Defeat

June 1st was a strange night for the people from London, on the one hand another North London team ended a final with defeat and then in a separate sport of boxing, the poster child of British boxing Anthony Joshua capitulated to a stunning defeat at the hands of Andy Ruiz Jr, whose storyline now is the little fat guy who shocked the world.

In both defeats there was the stench of be unprepared or under-prepared affecting the final result.  Money has a lot to do with it also because when Mauricio Pochettino decided to gamble or more likely given in to the selfish desires of an unfit Harry Kane to play the entire Champions League final at the expense of Tottenham's semi-final hero Lucas Moura, that says something about how to look at defeat through a different lens of overly wealthy professional sport.

Such is the influence of status, power and money in sport these days, it changes the very meaning of defeat.  In order to comprehend this meaning we need to take the example set by Ben Johnson in his disqualification for doping in the 100 Metre Seoul Olympics Final.   We take this lesson more than about doping but gaining unfair advantage in sport.

How to make money in sport alters the meaning of defeat in soccer or athletics or professional boxing and sheer selfishness adds pain to defeat with the example of an unfit Harry Kane convincing his manager that he would be wise to drop the heroic Lucas Moura.  Moura cried the pain of defeat through his entire body after the loss to Liverpool on Saturday.  He is the stuff of life that genuine fans should identify with. 

The influence of promoters in boxing and bodies like FIFA and UEFA do not dispel the notion that the powers to be favour one team over another.  Nothing was more stark than Spurs winning the right to be named the home team in the Madrid final, but the powers to be at UEFA allowed the official at the Madrid match to give Spurs the unglamorous away dressing room that looks like janitors closet, while Liverpool players were in the home dressing room which is state of the art and a breathtaking and uplifting modern design.  Defeat then comes with it the bitter after-taste of feeling that things are stacked even more against your team - and that what we are watching is not what is actually sitting under the surface. 

In a strange way, if Spurs are to get to the next level, they need to find a buyer who can inject them with money to buy a championship.  Spurs do things the old fashioned away, running the club with that thing called good old fashioned business sense.  The Spurs board does not throw money at trying to win things but perhaps they need to take a lesson from boxing in how to play the long-game.  Spurs greatest defeat was not against Liverpool on Saturday, it was in the knowledge that money is going to prize away their most gifted player in Christian Erikson to Real Madrid - all because they refuse to pay Erikson what he is truly worth - using the old fashioned premise that paying him below what the market values him at, makes good business sense.  

Defeat however comes in the form of that business sense recording Tottenham has gaining the biggest profit any team has ever had, while Liverpool spent millions on a great goalkeeper and 75 million pounds on a defender !  That was money well spent because without those two megabuck investments, Liverpool would not have even been a contender in any competition this year.  Some call that astute business dealing and it is, but defeat is knowing that even starved of funds, that same Liverpool team played no where near their best, but still ended beating Spurs 2-0 in the Champions League final.   That adds to the feeling of history Liverpool has now with six European Championships to their name, and that song "Never Walk Alone" as the song that everyone associates with this team - unlike Spurs fans who can only muster up "Come on you Spurs" and chanting "Mauricio Pochettino's" name - and that comparison is the real defeat - of not being something greater than what one could have been - allowing teams like Liverpool to create history, where Spurs create more defeat.