think this because it is the goal of every team that competes against others to win, you do not play to lose. Teams do not step onto the playing field with the intention of getting out of the game with a loss. People say things like “you do not have to win, you gain other things! Like build unity, gain lessons, etc.” All of things that people “gain”, however, LEAD to winning! The stronger relationships and unity you build through losing HELPS YOU WIN IN THE FUTURE! You do not build unity to lose again as a team next time. Someone argueing against my point may say that the things you gain help you outside of the field, in your life. Though this is can be true, it does not disprove anything about winning in sports, which is the point of this discussion.

Personaly, I believe that winning is indeed everything. In highschool I was captian of our boys volleyball team from my sophmore to senior year. As an athlete i believe that all athletes have one common goal, which is to win. The only reason you compete is to reach that ultimate goal, winning; you always play to win. My coach often told us during matches when we were on the brink of losing, that we were’nt playng to win, we were simply playing not to lose. Although this doesn’t make too much sense, when you put thought into it, you realise that it really does have a legitimate meaning. To play “not to lose” is not the same as playing to win. When you play “not to lose” your simply waiting for the opposing team to make mistakes, when they do you capitilize on them. You arent trying to steal a win from them, your hoping that the other team hands it to you.

In today’s society pro and colligate athletes and coaches are not judged on the effort in which they put forth in games, they are judged by their wins. If Vincle Lomardi was not such a dominate coach at winning, he would not be remembered today as such a great coach, and the famous trophy known as the Vince Lombardi Trophy, which is given to the winner of every year’s NFL superbowl, would not be named after him at all. If a great running back in college football rakes in stats that are better then any other current player but plays for a team that has a losing record, it is extremely doubtful that he will win the profound Heisman Trophy at the end of the season. Its not his fault, he may be the best player in the nation, but if the team around him can’t win games even with his individual success and effort, then he won’t even be canidate for the Heisman.

Many may argue that winning is not everything simply because there are such things that matter more. Things like teamwork and effort overcome wins. But in the long run, an athlete will be remembered first by his wins, then by his effort. A team will not gain respect simply from the effort they put in each game. In sports, the only currency that can buy you respect is wins.

I think winning is not everything, it is how well you play during the game and the experiences you get from playing. Winning is always everything you want to do, but if all you do is play to win and you win then the team becomes arrogantly big headed. You need to appreciate and show respect even if you don’t win and when you do appreciate it and know how hard you worked to get there.

I have two different opinions on if winning is everything.

1. I do believe winning is everything. You practice long hard hours to be the best. Or you campaign day after day to win a position in politics. That is what you strive for and put so much work in for. If you do not win, then it seems that all of the work you put into winning was a waste of time. But if you do win, it feels like the greatest reward in the entire world because you achieved what you worked so hard for.

2. I do not believe winning is everything. If you are on a team, working with your teammates and forming lasting bonds with them is also important. You learn to work together and how to overcome obstacles in a group. If you do not win, then at least you know you tried your hardest and did everything you could possibly do. Then, you start again and try again.

I am very in between on this subject. It depends on how you feel about winning and if it is a main goal in your life. You have to decide what your main priority is in a game or race or election.

I don’t believe that winning is everything because there is more to the game than getting a prize. Of course winning is what everyone strives for, but as long as you play to the best of your ability it doesn’t matter who wins or loses. As long as you do your best, you ARE winning. Winning is about how what you are doing makes you feel. It’s about the thrill and the passion you contain about the game you are playing.

I think that winning is not everything. Every game you play is a learning experience. Even if you do not win a game you are still getting something out of it. Playing better players only makes you better and teaches you ways to improve. Winning is always a bonus, but I’ve found that after losing a game and feeling as though we’ve all done our best, I still feel satisfied with the outcome.

In this world, it does seem that winning is everything. Winning, can prove dedication, greatness, and competition. But, so can losing. A team that is closer and gets along well, and has great chemistry, may not win, but makes them the better team if the other only has one star player, and fights all the time. Winning is not everything, it is great, don’t get me wrong, but in my opinion, to have individuals that like each other and work well together makes a team. Which, is more important than a trophy for a group of individual atheletes that cannot call themselves a true team.
Sure, some may say that the trophy or title in the end is the most important thing, but its a matter of opinion whether you like titles or happiness. From personal experience, a close-knit team that i know will be there after the season means more to me than being sectional or conference champs. It may take some time, but the more chemistry that is built, the more confidence is built, and the more a team wins. Also, the harder it is to tear them down.

I believe that winning is not everything, although it is a big part in athletics. It is the achievements that matter the most i think, winning is just the icing on the cake. It just makes the game that much better. I mean nobody wants to lose but it teachs you many things. You can put in 100 percent and still lose, is that bad? No, there are lessons to be learn from that and then you bounce back and attack your goals again. If you win your moral is just boosted thats all, but it doesnt make you a worse player. If your good, then you good.

I do not think that winning is everything. Just because you are playing a game does not mean that is the only think you can work towards. You can play the game to try and improve your technique or your skills. You can play to have fun, or you can play to waste time. I do think, however, that when playing a game many people would hope to win, but it is not of the utmost importance in the game.

I can see how people may think that winning is everything though. If you’ve logged the man hours and put in extensive amounts of time and practice in hopes to win, then yes winning is everything. Winning is the only option because for that person, losing isn’t good enough

i don’t believe that winning is everything. If winning was everything then everyone would win, and if everyone wins there are no losers so then the winners would not beat anyone, and winning is what makes someone a winner.

So everyone can’t win, but everyone can improve, which is what i think is the real ‘winning’. Winning sure is nice, but you can still lose and have the same great sense of accomplishment that you would have if you would have won if you have improved upon something.

Winning is just a bonus, the good time is the prize.

We can describe winning as the one who crosses the line first, jumps and scores the highest and the one who ran the fastest.Winning may be everything.But for me, without virtue, winning is nothing. What I am saying is, a victory without perseverance, hardwork & patience is not winning at all.
You will never be proud of your victory when you know you didnt really put your effort in it and you know you just cheated.

Winning isnt everything. Ya it’s nice to win but if all you are worried about is winning what’s the fun in that?

Only if you believe that you can’t learn anything from losing.