Perfect Sportsmanship

The baseball nation was poised to witness history last night with the potential "perfect game" in sight for Detroit Tigers pitcher Armanda Gallaraga. After retiring 26 consecutive outs, the potential final out of the game was ruled safe at first by umpire Jim Joyce. What was clearly a missed called, and admitted missed after the game by Joyce, halted Gallarage from being the 21st pitcher in baseball history to record a perfect game. Though the Detroit Tigers would defeat the Cincinnati Reds 3-0, the spirit of loosing the perfect game was another blow to a struggling town.

In the midst of great disappointment for baseball fans (as well as Jim Joyce), one thing stood out to me as I watched the event unfold. From the one who should have been bothered the most, the pitcher, the nation witnessed sportsmanship at its best. Gallaraga, though I am sure disappointed, responded with respect for authority on the call that was made and refused to make any comment on the umpire in after game interviews. Sure, he could have rightfully blamed Jim Joyce for blowing history (as most of us did in the moment), but he made a choice to celebrate the great performance he had and accept the way in which the game was played.

Sportsmanship is and should be the standard by which we participate in any recreational or professional sporting event. Sportsmanship involves the following:

• respecting the game - rules, coaches, umpires, fans, and others participating
• playing by the rules - removing any cheating or shortcuts
• playing your best - do the best you can despite what occurs during the contest, it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game
  
• being proactive and not reactive - doing your part to represent sportsmanship in light of circumstantial issues within a contest
  
• demonstrating a healthy competitive spirit with self restraint - play hard with self control, refusing silly fouls, penalties, and self promotion

While we were all anxiously cheering for the perfect game, what we witnessed was perfect sportsmanship. Gallaraga applied each of these points in the moment of controversy and pressed on to complete the game with a one hitter in 9 complete innings. Which is still a great performance.