Joey learns about Sportsmanship

Idioms about bragging

Joey had played in so many different sports that he had heard a lot of people bragging about how good they were and how they could beat you. He didn't like to hear these kinds of things. He thought that it was bad sportsmanship. If he was a shoo-in to be the game star he would never knock the other players who were also trying hard. He would always try to blow them away with his skill and expertise, but he would never say to another player, "I'm going to blow you away." Even when he thought that the game was in the bag he would never say to the other team players that they were dead meat. Joey tried to win with effort and skill not words. One of the worst things that he heard other players saying were things like, "I'm going to eat you for breakfast or your goose is cooked!" He didn't feel that it was a good idea to say these kinds of things. He'd seen many times when players had spoken this way and the people that they talked to had turned around and said things like, "put up or shut up or Put your money where your mouth is." This meant that everyone ended up saying mean things to each other. In other words they had to give the other person taste of his own medicine. This name calling and put downs made Joey sad and he felt that it took away from the fun of the game. He'd even seen players come back with ,"I'm going to knock you out!" At a Track Meet one time he was running in the 100 yard sprint a runner had come up to him and said, "I'll give odds you're going to see nothing but my tail lights, you're running with the big boys now!" Fortunately Joey had blown them away with his running and winning the event had been a piece of cake. He saw this player at the end of the race and he was very angry that Joey had beaten him. It would have been a snap for Joey to have gone up to this player at the end of the event and said, "If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen!" Joey didn't think that would make things better and would only add fuel to the fire. Joey thought that the boy might start a dust-up and then Joey would be in a jam for fighting. He couldn't see any point in that. He had won and he was happy. Why try to give someone a taste of his own medicine when it would only end up hurting himself. Joey went home happy from the Track Meet, because not only had he blow them away and shown them his tail lights but that he had proven himself to be a "real" big boy without having to knock anyone.!

Idioms in the Story: a shoo-in knock in the bag blow them away dead meat eat you for breakfast goose is cooked put up or shut up Put your money where your mouth is knock you out tail lights big boys a piece of cake taste of his own medicine blown them away give odds If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen! aa snap  add fuel to the fire dust-up in a jam taste of his own medicine blow them away tail lights