Not a loss, just a shortfall

If you're a high school athletic director, here's how to stay positive when one of your teams loses.  When mentioning it over the intercom at school, praise the team's effort and don't give the score.  Just say the team "came up a little bit short."  The athletic director at my high school did this routinely.  Back then, I thought it was a double standard for him to announce only winning scores.  Now, however, I think it was the polite thing to do.  Besides, as one of my teachers used to say, "The kids who are really interested know the scores."