I live in a suburb of Cleveland and so basketball is in the news - the Cavs have made it into the finals against the San Antonio Spurs and last night was the first game.

First off let me say, I am not a basketball fan. It's the longest season in the history of sports and it consists of a bunch of people running to one end of the room - maybe they make a basket, maybe they don't and then running to the other end of the room OVER AND OVER AND OVER.

Now baseball. There is a sport for the intelligent - mathematical statistics abound, and the game is rarely boring.

But that is neither here nor there.

This morning the San Antonio newspapers have chosen the low road when it comes to advertising their team. Headlines rip the Cleveland players to shreds. Unnecessarily. Calling lebron james a fallen icon. Shouting that a Cleveland team hasn't won a final in almost 16,000 days. That hurts.

And it got me to thinking - do you do that with your competition. We all have competition - do you bad mouth them, say nothing, or offer up their good points when appropriate?

Remember Santa in Miracle on 34th Street? When Macy's didn't have the toy a child wanted he recommended the mother shop at a competitor down the street. That act of kindness sent Macy's goodwill factor through the roof.

Once when shopping for a mattress the saleswoman pulled out every one of her competitor's ads - she said that she had already done the price shopping for me - in some cases she was more expensive, in most she was the better buy. It was impressive. I purchased from her.

In the optical industry some employees would bad mouth the competition telling customers of shotty workmanship, poor quality product, inflated prices. To me, that is a turn off - even if it's true - it's not my place as an employee to tell that to the customer.

Which way is the right way?

My momma always told me...if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all.

Right now the news reporters in Texas can't seem to say anything nice and are choosing to say a lot bad.

As a customer: which do you prefer - bad mouthing the competition or having it left up to you to decide?
As a manager: which do you prefer - being aware of the competitors strengths and weaknesses and only speaking positively?

In the meantime - Go first place Cleveland Indians!

Deborah Chaddock Brown
Professional Writer, Speaker of Positive Traits
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