Winning isn't everything

The reason we play sports, I thought, is to win. Play hard, try your best and play within the rules. Nothing less should ever be expected. Then there's Loyola basketball coach Jimmy Patsos, who offered an entirely different view when his team played Davidson. His coaching strategy was to double team high-scoring Stephen Curry. It worked. Sorta. Curry was held scoreless (for the first time in his collegiate career), but Davidson walloped Loyola by 30. Rather than saying he believed double teaming Curry was his team's best strategy, Patsos provided an alternative view. ''We had to play against an NBA player tonight,'' Patsos reasoned. ''Anybody else ever hold him scoreless? I'm a history major. They're going to remember that we held him scoreless or we lost by 30?'' Patsos may have been a history major, but I am not sure that qualifies him as a student of history. It was Winston Churchill (and others) who said, "History is written by the victors.” Or, in this information age, all the writers, bloggers and fans who think holding Curry scoreless for posterity's sake is an asinine strategy.

Curry might not have scored points in the game, but he did so after by the way he handled himself. Curry told Fox Sports' Jeff Goodman, "That was the best way to attack it and get a win." And what about the fact that Curry would not look good in the box score? No worries. Said Curry, "I check out their stat lines and make assumptions based on the stat lines. Now all the guys that check out my line and see 0-for-3 with three assists and two turnovers will probably start laughing. Hopefully they’ll figure it out.”

Well played Curry. You beat Patsos again.

--Marc Isenberg