If you follow Major League Baseball (MLB), you heard about the blown call that cost the Detroit Tigers’ pitcher, Armando Galarraga, a perfect game and a place in baseball history. It also cost a 21 year veteran umpire, Jim Joyce, his reputation and his family's safety.
This story wouldn’t have made headlines if it weren’t the final out of Galarraga’s perfect game. The reason it is still in the headlines is because:
- Jim Joyce owned his mistake, and immediately apologized to Galarraga personally for it. In the officiating world of professional sports, that is extremely rare.
- What Jim Joyce did was the right thing to do and sadly, doesn’t happen often enough in situations that attract mass media. So mass media jumped at the chance and took the even to a whole new level of notoriety.
The end result is that what could have been a horrible black mark on the MLB’s reputation turned into very positive public relations situation instead. In fact, I’d argue that the other perfect games pitched this season received less (albeit, positive) press than this non-perfect game.
So why am I bringing up the MLB on an auto racing blog? Sportsmanship transcends all forms, levels, and aspects of competition and every once in a while, we all need to be reminded of it.
In our club, whose core function is competitive sport, we have competitors (drivers), we have volunteers (workers), we have non-participants (crew, spectators, family, etc.) and we have event officials. All are in a position to make decisions that impact others, good or bad.
Therefore:
- If you are on the receiving end of a bad decision, be respectful about it. Yes, it’s the heat of the moment and emotions are off the charts, but it’s not a personal slight against you. The calmer you are, the more willing people will be to work with you right then and in the future.
- If you are the one having made the bad decision and you know it, put aside your ego, and apologize for the mistake. And if you can find a way to rectify the situation, even better. Although it may not feel like it at the time, your credibility does go up in the long term.
WDCR members must be doing this already, as I have not been made aware of any unsportsmanlike incidents at one of our sanctioned events. Yet we still have half a racing season to go and as the competition gets tighter and event organizers get more and more burned out, tempers are sure to flare. Year after year, I see it in the Solo community, and I’m sure the Solo community is not alone in this regard. Consider this as a gentle reminder to the whole club… because what could be very sour incident could instead result in a positive experience for all involved if handled appropriately.
And, by the way, if you haven’t heard: General Motors awarded Galarraga a 2010 pull-me-over-red Corvette for this not-perfect perfect game. Wow that’s a pretty car…
Cheers!
-Evanthe
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Don’t drive faster than your angel can fly.