Frazz by Jef Mallett for August 14, 2024

???

Both!

Some people have the “compete” gene and some don’t and a lot of the ones who do were trained to make it paramount.

Psychological research says that competition interferes with original learning and mastery, but does increase performance at higher levels.

Oh-kee-dokie…

Yes.

I don’t know either but, I still want to know why the cells were outlined with dotted lines earlier this week?

The latter, except for that Australian breakdancer.

I think spending four years of your life practicing, sweating, hurting, and sacrificing in the attempts to gain perfection only to make a mistake and have everything fall apart at the Olympics is tragic. I think in the summer Olympics the trampoline competition was the most brutal. If you made a mistake and hit the side cushions, that was it. You were done. There was no recovery, there was no option to get back on the trampoline to continue, there was no second attempt. Your Olympics was over. I cannot imagine putting in all that work only to make a mistake and being dismissed from the competition.

Shouldn’t flag waving be a sport? or spotting Snoop Dog?

I honor each of them for their dedication and tremendous courage. I envy them their abilities and their devotion to their dreams. I appreciate their respect and obvious admiration for their competitors.

Some people thrive off competition, either against others or against yourself. You’re not one of them, Caulfield. You’re just a kid! Don’t worry about what we adults are about with the Olympics. Just enjoy being a kid! You’ll have the rest of your life to be an adult later.

Jef. It’s okay for people to like spectator sports. That horse is awfully high, might want to get down.

That question has too much pressure.

the kid should consider that watching experts is a good way to learn how to improve.

Why is he assuming that they’re under “excrutiating pressure”? Sounds like another bad assumption.

All I know is that roller skating was never an Olympic sport, and now there are no more roller rinks.

For the pure joy of it. An emotional support activity for you.

emlesty2 please show your work.

Not all the talented and gifted people who would qualify get to even try for the Olympics or any event because of circumstances that are heartbreaking and watching other athletes shine at something they were denied is painful. That goes for so many areas in life. I wouldn’t judge someone just because they aren’t interested in watching someone else have fun doing what they were denied.

There are those who live to compete in a sport and those who live to have fun in it. I know which one I prefer.

And learning math is only cool for solving puzzles. Lord forbid that you should ever have to use it for anything so excruciatingly pressure-packed as, say, balancing your checkbook, doing comparison shopping for a new home, or working in architecture or construction.

Caulfield would rather work on his excuses.

Competition is the best way to turn a joy into a job. I had one of those “job” things once. Didn’t agree with me.