Winning, and the people

I have played a variety of sport with a variety of people. I am not talking about team games. I am talking about the games played one-on-one or two-on-two. In all of these games, one thing is quite evident. Everybody wants to win. But there are different ways in which people regard winning. There are varieties of people, with widely different outlooks, when it comes to that. I classify them into five categories.

1. The bone crushers

These are the people who want to win no matter what. They will go to any lengths to win at a game. "Win at a fair fight" is not something they have been told about in school. There are very few of these interesting people around.

2. The wee wilys

These are reasonably fairer. They don?t want to cheat to win. But they want a victory. So they adopt slightly milder techniques. They try to scare you, mislead you, discourage you. They smile a lot, while launching a jovially colored psychological attack.

3. The jumpy jackals

This clan of 'would be' winners is a jittery kind. They are in a hurry to win. They are aloof about the remarks or comments or anything else that is happening around. To them, the game is a painful chasm between them and the victory, and want to get over with it as fast as possible.

4. The playmakers

These are keen about the quality of the competition. They are not really interested in winning. They just want a good serious game.

5. The slumber jacks

These are the worst of the lot. They are the ones to whom nothing matters. They are just having fun. These are usually the ones who don?t know the game. They do not have any determination to win. They end up spoiling all the seriousness, causing the standard of the game to plunge.