[Ads-l] Modern Proverb: A good loser is no good (Robert Zuppke Nov 6, 1924)

[Dan Goncharoff]

OTOH, "You find the best stories in the loser's dressing room..." -- WC
Heinz, The Professional, 1949.

DanG

On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 10:40 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Modern Proverb: A good loser is no good (Robert Zuppke
> Nov 6,
>               1924)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > The man who hasn't an alibi is hopeless.
>
> Shouldn't that be just the opposite?  If you *have* an "alibi" you should
> be "hopeless."
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Feb 12, 2015 at 5:22 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Modern Proverb: A good loser is no good (Robert Zuppke Nov
> 6,
> >               1924)
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs includes an adage that deprecates
> > good losers with a first citation dated 1948.
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > A good loser is (still) a loser (Show me a good loser, and I'll show
> > you a loser).
> >
> > 1948 Howard Roberts, The Big Nine (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons) 83:
> > "These Illini teams went down to defeat but they went down fighting,
> > true always to Zup's [coach Bob Zuppke's] contention that 'a good
> > loser is no good.'"
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Barry Popik has an entry in this topic area:
> > "Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser"
> > http://bit.ly/1KPtTJH
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > A 1931 article just after Rockne's death quoted him as having said,
> > "Be a good loser, don't beef. But don't lose." "'Show me a good loser
> > and I will show you a failure" was credited to Rockne in 1943.
> >
> > University of Illinois football coach Robert Zuppke spoke in December
> > 1929 about how he disliked the "good loser," saying "Show me a team of
> > singers about a defeat and I'll show you a team of punks." "Show me a
> > good loser and I'll show you an idiot" was said by the actor Paul
> > Gilbert (1918-1975) in 1956. "Show me somebody who likes to lose and
> > I'll show you an idiot" was said by the baseball manager Leo Durocher
> > (1905-1991) by at least 1967.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Here is a 1924 citation for "A good loser is no good" from Bob Zuppke,.
> >
> > [ref] 1924 November 6, Santa Ana Register, Section 3: Sporting News,
> > West Winds: Here and There in Local Sports by Eddie West, Quote Page
> > 17, Column 3, Santa Ana, California. (Newspapers_com)[/ref]
> >
> > [Begin excerpt; check for typos]
> > Bob Zuppke, the dynamic little coach who has made the University of
> > Illinois one of the country's most respected football contenders, says
> > that a good loser is no good. Zuppke declares that the good-loser
> > philosophy is spurious, that it is a sham and a fake and that if he
> > can help it he won't have a good loser on his team.
> >
> > In the Nov. 8 issue of Liberty, Zuppke speaks his mind in part as
> follows:
> >
> > "When I say that a good loser is no good I am merely making a
> > statement that every American, whether in sport or in business, knows
> > is true if he will stop and think. It is not commendable or desirable
> > to be a good loser. We Americans are not good losers, and neither are
> > the English. More than that, we really do not like good losers--we
> > merely pretend that we do.
> >
> > "After a game has been lost I can always spot the good losers, because
> > they have appetites left for food and pleasure. At a time like this,
> > when a player asks, 'When do we eat?' or 'Are we going to a movie
> > tonight? I know that there is one fellow who is losing without much
> > mental pain and I start right out to replace him with a hard loser.
> >
> > "It is my experience that all quitters are good losers. The right kind
> > of player must have a fear and horror of losing. If he hasn't he will
> > not tap his reserve energy in a game. The hard loser can do this
> > because he has a far deeper, more sensitive nature than the good
> > loser. He will play himself out.
> >
> > "Just remember one thing: that to be a good loser is a sign of a dying
> > spirit. The man who hasn't an alibi is hopeless."
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > (bcced to Charlie, Fred, and Barry)
> >
> > Garson
> >
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> >
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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