Male Competitiveness

     Have you noticed that men are always competing with each other, not just in sports but almost anything.  Guys from all countries and all nationalities have that in common.  Not to say that women aren’t competitive but it seems inherent in men.

     As a young boy in addition to playing sports you compete with your friends or your siblings all day long.  I can beat you to that pole, arm wrestling, playing board games, climbing a rope.  It’s not only your friends, you also compete with your Dad as well and it’s not just physical challenges it can be anything.  In fact when you are young, your Dad may the person you have the most competition with and it’s always exhilarating even if you know he let you win.  Maybe competitiveness isn’t inherent in men it’s just taught to us at a very young age and it usually starts with your Dad.

     When we go on trips with our close friends, John & I are always doing little things in a competitive way. Things like who touched the highest rock, the oldest rock, race you to the top, etc. 

     One particular memory was when we were in Italy gazing up at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, when John said “I can throw a ball that high” referring to the tower, I said “No you can’t” and the discussion went back and forth between us.  He said I’ll bet you I can” now I knew there was some trick because John can be a trickster.  I never bet and John told me his trick on how he would do it but the real interesting part of this story is that there was a guy behind us from Germany listening to us and laughing.  I know he was German because I heard him talking earlier however I don’t know if he spoke English but what I do know is that he recognized our competitiveness in our body language and it made him chuckle. It’s likely he could see himself doing the same thing with one of his friends.  As I said Guys everywhere have that competitiveness gene in common.

     There are some competitions that I don’t understand in fact they boggle my mind.  One such event is the hot dog eating contest, why does this interest people (both men & women).  I’ve checked, there are many types of eating competitions so maybe it’s just me but it seems pointless.  “Just Saying…”