"You play to win the game!"

My wife and I went to go see the Cincinnati Reds play their final game of the season today.  Some of the team's stars (Joey Votto and Eugenio Suarez) were playing, while some of them were not playing.  After the third inning or so, both Joey Votto and Eugenio Suarez came out for the last time this season (the Reds aren't going to the play-off and will finish the 2018 season with a losing record, yet again).  Both my wife and I commented on the fact that the fans came to the game today to see the star players, not the bench players (most of the players that finished the game today weren't even on the major league roster at mid-season, and several of them spent most of their season in the minor leagues and had just been called up to close out the season).  As luck would have it, the Reds lost by one run in extra innings.

Okay, I completely understand that, for all intents and purposes, the season was over several weeks ago when the Reds were mathematically eliminated from play-off contention.  I also get it that the team's front office was trying to get some of their bench and minor league players some valuable playing experience.  However, I guess I have always been a firm believer in something that former NFL player and coach (and current head coach of the Arizona State Sun Devils) Herm Edwards said in a post-game press conference a long time ago - "You play to win the game!".

If you are going to do something, whatever it is, give it 100% of your best effort.  If you are applying for a research grant, give it your best effort the first time around (I know some investigators who apply for a grant without their best effort and before they are truly ready, with the belief that they will get reviewed and receive important feedback for being successful the next time around).  If you are applying for a position in another organization - give it your best effort.  Update your resume, write a great cover letter, and prepare for the interview so that you nail it!  Don't apply just for the sake of gaining interview experience.  And, if it's a baseball game, it shouldn't matter that the results of the game really don't matter - you should be playing for pride.  You should be playing to win.  So, leave your star players in the game! 

"You play to win the game."  Plain and simple.  Great advice for whatever you do.