Competition and Jealousy

[Andrew Schreiber]

For the last couple months I've tried to post something like this but it never felt right. It has been sitting in a document for the past 2 weeks and still doesn't but I think the important parts are there.

Why is it that these people who Dean constantly belittles get FIRST better than the rest of us? When was the last time you heard a person in sports say, "[Organizing Group] needs to level the playing field because some players always win." Take Sean White, he didn't even need to make his last run at the Olympics. Did his opponents say he was just too good and pack it up? Did they complain about how unfair it was? Did they attack him personally? They may have in private but never did I see them insult him publicly. Publicly they acknowledge how hard he worked and how he deserved it.

I am from Michigan, home of the Lions. For anyone who doesn't know about it the Lions stink. I don't mean rotten eggs I mean like students on a 14 hr bus ride to Atlanta with broken AC stench. You don't hear them complaining about how some team (I don't know football) wins all the time. In fact, you hear them have the attitude of, "We are going to keep trying." You know, I bet they know they can't win the Superbowl right now but I bet that doesn't affect how they play or train. I bet they watch what other teams do and try to emulate it. I bet they don't sit around on the football forums griping about how the Packers (know nothing about football!) only win because have more money or because they have more people. Why the heck do I see that in FIRST?

Most athletes that I know of are not in it to win it. They are there for the love the game, they trained their whole life because they LOVE doing what they do. I think maybe that is the reason that FIRST hasn't been more successful; So many of us, it seems, are in it for the wrong reasons. FRC started in a high school gym with no fancy lights, no cool audio systems, no celebrities. Just a group of people who had a passion for changing the world for a group of high schoolers. Maybe we should get back to that instead of worrying about beating other teams.

Sorry for the rant.