Scoreless

Let me say this: I am all for evolving as a species. I mean, God gave us thumbs, frontal cortexes and all the reason that comes with them for a reason, right? It can't be just to create TiVo and destroy the planet God so lovingly created for us. Yes, we have base urges such as greed and lust that we can't fully explain, but we should try to evolve past that.

But, I don't think telling kids that the score doesn't matter for competitive sports is a place we should be evolving.

If you read the article, you'll see that the kids naturally revert to keeping score themselves. It's kind of a base instinct for them. We're going to tell kids to just enjoy the game, it's all for fun, hee hee hee, while Mom and/or Dad is screaming at the television for Keith Foulke to sack up and strike the motherfucker out and not completely send the game to shit? We're already sending the message that keeping score is important. Kids know scores are important. They get grades at school to judge performance-- a score for a soccer game does the same thing. Many aspects of adult life have some form of scorekeeping involved. If I fuck up a big project at work, my boss notices and counts it against me. If I do a really good job and get the book done a month early (which I did, mothafuckas, I'm awesome!) my boss notices that and I eventually get promoted (effective of June 1!). I performed, I get the rewards. If I fuck up, no ice cream and Papa Gino's on the way home.

If a parent is afraid their kid will become a end-result-oriented cheaterpants, they should get their kid involved in a less competitive sport. Surfing can be an individual quest to achieve greater feats on the board. I'm currently working on "standing up" on the surfboard. A kid can see how far he can bike on his own. But I think most kids can handle a soccer game. I played softball for a year or two in elementary school, and I played my best but it didn't break my heart if we lost.

I think the large part of this policy comes down to crazy raging parents who choose to live vicariously through their progeny not being able to brag as easily about their kid's feats. Sure, a parent will keep score, but without the "official" standings, it's slightly better. I think a policy of "if you rage at anyone at one of these games, you will not be allowed back to watch your child play" would be better than coddling kids. Life sucks. Not performing has consequences. Kids need to learn how to deal with participating in competitions and not losing their shit over it. By testing ourselves, this is how we will evolve, not by eliminating feelings.