In or Pout?

Today you could really see the emotion in Lester's gestures when he thought he had the guy out and didn't get the call. (And it was a bad call.) He showed you that it meant something to him. He showed his heart and intensity. He reacted (and it drew Tito out the clubhouse). But he didn't lose it.

And, at the end of the day, he made no excuses. "I was just outpitched," he said.

To me, the expression "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" should change. It's not how you play (i.e. effort) but something much more specific. It's how you act on the ride home.

Whether you win or lose, were wrong or right, screwed up or got screwed - it doesn't matter. Whether you get over it does. Look, everyone knows that there are times in close relationships with friends, with s/os, where you feel burned. But you have to move on. Otherwise it becomes a toxic seeping thing that sucks the whole life out of the moment, the day, longer if you let it.

I get hurt as much as the next guy, I do. But for the most part, when it's unintentional, or when it's constructive, it's important to let it go, andI really make an effort. I say what's on my mind straightforwardly (not that waiting to be drawn out, answering everything with one word, bringing it up hours later as some bitter joke thing, which is to unfair) - and I listen, and I try to be clear, and then I'm done. And I can't wait to be over it. You wake up and there's another game to play.

I can't stand the pouting, the holding on to anger, the escalation so that what starts as an exchange of points of view ends in a full-on war. You've seen it happen on the field - there's a contagiousness to bitterness. You're so busy pouting that you're blind. You're so pissed at the guy threatening to steal that you fail to make your pitches.

Lester was right to be angry. He was. The call was bad, and it affected the game. But the way he shrugged it off and took responsibility for his own role anyway is so admirable. Now he won't go into the next game with that giant rock of bitterness on his back.

If you love something or someone, I think you owe it to them and to yourself to let go of your frustration. I want to admit when I'm wrong (and if I'm not, not to fake it, but at least to acknowledge that reasonable minds can disagree). And then get back on the mound light and loose, ready to face what the world has to offer.