The Value of Sport: When it Transcends Winning and Losing

So much of sport is result oriented, as it should be. One of the beautiful things about sport and any game for that matter is the clear cut ending - a winner and loser. It is one of those things that defines a game versus an activity and brings a clarity to life that is so often eluded during the real thing. It is a safe space to compete and show pride, determination, courage, and skill.

But there are times when sport transcends the won-loss column, when a team or athelete performs in such a way that reflects other heights, when they transcend the result and reflect something through their play, that make us think about larger things, about discovering a better and stronger and more courageous side of ourselves.

And in the midst of the World Cup, the greatest sporting event on earth, I a little third round match of Wimbledon caught my eye, pitting the 25th ranked player in the world versus the number 2.

Let's be fair. It wasn't just any third round match. It was Andre Agassi versus Rafael Nadal. What made this match interesting is that the 25th ranked Agassi had announced that this would be his final Wimbledon. And so the odds were stacked against Agassi moving any further along against the younger player, coming off his big French Open victory.

There is something incredible about Agassi. It feels as though the guy has been around my entire life, not just slogging along, but playing near the top level of tennis the entire time. When I first paid any attention to tennis, Agassi was a flashy upstart, with long hair, bright clothes, and the tennis spokesman for the the Nike movement. He was to be the Michael Jordan of tennis, a charismatic American, flashy, selling tons of shoes for the Phil Knight company.

And while Jordan went from the lovable underdog scoring 63 points in the playoffs against the powerful Larry Bird Celtics to the greatest NBA player of all time, winning 6 championships, retiring, playing baseball, coming back, winning again, retiring, coming back again, and eventually owning....Agassi never quite reached that level of achievement. He was, at one time, ranked number 1 for an astonishingly long time. But everyone knew, in the great match-ups between him and Pete Sampras, Sampras was the better player.

But then Sampras retired and Agassi got older and a newer generation of tennis players came along, Hewitt, Roddick, Blake, Nadal, and of course, the king of them all, Federer. Agassi played, never really becoming a dominant number 1 player, but always out, there, never a push over, always a worthy adversary. You watch his matches and notice his wife, Steffi Graf (imagine how good their kids are going to be), and think about her career - and jesus, it was half my life ago when she played, and there she is, still watching Andre play. It's quite astonishing, really. It's as if Agassi has played tennis across time. It is as if he could answer the inevitable question of sport - who would win - the Magic Johnson Lakers or the Chauncy Billup Pistons? The Bird Celtics or the Duncan Spurs?

Who would win: Sampras or Federer? Nadal or McEnroe? Andre knows.

The SF Chronicle article writes about Agassi's loss to Nadal in straight sets. I watched the replay of the first set. It was great tennis. And I knew the result, I knew Nadal would win. But while watching, you can't help but root for Agassi. What is that? Why do some athletes have that feature? You see it sometimes in games when fan start to applaud the other team. In Brazil-Ghana, the Brazilian fans applauded Ghana at times. In watching Agassi play Nadal, I almost got the sense (perhaps imagined), that even Nadal was rooting for Andre. One more victory for the legend.

No one commands that kind of love. Jordan became fun to root against. I rooted for the John Stockton-Karl Malone Jazz against Jordan. It was no fun to see him win it again. Agassi never achieved that level of success, never got on the perch to be knocked down. He was an underdog, but an underdog that always had a chance to win.

How has he been around so long? At the end of the match, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. What other American athlete can go around the world to receive an ovation? Our World Cup team moves around in an unmarked bus, the only team to do so. Our basketball Olympic team sleeps on a war ship partrolled by Navy Seals in scuba gear. Our baseball team at the World Baseball championship was the whipping boy and favorite team to hate.

Agassi need not do that. He is beloved. A beloved mixed race American (half Persian - guess that is the same race, technically). Cocky and obnoixous when young, graceful and noble as he's grown old.

He only won one Wimbledon.