I never read or hear about the following: Watching pro golf with Woods and Michelson this afternoon, I would presume that each is hoping the other will miss his put or hook or slice his drive down the fairway.
Are their any players that do not wish that their competitor screws up? but condemn only themselves when they perform poorly?
Only poor sportsmanship would dictate someone saying: I was glad he missed the layup. In summary, does it go without saying that a competitor is hoping that the other player screws up?
Well, for what it’s worth, I would personally much rather play a hard-fought, down-to-the-wire game and lose than play a completely overmatched opponent and win by a substantial margin. Why? I love competition, and I love testing my skills against competition of similar (or even slightly better) caliber. You don’t get better as an athlete by beating up on the chumps, so to speak.
It depends. I’d rather win against an opponent that played as best they could than a player that screwed up, but I’d rather with against that screw-up than lose.