Its been about a month and a half since the college championships were over, but that weekend still lives on. Throughout this summer I've been doing a fair share of television and movie watching which has lead me to reflect over the weekend in which my team placed 2nd at the College Championships. Watching the NBA playoffs with Lebron crying when he didn't get his championship or Chris Webber crying when Michigan failed to win the NCAA basketball tournament for the second year in a row (thanks ESPN'S 30 for 30), it made me realize the opposite feeling I had been overcome with at the end of our game.
At the moment when Finney threw to her teammate in the endzone, I knew my season and college career was unfortunately finally over - but I didn't find myself with sadness. I remember, when UCSB scored the final point, saying in my head, "Okay - that is it... it is over" but not like in the hang-you-head-and-cry type of way. It was more of the OH-MY-GOSH-WE-FINISHED-SECOND-I-CANT-BELIEVE-IT!!!!!!!!! type of way. I was so thrilled and excited that I could not contain smiling and cheering with my teammates. I immediately ran over to them screaming, ''WE GOT SECOND!" and giving high-fives to each of them. I was so incredibly proud of our team that I could not be upset with that loss.
Believe me, I would have loved to win that game and say that we were the champions. But to say we got second place? That is pretty darn sweet sounding. We had beaten two hundred and some odd teams to get to where we were and only one team had gone further than us - only one team. To say that there is only one team better than you, I think, is quite an accomplishment.
When I saw the athletes on TV cry at their loss, I couldn't help but think maybe their attitudes were not in the right place. Yes, I understand that they wanted it more than anything (I did too) and were bummed that they couldn't be first (I was too) but crying over something isn't going to change it. Accepting it and being PROUD to say you got second is a completely different feeling. The only sadness I felt was that 1. I was never going to play with that same group of girls ever again and 2. I was not able to play with them due to a rib injury sustained on Friday. But that sadness was only felt for about 0.2 seconds.
Not everyone can win and you have to accept that both going into a competition and after the final result. When people ask how my team did at Nationals I don't tell them we lost in the finals. Instead I tell them that we got second place!
Getting second place is going to inspire next year's team to go even higher and get first and I wish I could be with them as they start their journey; but, ending my journey at 2nd place really couldn't get much better. I walk away from my college career having attended Nationals every year I played and in my final year having reached the College Championship game. There are not that many people who can say that and I am so proud and fortunate that I was able to experience it.
At the end of the day, I want to remember the weekend as a good thing, not as a "We lost in the finals but we really should have won" thing.
So to those people who cry after they lose in the finals, I know it hurts and you would have preferred to be first. But second place? The feeling is really quite nice.
I can't help but smile any time I say "We got 2nd place!" And that is how my college career ended - with a second place medal, a proud feeling of accomplishment, and an infinite number of smiles whenever I think of Michigan Flywheel.
