Let Them Play!

I was watching the Mighty Ducks just a few days ago on a whim. I had never actually watched the entire movie in one sitting, so it was kind of a new perspective for me, in a way. And the one big takeaway I got was just how many times will Hollywood retread the Bad News Bears, and never in a good way. 

You've got your ragtag group of juvenile delinquents, the fat one, the too-smart-for-his-own-good kid, the undersized kid who can barely keep up with his peers, the dangerous kid and throw in a girl who is naturally more adept at the game than all the other boys, except That One kid. Toss in an adult coach who's only doing it because of a court order or was paid off and thinks it's just gonna be a babysitting job. 

These kids will struggle with each other and themselves while they get handed loss after loss until they finally click as a team, usually some tragedy befalls a teammate. These ne'er-do-wells rally around their common cause, the coach makes a connection with the kids and they go on a winning streak until they finally meet up in a playoff game against their bitter rivals, the team of bullies who had mocked and taunted our plucky upstarts all season. A team that suddenly can't handle our heroes' new attitude and gameplan. Until the final play of the game, trailing the villains but can they score just one more time and snatch a victory out of the jaws of defeat?! 

And here's where most kids sports movies have diverged from the Bears over the last 40 years. The Bears lost the championship game. In fact, throughout most of the 70s, most sports films often featured the losing side. Our heroes rarely won the big game back then. Look at Rocky, one of the greatest sports films of all time. And Rocky lost that match to Apollo Creed. It wasn't until after the rematch that Rocky would suddenly go from tomato can, never-was boxer who had the fight of his life and lost, to an unbeatable machine who was finally slowed down by Clubber Lang in the 3rd film of the franchise. 

But it's from this original worldview that the Bears lost their big game and that's what makes it so memorable and very few kids sports films fail to realize. The adage, "Winning isn't everything," means that losing builds character and that's what those films taught us as children. That there's grace in being humble. How you comport yourself in defeat speaks volumes.