Healthy Competition?

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and proud to be but the competition among members is getting WAY out of hand. There is even a comedy movie about 'Mormons' and their basketball. There seems to be a competition about everything...clothes, hair, money, boys, games...and it is ridiculous! This has been on my mind for quit a while but it hasn't been until recently that it's really bothered me. There's the Turkey Bowl tradition in the church on every Thanksgiving. It seems like every ward participates in a Turkey Bowl. Well, this year was the first year that Ioelu had participated. We just moved here to Georgia and he wanted to make some friends in the ward. Yea, I don't think that really happened. Why? Because they are too freakin' competitive! Ioelu doesn't play football...doesn't really know how...so he just did what the team told him to do...sack the qb! Well, the Quarter Back wasn't happy and changed positions to block Ioelu. He started getting agressive and so instead of just touch football, Ioelu tackled him. He really wasn't happy with that and stormed off the field saying a few choice words. Ioelu went to go talk to him and apologize, telling this guy that he (Ioelu) was getting too caught up in the game. The guy told him that it's ok because he didn't know that he had a pulled hamstring! OK, correct me if I'm wrong...and I could be wrong...but I thought if you had a pulled hamstring then you wouldn't want to play on it! I would think that it would hurt! So, we thought that everything was alright. That was until a couple weeks ago when someone announced in Priesthood that there was a football game going to happen...BY INVITATION! Yea, you heard right! You could only play if you were invited. Why in the heck would they announce it in Priesthood if that was the case. So, Ioelu went up to whoever it was and asked when the game was...their reply..."Oh, we are not sure yet." What a bunch of crap. (yea, can you tell that I'm really upset?) If you don't want people to know about your game, than don't announce it in Priesthood! It's that simple! Again I ask, why do we, as latter day saints, get so competitive...in whatever it may be. Another example comes from a friend of my parents who is from Romania. He is living here now and when he first came to Georgia, a few years ago, he asked my parents where a good place to play basketball. So they told him about the times that guys go to play at the chapel. Well, he went and told my parents that never again will he play there. This guy is not a member and was really turned off by the way these people were playing! EFY: Some people just want to play for fun. It's not like you're in the NBA and getting paid for winning. GET A CLUE PEOPLE! We all need to think about what the affects can be when we get so competitive. We need healthy competition...not petty competition where we get mad at the little things because someone is winning!

Ok, my ranting and raving is over. whew!