A kind word of encouragement

I was just reflecting on a recent loss. I am level 17 (I think) and I was playing support. We were doing ok in lane...about even. About 15 minutes in, the enemy Jungle Yi comes in and gives us a mighty good whooping and the rest is pretty much history. The Yi ran around and single-handedly killed all of us over and over. They won (surprise, I know).... and then he started to brag in the endgame chat about how good he was. I looked up his rank and he was ranked gold and I was the highest level on my team....at 17.

My friend, that is nothing to brag about. You just whooped a team of people who are half your level including my friend who has played for about a month. That isn't that hard.

This made me think about sportsmanship and how it pertains to League. I do not know how many in the community played sports (I am sure there are many) so I thought I would share some wisdom that I found while playing team sports (soccer, volleyball, hockey, baseball, and the occasional pickup football game) for those who have not been on a sports team.

1.) No one likes a sore loser. When you lose, simply swallow your pride and congratulate the other team for their win. They usually worked pretty hard to beat you, so why not acknowledge that. Besides, isn't that what you would like your opponents to do when you win?

2.) No one likes a poor winner. I have seen so many people win and, out of excitement I'm sure, say things like "can't kill the Voli!" and the like. But that is just silly. No one looks at that and thinks "well, he is pretty amazing. I think I'll give him an honor because he pointed out that no one could kill him." It just reflects poorly on you. When you win, you have a great opportunity to show how great you truly are by being humble and sometimes not saying anything at all. And if you still insist on pointing out your greatness, like my good friend the Yi player, make sure that you schooled people of your same rank/level before you brag. Otherwise, it is like bragging that a NFL team beat a team of Middle School girls (no offence Middle School girl players).

That is basically it. Don't brag because it reflects very poorly on you and don't rage when you lose. There is always that wonderful "golden rule" that you can follow too if you get confused. Just do to others what you would like them to do to you. It is simple. The world will be a better place and you will probably never need to say "hey" to the Tribunal if you keep those two simple rules in mind.

Cheers!