[The Pencil Neck]

Winning is always the most important thing.

Winning and looking bad-ass while doing it is, of course, the goal.

Winning ugly is, at least, a win but it's also a danger signal telling us things we need to fix before someone else finds a way to capitalize on them.

Getting blown out of a game is demoralizing. And no one wants that.

Losing a close one is even more heart-breaking but at least it gives you hope that if you just fix this or that and maybe get a different bounce of the ball, you've got hope for the future.

Of course, this is just talking about me and how I approach and feel about these things.