Gladiator, aka The Devil Wears Target

One of my friends and coworkers, Jordan, is quite the character. He's a really nice guy, funny and happy-go-lucky like me...most of the time. One difference we have is that while I am a label whore when it comes to clothes, he couldn't care less about what he wears and would pass on a Gucci shirt (gasp!) in favor of a $3 shirt from Target (nearly fainting.) Another difference is, as a mature adult who has already passed my athletic glory days, I look at competitions with a sense of 'If I win, great, if I lose, oh well.' Jordan? Get him involved in an athletic competition and watch out! As I mentioned in a previous post, he HATES to lose, taking things a bit more seriously than most other humans I know. For instance:

At a 'fun' team-building outing for our department a few months ago, we played mini-golf. Jordan and Sheppard, another friend/coworker, were tied heading into the last hole, and Jordan heckled Sheppard, in the hopes that he would choke (he did not.) Remember, this was at a department team building day, and our boss was there.

When Sheppard won, I didn't realize the significance of the moment or savor it nearly enough as I should have, mostly because I didn't know then 1) how much Jordan hates to lose and 2) how rarely it happens. In hindsight, I should have celebrated more, danced with joy and laughed at Jordan, even if it was not I who had beaten him because in the next dozen or so competitions we've had (tennis, home run derby, or a light game of croquet) Jordan has kicked my ass, then verbally recapped how badly he kicked it. Grr...

Apparently other people are equally intrigued/disgusted with his burning desire to win - Jordan has told me his friends revel in his athletic demise, even if it's playing a game of Madden on Xbox. He says his little niece once asked him, 'Uncle Jordan, why do people want you to lose so badly?' I'd say it's because he's a bit like Gaylord Focker in this scene:



On Monday, Jordan came into the office sporting three fresh stitches above his eye, the result of crashing into an outfield fence to snag a deep fly ball in his church's softball league game. When I asked him if he caught the ball he smiled and said yes. Then he mention he was named MVP of the tournament and that while he wouldn't do it again if he had the choice, it was nearly worth it. That's another difference we have - he was willing to put his mug in harm's way to catch a fly ball. I on the other hand, would do anything to protect my 'moneymaker' (what I used to call my face when I was on-air.)

For a while, I was not sure whether to admire the gladiator spirit Jordan has or be frightened that winning these minor competitions is so important to him. But after thinking about it, I have decided that Jordan's competitive spirit is a positive trait. Everyone should be passionate about something in life. Winning is Jordan's passion. In many ways, it reminds me of the inner-drive another guy with the same name once had:



UPDATE: Our other friend/co-worker, Des, a former Hugo Boss underwear model, beat Jordan twice in a row in tennis. On our dry-erase board in the man cave, I simply wrote 'Down goes Jordan!' and the dates the losses happened. All is good in the world. :)