friendly rivalry?
i remember once a gp essay question asked whether friendly rivalry was ever possible.. i never got an answer to that.. but i totally admire pple who are able to achieve that.. or maybe sophisticated enough not to show the arrogance in winning or the soreness in losing.. perhaps some might call them hypocrites.. but i choose to call them true sportsman..roddick is one person i really must mention with regard to this.. for as long as i watched tennis with federer and roddick in the finals, he has always been 2nd in the competition.. though during the match i hope so much for him to lose such that federer wins the championship, i enjoy his speeches at the end to comment abt him losing the match.. not solely because that means federer has won, but more towards respecting him for being able to lose with pride and at the same time commending his rival's game..
federer lost his recent match to nadal... i was very sad abt it actually... but i'm sure he had great sportsmanship on that even after having a 56-unbeaten hardcourt matches streak.. all he said after the match was that nadal was simply too good that day and that he was happy with his own performance.
perhaps i didn't mention it before but he was not the winner of case competition.. their group was first runner up and he was also not the best speaker though he received special mention.. i was completely bought over at that time and didn't expect the results to be as such.. but i could see that he and his group took it very well.. whether just on the surface or sincerely from the heart i don't know.. but they shook the hands of congratulation with their rivals.. and left with the poise and pride they came in with.. i recall someone mentioning to him that he/she thought their ideas were better.. but he replied with a smile that the judges liked the other better and that was all that mattered..
maybe i digress.. but my point is really abt competition in a 'civilised' manner.. i was spurred to write this due to the recent developments of the NUS Blogfest.. and i was actually rather upset when my friend told me abt certain fellow rivals criticising her blog.. (i thought it was usually the fans doing the criticising of their idol's rivals anyway) my first impulse was to tag something nasty on that guy's tagboard.. but i realised i would be compromising my principles doing that.. it took me a while to cool it though..
it is not difficult to guess who 'my friend' is if u're one of the culprits or juz pple following this whole competition.. i'm not talking abt quality of blogs here.. you may have a 'better blog' in ur own view (though this is really subjective) but i really don't care.. for once we agree.. i've no intention of knowing who u are.. but on the contrary to what u tried to disclaim, i am talking beyond blog aesthetics now..
my anger turned into great disappointment when i realised that there are university students who actually think that competition is abt 'bitching and backstabbing ur rivals'.. i remember doing that when i was a kid but i grew out of that a long time ago.. hmm perhaps i should attribute it to the little the amount of free time i have on hand comparatively..
forgive me.. but i have to totally diagree and i can assure you that anybody who understands sportsmanship will agree with me.. you are entitled to your own points of view as i am entitled to mine.. but no i have no intention of criticising ur blog as u have criticised my fren's.. because i believe in respecting people, their work and their way of expressing themselves.. even to those who do not share my beliefs..
i don't think it is for anyone to judge any other person's blog because by doing so, u're judging the person who expresses him/herself the way he/she thinks he/she is best represented by.. (by the way one of the best blogs i've seen use java script to partition the different parts of the blog) it is no fault of hers that her blog 'happened' to be chosen for the top 10 finalist and 'happened' to be leading at the start.. call it popularity if u have to.. but this is the way it is.. and that does not mean it makes the blog or the person open to criticism, esp bad ones..
i'm not saying that u are not entitled to ur points of view abt it.. i'm saying that for goodness sake don't write it somewhere u noe the person will see it.. unless of course u had that intention from the very start.. (a classic example of freedom of speech i would say.. perhaps that's why i've never been a fan of excessive freedom) then i can only congratulate u for wadever u get out of putting down another(more votes or juz making the person feel sad abt it such that u feel better).. but i have to remind you that u are doing it at the expense of another.. by neglecting the one thing that makes us human - our feelings..
i really hate to be putting this up on my blog i meant to write abt my life and beautiful memories.. but i think someone has to remind people abt the essence in the true spirit of competition.. and the true meaning of blogging.. if one cannot understand and respect that, then i think the title of 'best blog' means nothing more than just the money u get out of it.. and if this title can be tagged with a price, it is worth nothing at all..
rebec inspired @ 10:42 PM
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