Success in sports is too easily defined by championships, and understandably so. Who wouldn’t want to end their season holding up a trophy and being deemed the best of the best?
Surely, anyone would want to be crowned champion, but the problem is that title goes to only one team each year.
So, does that mean the runners-up are failures? Or a team that broke some sort of record in that season is a failure? Was the Warriors’ record-breaking 73-win season in 2016 a failure because they failed to win the NBA Finals?
In terms of success being defined by winning the championship, then that answer would be yes.
The endless argument of who’s the greatest basketball player of all time between Michael Jordan and LeBron James has one caveat that anyone loves to point out — championships.
Jordan went a perfect 6-6 in the finals for his NBA career while James’ record is just 3-6, despite advancing to the finals for the past eight seasons, which is a remarkable feat.
If you look at the career statistical categories between the two, James has the advantage, but people harp on championships, championships and more championships.
The National Championship for collegiate soccer is 24 days away, and the possibility of being the last team standing is very real for the IU men’s soccer team.
Everyone knows the story — after the heartbreak of losing 2-1 in double overtime to Stanford in last year’s title game, it’s all about redemption for the Hoosiers. We’ve heard it many times throughout the course of this season, maybe even too many times.
So that poses the question: with the focus and attention on returning to the promised land and winning, is the season a failure if IU can’t accomplish that?
Many of the players on the team will probably answer yes, it would be a failure. In fact, senior Cory Thomas admitted that after IU beat Michigan to win the Big Ten Tournament. I don’t blame Thomas. This is his last year with IU and he went through that heartbreak a season ago that has given him and much of this team the drive for redemption.
But, just minutes after Thomas said those words, senior Jeremiah Gutjahr gave a different response. It was a response that opened my eyes to something that is hidden behind the numbers in the “W” and “L” columns.
‘It’s such a fantastic group of guys,” Gutjahr said. “No matter how this season ends up, I love them. I mean, it’s so much fun. I’m just trying to take in every little moment, every meal, every practice and every game.”
Sports brings people together. Of course, we all root for our favorite teams to win and all the athletes are trying to win, but what makes sports so special is the bond it creates. Whether that be players on the field or families and friends getting together to watch games or talk about teams, it goes deeper than wins and losses.
For me personally, I was on a very talented cross-country team my senior year of high school and we had all the potential in the world to podium at the state meet. The season didn’t end how we had hoped, but after hearing Gutjahr say those words, it made me think back and realize that even though it didn’t end the way I wanted, I had the most fun with that team and those guys are still my best friends.
The IU men’s soccer team is on an incredible run right now, and even though they are hell-bent on one thing, they are having fun in the process.
The Hoosiers went 8-0 in the Big Ten this year, making them the only team in history to go 8-0 in Big Ten play. They followed that up with winning the Big Ten Tournament and hoisting yet another trophy above their heads. At practices, the team jokes around with one another and has fun.
Coach Todd Yeagley wants them to remember this.
“Sometimes you forget about enjoying the moment of what you just accomplished,” Yeagley said. “They know how hard it is to get back to that championship game, but this is a confident group and one really driven. So, wherever that takes us, I’m going to be proud of whatever happens.”
My high school cross-country coach said if we gave everything our best, then he’d be happy with the result as long as we left everything out on the course.
There’s no question the IU men’s soccer team is going to leave everything on the field as the NCAA Tournament starts this Sunday.
The answer is no, the season won’t be a failure if the Hoosiers don’t win the NCAA Championship. The players might not agree with that at first, but in the long run, they’ll be able to look at what they did this season, at the memories they created and see it as a positive.
