When a person competes in events such as the olympic games, or whatever the games legally call themselves now, Olympics i suppose... when a gifted and hard working athlete competes against a pool of their peers, and for judges to judge and the world to witness, well the athlete might be there to either do the best that they can do given their genetic predisposition, training, and skill level... or they might be there to win, or to just see if they can win, or because they know they can win, or to plainly and simply win at all costs... no matter what... an athletic person that enjoys moving and exercising and trying to get better at something that they have abilities to perform at very high levels is a magnificent person to watch, sometimes they bring their 'perfect a-game' and everything just goes right, and other times they loose focus or get hurt or they just aren't quite as good as the next person... and they are still brilliant to watch them do their thing to their best ability on that given day... and then there are other sorts of folks that compete in something that they love and simply have to win... and for many folks life is a big huge game to both compete in and to try to win, even by means of cheating or victimizing others, and for some folks it's even both... where does an athlete make conscious or unconscious decisions to either have fun and play against your peers, or to do what ever it takes to win, like to compete to an unhealthy level... for some folks it's a challenge of a lifetime, sport, or life is some sort of game or competition that you are challenged to win, and sometimes to win at any cost to achieve your goals or drams or desires or the lusts of our hearts...

... as far as sports go, well i've tried a bunch of them, and a couple i am capable of playing with upper-level folks, and then many of them it's quite obvious that i have little to no skill whatsoever... and then somewhere in between i've just been a somewhat athletic guy that just loves to move and be active, and maybe chase a ball or smash a different ball or kick a different ball or to go very fast or to concentrate very hard while doing so, well who cares really, but at some point i had to make conscious decisions to understand my genetic predispositions, and previous training, and then competing against other people that are clearly better or worse, and then i had to make conscious decisions whether or not i would challenge myself to an unhealthy level of a need to win, or whether or not i just wanted to have fun while exercising and play, all while still having fun... depending on your job you might have to compete at exceedingly high levels, or be chill and have fun... i've lived a life of challenging myself and abilities, and mostly ignored my genetic predisposition and training and pushed a wee-little body entirely too much and too hard many times, but i did enjoy some years of exercising through physical challenges that i thought were fun... this year's summer olympics reminded me of an old and random example that i could use, back in the day when i lived in colorado for a bit there were some mini type of athletic games that were in the middle of the summer, and they were fun, and it got you out of regular ordinary work if you were to compete in any or some of them, and so i did, and i don't remember if the series of competitions were before or after an ugly accident that i was involved in which put an end to realistic competition, but i remember that tennis was one event, and i sucked at that pretty bad at the time, my primary arm/shoulder was in a sling to immobilize the shoulder, and then will no practical physical therapy for prolonged immobility i went out to tennis courts and started smashing balls around again trying to get better and having a ton of fun while doing so, eventually i picked up a respectable game, but that was long after i tried this formal competition with a partner that was clearly better than i was... my right shoulder has been loosey-goosey ever since, and my middle upper back and neck have never appreciated what i did to over-compensate for such a gimpy right shoulder... but besides tennis, the other event that i tried involved doing a bunch of regular soldiering types of tasks such as going from station to station doing things like physical crap mixed in with putting on chemical suit and mask and then taking down a military issue riffle and getting it back together, and then doing a bunch of other physical crap that i forget, but i remember doing this one stage near the end where i ran out of steam and everyone else pretty much beat me from that point on, we had to low-crawl under a bunch of barbed wire and my definition of 'low crawl' was different than everyone else's, my interpretation was literal, and the knuckleheads behind me, well their definition was just moving as low and as fast as possible to win, not to do it correctly... so i got dusted in the last stage of the event even though i crushed everyone leading up to that event and had a good head-start on them, i was too exhausted to complain, i gave it my all and ran out of steam before the winners did as far as i was concerned, there was someone else's 'coach' that i remembered saying more than once that i was the only one that actually low-crawled, and my coach who was a respectable xo agreed but we didn't feel a need to complain or protest, and frankly i was too damn tired to even think about doing it over again anywho, i was beat and i accepted the outcome of my defeat, and mostly because i'm not really a competitive type of person unless i have one too many beers, i love challenging myself more than others but the challenge of competition is alluring, until it is no longer fun, and you have to cheat to try to win... i used to be a fan of the new england patriots until you learn that the head coach resorts to cheating to win, or you could simply make your own compromise and just say that the coach just wanted a bit of a competitive 'advantage', either way, the methods used by competitive people to win speaks to moral compromises that are obvious in nature and sometimes wake-up other people to their own moral compromises, and the methods of acting used to cover up dysfunctional actions and behaviors are obvious when observed, which makes the compromise even more difficult to stomach... i appreciate the benefits associated with team sports, but those who exploit them for sold-out moral and financial compromise need help of the highest order... i appreciate watching individual athletes or specialists do their things as they challenge themselves in the world's biggest stages, and those who must win by whatever means necessary... well sometimes we learn from previous actions and behaviors, and sometimes we even live like it... if previous covid lockdowns have taught me anything it's that organized sport for entertainment and other appreciations aren't really worth my time anymore, using athletic skills and talent for money and attention is one thing, and being lazy and watching other people exercise is the television viewer's demise... i wish that i still appreciated sport for entertainment but it only makes other people mush more rich than you or i, and it's a big frickin distraction to people that actually have a life to live, but it's medicine for the soul to many, and the intoxicated and impulsive celebrations they produce are proof of bad medicine for the soul... so anyway, back to 'compromise' ... it's my crude simple language used to describe certain deviant behaviors, and excuses that people use to explain chronic deviancy and hypocritical words and deeds, some folks have certain levels of conscious flaws and excuses for them typically exhibited when pushed past healthy levels of stress and routines and distractions, but others make a livelihood of literal acting as ways to excuse irrational or hypocritical words actions and behaviors, in the case of the competitive athlete the deviancy is exposed by cheating oneself and or competitors, when a competitor knowingly cheats they have made conscious decision between right and wrong, good and bad, love and evil... the compromise of the cheater is obvious when educated and observed, compromised individuals utilize classic and documented methods of manipulation to make excuses for their words and deeds and behavior, some folks call it human nature, some folks call it sin nature, others call it very specific scientifical names, but i am simple, and simple is as simple does and writes, and so my simple vocabulary calls these certain manipulative cheating and lying behaviors and actions and lump them together to simply state as, well, 'compromise'... i'll try to wrap that up soon, maybe it will make for a nice distraction from politics, except that current administration and political party in charge makes a living from actors and actresses that use each other for personal gain instead of representing real people, democrats and the manipulation that the entertainment industry utilizes to make themselves look and sound better and create a pre-scripted (or manuscript) to perform their way through shitty legislation and bills and powers and newly crafted laws at various government levels and offices, it's just what they do, the use of smoke and mirrors and other distracting germs and borders and riots and the methods that the entertainment industry has been utilizing since creative and suggestive messaging and illusions were first thunk of... that fact that this type of politicking is utilized by marxist-preferred countries and their USA proxies bothers me so much is probably because i grew up as a captive audience of television and movies and music, and so the entertainment industry and the egos and actions and behaviors of those whom they popularized taught me more about the meaning of life than parents and better education may have provided, but marxist and socialist and communist and dictatorship regimes have certainly paired up well with the DNC leadership and other DNC pawns, and to a level that makes me want to vomit, they love their relationship with hollywood and broadway and vegas, and they all love the DNC right back, they feed each other's egos such as the bride feeds the groom and the groom feeds the bride, but to an unhealthy and disgusting way... anyway, i'll try to get that article on 'compromise' done in the near future, the reader understands it all anyway, i'm just pointing out the obvious. -- ct