He is the Best In the Universe

It's interesting to me how the importance something has to a person is directly proportional to how well they're doing at it. Now that I've completely confused everyone, including myself, with that first sentence, let me explain what I mean. Have you ever noticed how there was always that one kid in class who would deride you for doing better than him on a test or whatever? "It's just a stupid test. And you're a NERD for doing good on it. I'm glad I'm not a stupid GEEK like you. LOSER." But let's say you showed up to school sick or drunk or with a weasel biting your face on test day, so the moron does better than you somehow. Soon as he finds out he "beat" you, all of a sudden he's a genius and you're a loser for doing BAD on the test. And then he will never shut the hell up about that. Even if he fails the next ten, he's still "smarter" than you because of that one time.

Now, this is a combination of two different principles, both of them highly annoying. The first is the idea that certain people will only ever remember the positive moments. You can tell them two hundred things that they're awful at, and give them one shallow compliment, and that's all they'll remember. "Well, you shot like twelve coworkers and tried to push me out the window. But you have good attendance." The other is that people tend to pretend that they don't care about things as soon as they find out they sucked at them. I'm not saying "certain people" this time, because pretty much everyone does that. I know I do. And that creates the great big oaf gloating to you the one time he does better than you, the smarmy prick.

This is even easier to see and sports, and definitely something I know I'm guilty of. As soon as you remember that wait, you actually suck at basketball, all of a sudden the pregame trash talk was "just a joke" and everyone else is "taking it too seriously". This is only excusable if the entire opposing team is made up of complete wankers. And even then it's probably only okay to do like, once. After that, either learn to play better or just inform everyone that you suck beforehand.