May 10, 2000

Mike,
Nice article. A good reminder - thanks. As a coach/league newspaper liaison in a 7th/8th grade basketball league of 24 teams, I always end my weekly email distribution of scores/standings to coaches with a quote that hangs on a plaque in the Palestra in Philadelphia
 
"It is great to win the game. It is greater to play the game. But, It is greatest to love the game."
 
When you begin to apply the principle of loving the game, the desire to win the game begins to diminish. The diminishing of this desire comes not by effort but simply through "loving" the game.
 
MidLife is Good,
Doug Mikula, Tinton Falls New Jersey
 
PS - Let's also not forget the words of the great sportswriter/philosopher Grantland Rice, "When the great scorer comes to mark against your name. He'll mark not won or lost  but how you played the game."

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