For years, mainly courtesy of the Stella Awards, there has been circulating a popular story of a man  who “purchased a brand-new motorhome. On his first trip home, having joined the freeway, he set  the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver’s seat to go into the back to make a cup of  coffee. Not surprisingly, the vehicle left the freeway, crashed and overturned. The man then sued  the motorhome company for not advising him in the handbook that he could not actually do this. He  was awarded $1,750,000 plus a new motorhome”, while it is claimed that the motorhome company  changed the manual to warn its clients not to leave the driving seat while driving! The story may be  apocryphal but such is the world’s political correctness, we can well believe such a ridiculous story.  

Of course, we are familiar with other warnings, many as bizarre as the one beside the swimming  pool which stated: “Slippery when wet”. Every day as we drive, there are warning signs on the side  of the road cautioning us of such things that there is a traffic signal ahead, a sharp curve, merging  traffic, a school zone and many other alternatives. Here in Zimbabwe we have others, like the one  that advises drivers of “Farm Implements Crossing” and one that warns of a “Deadly Hazard Ahead”  even if the latter hazard is none other than a bend in the road. The warning of elephants crossing  should be taken seriously though but if we warned drivers of potholes, the whole of the roadside  would be covered with such warning signs. Equally there should be a warning about other drivers, as  many drivers would qualify for an old car sticker which stated: “Designed by a computer, built by a  robot, driven by a moron”. The way people drive is often dangerous.  

For many years now, cigarette packets have been required to have warning signs on the side of them  stating that smoking can be bad for our health as well as the health of others, that it can cause  serious illness, indeed that it can kill. They also warn, as if it is not obvious like the motorhome  manual, that smoking can be addictive, which in itself is a real danger.  

So, we are reminded again and again that speeding is dangerous and smoking is dangerous but  equally there is another area where there should be a warning: winning. Winning can be dangerous  for us and for others, as it can so easily make us think that we can do what we want, when we want,  how we want, like the motorhome driver who got out of his seat, like the drivers around us who  think the road is theirs and theirs alone, like the smoker who affects others by his actions. Winning  can be dangerous to children because they may be going too fast, too soon, with too much, with not  enough maturity or experience to handle all that comes with it. We risk all by making winning big.  

There should be a warning about winning as it can also have a bad effect on us and on children  especially. Winning all too often gives a false impression of who we really are and makes youngsters  think that their value is dependent on them winning, that they are a nobody if they do not win. They  inhale the smoke of celebratory flares that hides the stark truth that it is just a game.  

Furthermore, there should be a warning about winning as it can all too easily become equally  addictive. Competitiveness can very quickly turn into an obsession and addiction; it becomes a drug  with which we do not always see or think clearly or rationally, while on a high. Winning more and  more makes us want to win more and more and need to win more and more; we then have to win  all the time, at all costs and in all situations, on and off the sports field, just as drivers on the road  feel they have to reach their destination as quickly as possible and with no consideration to others.  

Winning can seriously affect the way we think of life and people. We are not saying however that we  should be politically correct and have no winners and losers or that everyone is a winner; no, there  are winners and losers, no question. There are good drivers and bad drivers so we need to ensure  we have good winners who are fully aware of the dangers (to themselves and others) of winning so  that they can all act responsibly. Winners are driven, sure, but they need to drive well – and not be  morons. We need to make children good winners, aware of dangers. Maybe therefore we do need,  like the motorhome makers with their manual, to put a warning into every match day programme.  There certainly will be trouble ahead if we do not; sport can be slippery even when it is not wet.