Play to win. If not, don't bother.

I have a pretty mean competitive streak, and it usually gets the best of me. Simply put, I don't like losing. No, I hate losing. Whether it's a pickup game of basketball or a harmless game of Counterstrike or Madden, I just want to win. There's absolutely no point in playing a game or a sport, if you don't want to win.

Since I give 110% effort all the time, I expect everyone else to do the same. Otherwise, they will hear it from me. And yeah, I can be pretty much tactless and straight-forward on the court. My friends can attest to that. My teammates at Adidas can prove that too. Outside the court or after the game, we're cool. Nothing personal.

So, what's the point of all this? Well, for me, you play a game, any game for that matter, to try to win. Of course, we can't win them all. Losing is normal. It happens even to the best of us. But I always give it my best shot. Some people comment that I'm being too serious, that I should play for fun. Well, if you want to play for fun, go do something else. Visit a theme park or something. Games are meant to be competitive. That's why they award a victory to the winner. I know other people play sports to sweat or get in shape. Well, go run the treadmill. It'll make you sweat and get you in shape too.

So play to win. If not, don't bother. It will save you a lot of time and effort.