Is Tanking The New Way To Succeed?

tank (verb): to make no effort to win; stop trying to win a competition.

I write today's blog on tanking referencing sports. The Houston Astros baseball team lost at least 100 games from 2011 to 2013 and lost 92 games in 2014. The Astros received high draft picks for one of the worse records drafting center fielder George Springer in 2011, shortstop Carlos Correa and pitcher Lance McCullers in 2012, and shortstop Alex Bregman in 2015. These four players played a major factor in the Astros winning the 2017 World Series. The Astros are playing in the 2020 American League Championship Series facing another elimination game down 3-2 out of a best of seven games against the Tampa Bay Rays as of the blog entry. The Astros cheating is another conversion.

The Philadelphia 76ers basketball team won less than 20 games from 2013-2014 season to 2015-2016 season and 28 games for the 2016-2017 season. The 76ers received high draft picks for one of the worse records drafting center Joel Embiid in 2014 and guard Ben Simmons in 2016. These two players are all-stars who turned around the team to NBA Championship contenders. The 76ers were swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the 2019-2020 NBA Playoffs. Head coach Brett Brown was fired. Doc Rivers is the new head coach.

The Miami Dolphins football team were speculated to tank for the 2019-2020 season. The Dolphins ended the season 5-11 and last place in their division. There were pre-season and early season rumors Dolphins players demanded trades to leave the team. The Dolphins tanked because they team wanted high draft picks to rebuild their team to championship contender. The Dolphins are 2-3 and third place in their division for the 2020-2021 season as of the blog entry.

The Golden State Warriors basketball team are tanking intentionally and unintentionally. The Warriors are plagued by injuries including all-stars guards Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. The 2019-2020 is a one-off year given the last five NBA seasons the Warriors played in the NBA finals winning three NBA Championships. The Warriors won the second pick in the 2020 NBA Draft Lottery. Their final regular season record guaranteed the Warriors pick between the first pick and the fourth pick.

There is a new philosophy discussion tanking is the new way to become successful. There is no reason to be in the middle. There is no reason to break even. There is no reason to be above average. All or nothing. Go big or go home. Excellent or fail. Get an A or get a F. 100% or 0%.

Go into debt intelligently. Lose more money to earn more money. Spend more money to earn more money. Deconstruct in its entirely to reconstruct completely. Tear down to the ground to build up to the sky.

Hit a home run or strike out. A pitcher pitches one inning or two innings throwing fastballs, fastballs, and fastballs resulting in strike out, strike out, strike out, and pitcher is relieved. Live or die with the three-point shot. A football team with a top-tier quarterback compensates all team weaknesses. I emphasize top-tier! The rest of the team is ignored regardless of talent and skill.

Am I Tanking?

Time is the ultimate judge. Time answers the question soon. I'm waiting for the next opportunity to succeed. Maybe its bad luck. Is success coming? Is tanking working? I'm unemployed. There is no part-time brain-numbing jobs. I'm self-training. I'm self-reviewing. I'm staying proactive. Everyday I'm one step closer to become a self-trained genius.

How About Cheating?

The New England Patriots football team won six NFL Championships in nine Super Bowl appearances. The Patriots cheated multiple times. The Patriots were caught multiple times. Punishments were a slap on the wrist. Cheat, caught, punished, cheat, caught, punished, cheat, caught, punished, . . . . . The result is six NFL Championships.