It's as unstoppable as life itself. Man wasn't put on the Earth to exist singly. And no one could. Man is a social animal, after all. And with society comes strife, to constantly show yourself to be the best. To prove to others, in fact, that there is something different about you: something you have or do which your 6 billion planet-mates cannot match. Most people would feel something like this, in differing degrees of intensity. Why are prizes given at all to the best people in a certain field? Why else do advertising hoardings constantly read: "the No 1 brand " or "best in the world"?
And this comes out more in sports than anything else. In sports winning and being the best is the primary concern, for all the talk about 'sportsmanship'. Most successful sports stars show by their actions that they prefer to win dirty than not win at all.
Thinking of the Barcelona-Arsenal CL quarterfinal this week. As soon as a talented player like Messi scores 3 or more goals, the next day's news headlines read "Is Messi the best player in the world?" "Is Messi the best player EVER?". Whenever Rooney or Torres are in form, their managers, teammates, the press all join the chorus of "best striker in the world". While I am an ardent football fan, I wish they would button up sometimes. No magazine article can ever be definitive on such a topic. They just always end in more questions about whether you can compare between different eras, between different styles.
So why compare at all? Let's just enjoy the football, shall we?
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