One of the strangest parts of childhood sports was that moment when you had to form a line and shake hands with the other team after a loss. I almost always lost. You'd have to go through and touch hands in a feigned "high five". It was the most disingenuous things I've ever engaged in. Organized apathy. good game. good game. good game.... No eye contact. No emotion. If you lost you didn't want to look like you cared. If you won... well, I don't really know what that felt like.
All across America we are lining kids up to take part in this ritual. Why? I guess it makes us feel like we are teaching them how to be good sports. "Go tell this other kid good game. You don't have to mean it, or even pretend like you mean it." Excellent. Now you are a good sport. You are prepared for life.
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