A Shout Out to the Good People at Draft Day Suit

If you don't already know, some of my favorite people and other bloggers I like have gotten together on a sports blog: Draft Day Suit. Good stuff. You should check it out. Plus, the new banner over there rocks.

And the newest contributor - if he ever gets his shit together and puts up a post - is Bump! Yes, Lumpyhead's dad is now part of the blogosphere. You may have noticed that he left his first comment on the last entry. (He made fun of me and my pack-ratting ways.)

I'm going to try to get him to post here, too. I have no illusions that we'll become a cool tag team like Dutch and Wood, Heather and Brian, or mo-wo and p-man, but perhaps Bump can be convinced to do a guest post every now and then on Lumpyhead.

Anyhow, in honor of the Draft Day Suit posse, here's a post that's kinda about sports. You can see the sports angle if you tilt your head and close one eye and twist your mouth into a weird shape.

Competition
We play a lot of games in our household - drinking games, poker, other card games, board games, word games, etc. They usually involve beer, but sometimes we just play for fun.

This might sound silly - or maybe you think I'm flat-out lying - but, I don't care if I lose. I get a lot of enjoyment from playing. Sure, I feel bad if I make a bone-headed move that results in a loss, especially if it's a partner game and I let my partner down, but otherwise, I lost? I came in dead last? Eh. Let's play again!

It bothers me even less when I feel the eventual winners deserve it. Maybe they employed a better strategy, or had better cards, or are better bullshitters than me. Maybe they're smarter than me. Or maybe they were just lucky. Whatever the case, good for you! (okay, now I just sound stupid. But it's true!)

I don't love to win. In fact, sometimes I feel a little guilty when I win. I want everyone to have fun, and if someone in the group gets pissy about losing or is obnoxious about winning, it's hard to have a good time. If letting someone else win will keep the peace, I'll throw a game in a heartbeat.

I used to tease Bump that he was overly competitive. (Then I met his friend Erik, who makes Bump look like a Montessori school principal on sedatives.) Bump admits that he hates to lose.

Is there any difference between being competitive and hating to lose? I suppose there are those people who love to win, but I bet they hate to lose more than they love to win.

Maybe competitiveness comes down to this: Would you rather sit on the sidelines for a team that wins or play for a team that loses?

I would rather take part and go down hard than sit idly by while those I'm associated with win. I imagine someone truly competitive would prefer to be part of a winning operation, even if they didn't directly contribute to the victory other than being the practice dummy. What do you think? Which would you prefer, and do you consider yourself competitive? Do others call you competitive?

I make one exception to my laissez-lose policy, which brings me to softball. Again, if we lose? Eh, so what. We're outside (getting bitten by mosquitos in the sweltering DC heat) getting exercise (lumbering around some bases while drinking our weight in beer) and hanging out with cool people (who like me, because see? They're wearing the same shirt as me!).

But if the players on the other team are a bunch of dicks, it's a whole new story. Then I really want them to lose, which means I have to play to win. It doesn't happen very often, because the person in charge of scheduling is quite good at weeding out the tools, but when it does: Watch Out. I'll throw at your head (I'll probably miss because I'm drunk and don't have very good aim to begin with) with intent to do harm. I'll sincerely wish for some misfortune to befall you so I can laugh about it. I'll also make some snide remarks about the size of your unit and how disappointed your wife/girlfriend/glory hole buddy must be all the time.

If you're a jerk, I will want to beat your sorry ass to a bloody festering pulp.

Competitive? Me? Oh no, I'm not competitive.

Unless you're an asshole.