Roger K.: Always striving to be more uncompetitive than you.

;->

caveat lector


On Wed, Sep 29, 2010 at 10:52 PM, David Guertin <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

>  If TEO's opinion is a touch hyperbolic, I must still agree with the core
> of his opinion. Competition can be a wonderful thing. Painting competition
> as bad, or as some sort of antithesis of cooperation, misses the point, I
> think.
>
> I'm one of the most competitive people I know, and I'm also the least
> competitive person in my family. It makes family dynamics quite fun. (If you
> really want to see competition, join us sometime for a family game.) My kids
> have all grown up competing because they love to, and far from being the
> opposite of enjoyment and fun, it is enjoyable and fun, whether it was ski
> racing, chess tournaments, little league, or racing Dad to the tree (somehow
> they always won those races). At some point they decided that skiing wasn't
> something they wanted to do competitively any more, but that was their
> decision, and it had less do do with pressure or a philosophical opposition
> to competing as to the realization that they had more fun free skiing than
> standing around on the race hill. In contrast to that, the boys race cross
> country in high school now, and it's the competition that is a major
> motivating factor. The running itself isn't so much fun without the
> competitive aspect. The main thing is that the decisions have always been
> theirs (including the decision to start ski racing in the first place), so
> whatever pressures they experienced are ones that they chose to face. IMHO
> that has produced nothing but benefits. Like the majority of athletes, they
> are walking testaments to friendly and sociable competition.
>
> Having said all that, there are certain competitions that make little sense
> to me, and where I don't see the benefit but do see harm. Musical
> competitions are one -- I think they miss most of what music is about, and
> worse, often produce lifeless music. Fishing competitions are another --
> some pastimes are just not competitive by nature.
>
> Regarding the article, which I enjoyed, I think the point was that the
> important thing is the attitude and words of the parents, and not whether
> ski racing itself was good or bad.
>
> Dave G., more competitive than you
>
>
> On 09/29/2010 10:04 PM, Matthew Kulas wrote:
>
> I believe that if you truly dislike competition, then you have a genetic
> flaw.  Competition is one of the essences of life--no competition, no
> evolution.
>
> Furthermore, competition makes things more fun.  Case in point: sailing a
> boat in <5 knots wind=not so fun; racing a boat in <5 wind=fun.
>
> --Matt K.
>
> On Wed, Sep 29, 2010 at 8:13 PM, roger Klinger <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>
>> And then again, there's always the pursuit of enjoyment and fun, without
>> the pressure of competition.
>
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