I love sports, but always trusted sports to be played with some competition and desire to win. I have questioned losing on purpose, but never thought it really existed…just coincidence or bad luck. Until Sunday night when I watched the Eagles lost to Washington and it can only be explained as a purposeful loss. I am not a sports analyst and will not pretend to be, but it bothered me for a lot of reasons…

1. If Cowboys had won, then their game would have determined our playoff chance. I cared about our Cowboy loss because I thought it meant something. Choosing to lose affects more than just one team.

2. It impacts money, salaries, gambling, predictions…it adds a what-if to any game that I never thought really had to be questioned. People lost money over a decision made before the first whistle.

3. Disappointing to the fans who really care..who buy tickets, jerseys and wear the colors with pride. Hard to think that some losses would be determined before the game starts.

4. Just bad for sports and integrity in general. I want to teach my students that you play hard no matter what, show good sportmanship, leave it all on the field…watching paid athletes and specifically coaches not do that is a shame and I never thought I would really see it.

To me, be all in or all out. If you were not winning then say that from the beginning so that I could have cared less about the Cowboys win since it did not matter. In short…be all in or do not even try.

Disclaimer: the coach stands by it was not an intentional loss, but watching the game…no way those bad choices were on purpose. I hope the NFL puts some things in place that saves the integrity of the league and keeps this from happening or that the Eagles do a better job of not letting it look so obvious.