Competitive? Not so much.

I will never admit to having a competitive bone in my body. Not a one.

But boy, do I tend to surround myself with friends who do.

Scrabble where it's just not a game until somebody's ego isn't just bruised, but bleeding.

Cornhole by flashlight.

Bitching, endlessly, about the Patriots and how they can't be beaten.

Actually caring that you lost the softball game when everyone else just shows up for the beer.

Whipping out the Palm pilot to wiki-prove a point during dinner table discussion.

And on. And on.

I'm looking for the common denominator among them and have just a few theories...

1) Religion. By far my most upfront competitive friends are/were Catholic. There may be one or two Episcopalians in the bunch, but that's Catholic-lite, so close enough. Do the nuns have something to do with it? Or the cute little plaid skirts y'all wore to school? (Excuse me while I grin at that picture in my head for a second.)

2) Intelligence. Save for a completely inexplicable 12-year detour, the geekier you are, the more likely I'm going to be to invite you to join me at the Scrabble board. The first woman I loved studied Latin in high school. I was so stupidly in love I played Scrabble with her. Morris Hall, Miami U. Rolling Rock beer. Long, long winter that was. And I was perfectly fine with that:)

3) Butch vs. femme tendencies. Hmmm. Maybe. But I have noticed that the more femme tend to be cut throat competitive in other ways -- their career, for example, or I don't know, shopping.

4) Birth order. This one actually makes sense. Fighting for the last fish stick or running to claim the front seat of the car is good training. An only child, I didn't have to do either.

Maybe I should just leave well-enough alone...

And continue to root for the underdog.