They Were All Good Sports

(I’m at my daughter’s Little League game. The game is tied and both teams look tense except for one girl on my daughter’s team, Girl #1, who is in the field. All of a sudden an ice-cream truck rolls by…)

Girl #1: “ICE-CREAM!”

(She runs off the field towards the truck. The person at bat hits right where the girl was standing. By the time someone else gets to the ball, another player has already gotten to home base, securing the win for the opposing team. Girl #1 returns with her ice-cream cone, and everyone seems furious.)

Girl #1: “What happened?”

(While everyone yells at her, the opposing coach walks off then returns with arms full of ice-cream. I assume it’s for his team, but instead he passes the ice-cream around to my daughter’s team.)

Opposing Coach: “This ice-cream is for you all being such good sports. When someone on your team makes a mistake, you forgive her instead of getting angry.”

(The team members now look embarrassed and apologize to the girl.)

Girl #2: “You know what? They just get trophies, while we get delicious ice-cream! We’re the real winners here! Thanks, [Girl #1]!”

(And thanks to the coach, who made a little girl feel better and made her team members kinder.)