Ah! This made me think things over. Though I am not sporty and have never been very competitive, I believe in being smart enough to know the rules and where to use them to get an advantage. A great read. Loved the T-shirt :)
You wrote this very well, and I enjoyed this (and other) look into high-level Scrabble. I don't see why there was any fuss. At your level, I would expect all the players to be very familiar with the rules. This wasn't a family game where exceptions, additions, etc. are in use.
It is a worthy discussion. It reminds me of the relationship of Arthur Ashe and John McEnroe, the two tennis greats of yore. Ashe always admired McEnroe's fire and ability to plead, or really violently shout, his case at any umpire who dared make a call against him. Part of the reason for that was Ashe's own admission that he would never be allowed to behave like that on a tennis court because of who he was.
Many people loved McEnroe specifically because of that, his temper tantrums added life, spice, interest to an otherwise staid and sometimes tedious sport. Others saw him as disruptive and unsportsmanlike. Certainly he brought attention to the game because of how he played it, and he was surely one of the great players in spite of his antics.
The question you raise about "how" to play the game is a good one. Is there a time when you should pull your punches, even if the rules don't require it? I feel like there's a whole world of stories there...
There's definitely an argument to be made about whether McEnroe-esque outbursts are permissible in sports that are more mental in nature. The issue in Scrabble is that such outbursts disrupt other players in the room, whereas in tennis it's just the two players on the court.
As for pulling punches...yeah, in a friendly game where I'm already miles ahead, I might just play off more tiles than I otherwise might, just to get the game over with. But if there are stakes, that goes out the window.
I've run into conflict in multi-player games when people are playing at different levels, some just for fun and some cutthroat. But I don't think knowing the rules and using them should ever be anything but fair play.
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A great read. Loved the T-shirt :)
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Thanks for reading!
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Many people loved McEnroe specifically because of that, his temper tantrums added life, spice, interest to an otherwise staid and sometimes tedious sport. Others saw him as disruptive and unsportsmanlike. Certainly he brought attention to the game because of how he played it, and he was surely one of the great players in spite of his antics.
The question you raise about "how" to play the game is a good one. Is there a time when you should pull your punches, even if the rules don't require it? I feel like there's a whole world of stories there...
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As for pulling punches...yeah, in a friendly game where I'm already miles ahead, I might just play off more tiles than I otherwise might, just to get the game over with. But if there are stakes, that goes out the window.
Thanks for reading!
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