Sports analogies have found their way into scriptures on more than one occasion because sports is something that anyone can relate to. Most everyone has participated in a sport or game of some kind; and if you haven't participated, you've spectated.
Everyone gets it - all sports are boiled down to one thing; doing your very best. Some atheletes have more natural skill than others, some have better training regimens than others, but no matter what, once you are competing, you are expected to do your best.
Sometimes that best is good enough to win the prize, sometimes it isn't. But no matter what, you do your best to try to win that prize.
So what happens if you did your best, you should have won the prize, but are told that your best doesn't matter because we don't want to hurt those that didn't do as well? That's exactly what happened in Beachwood, Ohio where the annual Fourth-of-July Little League All Star Game (for ages 9-12) was cancelled because new administrators decided that it would be too hurtful to those not chosen.
The full article can be seen HERE.
Like "Dash" said in the Disney Movie, The Incredibles, saying everyone is special is another way of saying no one is.
The problem with this, mentality is that it blurs line between individual worth and individual achievement. Certainly a child's moderate baseball skills are not an indictment of his worth or value as a human, but his equal worth to other children shouldn't diminish another's extraordinary skills or achievment. This should be true in all arenas of life, but it should be especially true in sports.
The very nature of sports is competition. The reason you play is to win - and if you win, someone will lose. Nevermind discussions about recreational versus competetive sports. If you're keeping score, you should have a winner. Otherwise, you should start a league that doesn't keep score and allow that league to run separately from other leagues where those who excel expect to win accolades for their hard work.
Even our God is a God that recognizes individual effort and offers us a reward in heaven in accordance to our service to Him here on earth (I Chron 3:8, II Tim 4:8, Luk 6:35, Rev 22:12). Though the world's standards may continue to fall, ours remains the same. Let us continue to I "press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14)
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