Our star player’s mother kept repeating it would make us stronger. It will build our character. Blah, blah, blah. It still stinks to have a season as good as ours—-23-5, just to lose in the State Finals.

This is my daughter’s third trip to the State finals, and her third 2nd place trophy.

It is a little demoralizing, despite the fact that everybody ain’t able (to make it that far). Because if you are able, you should walk into your victory. Pardon my Christianese.

To listen to my daughter describe her team’s morale reminded me of the Israelites. When it came time for the Israelites to go and inhabit the land God had given them, they first wanted to pick some people to go and scout out the land. So they picked 12 scouts, one from each tribe of Israel. 10 out of 12 scouts were scared, and they convinced the rest of Israel that they couldn’t possess the land.

Only Caleb and Joshua spoke up and said that God would help them to take the land. Nobody believed them. As a result, that whole generation died in the wilderness.

Today, my daughter witnessed her team intimidated by their opponents. She told them, “We are evenly matched. We can take them.” Her teammates looked upside her head.

There were other issues in the games, like bogus fouls other unfair referee calls, but really, the team suffered from a lack of confidence.

So my daughter has a third second place trophy to ‘clutter up her desk.’

Maybe she can sell it on ebay.