It was hard to watch Jennifer try to smile, try to be happy with the silver medal, because she was so close. I'm sure there are lots of people who love competition, but sometimes I wonder. So much striving to be the world's best: is it a good thing or not! "The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat."
Does somebody decide to try to be the best in the world or does competition drive it? I couldn't help but think, as I watched the ski jumpers getting points for the longest run PLUS style points, of the judges sitting down below looking at all the nuances of the jump, nitpicking every little thing and mysteriously giving or taking points.
I'm sure that Canada will get a gold medal in these Olympics, and that I will love watching the sports, but I can't help but wonder if competition is good for the soul...
:-]
I was thinking of you while watching the Games last night since you're just over the border, you're lucky you can get it live! At least the coverage seems better than it has been in the past, we seem to be getting more actual sports and fewer "up close and personals" this time around :)
ReplyDeleteoh, and happy year of the tiger!
I am the least competitive person on the face of the earth. I don't understand it. Politics is also a competitive sport. I can't watch high competition events. They're painful to me.
ReplyDeleteI hate competition. My sister has tried to compete with me our whole lives and it just has been so destructive. In my opinion, competition is not productive, but just so negative. I don't like to hold one person over the other and a person could be the best physically one day and then the next, another would win, so it's not a true measure of talent and certainly not of worth. Because it has grown to all importance for someone, a team or a country to be the best is what has helped feed wars. So... I don't like to watch the Olympics and also find them painful.
ReplyDeleteCompetition is very important, especially in sports. Without the competitive spirit we would have no reason to strive to do better. Imagine how mediocre our lives would be if we never reached for more. As long as the competition is productive I am all for it.
ReplyDeleteGood point. I have to wonder since the sports have gone to levels that seem highly dangerous. But I think the athletes are a different breed from the rest of us. They thrive on competition, something I have always disliked personally.
ReplyDeleteI always feel bad for the silver and bronze winners as though they lost. In reality they are in an elite group - the best of the best. Like any sport though, there can only be one winner. That is the drive behind the competition. Without it, there would be no reason to even try. As Harry Caray said "That is why they play the game."
ReplyDeleteI don't have a competitive bone in my body, but I sure get caught up in watching others compete. I guess I can only handle it vicariously. I understand how important it is, but it can get out of control when we think second or third is somehow "losing". Sometimes I think we need to step back and really look at how we treat the person that doesn't win in the finals of any sport. Just to be in the finals means they are elite.
ReplyDeleteI discovered that I am very competitive--in a game of Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit. On the job I've been more of a collaborator than a competitor. And sports--forget it! I love to watch, though.
ReplyDeleteI don't know either, but it sure looks like humans are "wired" to compete...if you look at even basic animal behavior, mating rituals and fights to win the female was dependent on survival of the species in many different animals...so it will exist as long as mankind does, I am sure!
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying the Olympics very much...Ono has been to my home town many times over the last few years and has trained at the University where my husband and I graduated (NMU) at the Olympic training center there...so all our local towns were really rooting for him!!
I have only caught some of the Olympics. The winter sports don't interest me that much. But I do admire the effort and work involved on the part of the athletes!
ReplyDeleteIt takes a highly competitive, daring, runs on adrenalin type person to compete in the Olympics..finely tuned..not your normal run of the mill young person. I admire their tenacity..they are DJan type people!! :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think competition is very healthy. My husband is highly competitive, and it's not a very attractive trait. I was always raised to be happy with the results as long as I tried my best. I hate the fact that competition pits one against the other instead of teaching us how best to work together. Of course, some would argue that that is the function of team work...
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