I Hate You

In my last entry, Rob the Builder responded to my relief that my Correct Score entry had been largely well-received, commenting that I wasn't getting sniped at (yet) because my P&L figures were small and so people were not jealous.

This may be correct, I don't really know. My figures are indeed largely unimpressive, so it may be that people have decided I'm not a target worth pursuing - but either way it struck me just how "British" an attitude this is.

In truth, we all hate a winner.

People (and I certainly include myself in this collective) do get jealous. They look at someone else's position and get riled that they themselves are not able to experience the same thing. But that's only one of the reasons we don't like continual winners. It's not all about jealousy because we often hate winners when we ourselves don't even have any inclination to be the same as them.

I always remember feeling (what I thought at the time) true enmity towards Martina Navratilova in the 80s, just as I did towards Steve Davies. Both these people were at the top of their individual sports, were fantastic and dedicated professionals with an undoubted level of skill. These were sportsmen/women that don't come along too often - truly talented individuals, whose skill, calm under pressure and sheer unshakeable desire to succeed shone through in everything they did... and I couldn't stand their guts.

Whenever they performed I just willed them to lose (which they rarely did). And when they came from behind to overtake and beat a player that I did like, I cursed and swore at them. My favourites of course were the "nearly-folk", those just far enough away from perfection to make them likeable. Navratilova and Davies were (I opined at the time) robots, whose boring repetitive winning rendered their sports dull and uninteresting. In other words, I was saying that failure is an endearing quality.

I've been talking about the 80s, but let's not forget this is still happening. First, we all hated Man Utd for the reasons just mentioned (and I'm sure there is still an army of haters out there as I write), but as Man City have moved to the fore, with their countless fortunes and their annoying winning ways, we've all started hating them too. I certainly have.

A new set of commemorative stamps has been issued, each one adorned with the face of a different Manchester City player. The problem that has arisen however is that people have become confused, as they are now unsure which side of the stamp they're supposed to spit on.

Okay, an old weak joke; but even though this is one of those <insert_hated_team_here> kind of jokes, it's interesting that, more and more, Man City name is the one that's being inserted.

So what's the answer? Don't be stupid, I don't have one... But to bring things back to myself (it is, afterall, my blog), I'll probably carry-on as the mud-skimmer that I am and thus continue to fly underneath the radar. I'm fortunate enough to have an extremely well-paid job as a contract software developer, so betting is a hobby, nothing more and nothing less. I don't ever intend for it to become anything other than that. If I win, I am of course happy - but when I lose, I'm able to just shrug my shoulders and look for the next opportunity. What I enjoy is the challenge rather than any burning desire to be a professional.

And now that you know this, I trust you can now turn your coruscating hostility and antagonsim onto other, more worthy individuals. Direct it on someone who truly NEEDS to be hated...

Can I make a small suggestion? It's Martina Navratilova.