You Aren’t Playing T-ball, Senator McConnell

Dear Senator McConnell:

This is one of those rare occasions when I get to thank you. I realized today that you make my case for me.

When it comes to winning and losing, I was a mean mother and I’m a mean grandmother. If the kid is big enough to sit in a chair and place tiles on the board, I will beat her at Scrabble. If I am asked to play basketball on a plastic rim at waist level, I’ll dunk the ball. And when I catch the little guy cheating at Mancala, I’ll call him on it. I’ll help and encourage kids but I won’t pretend there aren’t winners and losers in games, that I am supposed to lose because I am older or bigger, or that losing a game makes the person who lost a loser.

That said, I guess you can imagine how disgusted I was when I attended the first t-ball game where they didn’t keep score or declare a winning and losing team. How did they expect those kids to become good winners and losers? It was my opinion that kids who couldn’t handle scores and winning and losing, or who couldn’t enjoy giving it their best even if they didn’t win, were obviously not mature enough to be playing team sports.

I thought about the five year Scrabble tournament with my husband. We played a game every night and he beat me almost every game. Like a masochist, I saved the score cards in the box until the lid wouldn’t close any more. Instead of feeling like a loser or not wanting to play anymore, I was more determined and insisted we must play when he tried to get out of it. I was positive I would surely beat him eventually. I worried that these t-ball players would never be able to appreciate losing as much as I did, or winning as much as he did. But I was the grandmother by then so I didn’t say much about t-ball and my grandson’s parents didn’t say anything if I took him home and beat him at a game of rummy.

I know you are too old to have been raised in the ‘no winners or losers’ era so your refusal to admit that the Republicans lost the election in November makes me wonder how you were raised. How did you miss every lesson about honesty, self-esteem, and winning and losing? 

In this case, you aren't a loser because you lost the game but you are a loser for being such a sore, delusional loser. 

We did not send you to Washington to play a game of t-ball, Senator McConnell. Please grow up, admit you lost and the majority of THE American People want to return to Clinton-era tax rates for top earners while maintaining the lower rate for the middle class.

Sincerely,

Gramma Sandy