On the Other Hand: Sports

I’m not a sports fan. I don’t know what went wrong. Maybe I wasn’t raised right. I am an American citizen, but whether genetics or whatever, I almost completely ignore the world of sports. I have, on rare occasions, attended or listened to a sporting event. I mention two to illustrate something of the nature of the dialectic.

Do you have the dialectic down yet? Concisely, it always responds with: “On the other hand.”

When I was a young man attending Oklahoma A&M College, our greatest rival was the University of Oklahoma, led by coach Bud Wilkinson. Wilkinson won football games - more in one stretch than any major-college coach in history. His Oklahoma teams set the NCAA record by winning 47 consecutive games. When I was in college, OU was at the top of its game.

During my college career I attended only one football game. It was unforgettable. We were playing OU in the traditional homecoming game. At the time, A&M was somewhere near the bottom in college football ranking. The first play of the game was what made the game memorable.

Opening kickoff. A&M received. Bill Bredde picked the ball up on our two-yard line and ran through the entire OU team for a ninety-eight-yard touchdown. A&M against OU, first play: the stands exploded. I’ve never seen or heard anything like it. No one did that against Bud Wilkinson’s team.

We were elated, but on the other hand, our rival was still the best team in the United States. They beat us something like 49-7. Our game ended after the first play.

We might have felt a sense of hope. We might have thought we had a chance. But we had another thought coming, and we should have known it. No one human action ever tells the whole story.
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The other memorable sporting event was a heavyweight world-championship boxing match between Ingmar Johansson and Floyd Patterson in June 1960. I was driving to work that night, listening to the fight on car radio.

In 1959, Johansson had defeated Patterson and taken the heavyweight championship title from him. They were fighting a rematch in 1960. I was a Patterson fan, and as I drove, I suffered, because for most of fifteen rounds, Johansson pummeled Patterson mercilessly. Patterson clearly was being slowly defeated, continually he was knocked to the canvas. Sports announcers talked about the fight being stopped and Patterson defeated by a technical knockout.

Late in the last round, the fifteenth, Floyd was down. It was unbelievable that after such a beating he could force himself back on his feet. The referee’s count came to “nine,” and to everyone’s surprise, Patterson, with great difficulty, dragged himself into an upright position, then, with a quick knockout, ended the fight. His Swedish contender took the entire ten-count. Patterson became the first world-champion, heavyweight boxer to regain his crown.

As the fight proceeded, Patterson, without question, was the loser. But, on the other hand. . . .

For the considerate thinker, there is always another hand to be considered.

[Patterson and Johansson met again. Patterson defeated the Swede in the sixth round.]