It’s rampant in the entertainment field, mostly because it’s so incredibly competitive, and also for the age old reason: insecurity and just plain dislike and/or hatred of their competitors. It’s probably pretty prevalent in certain sports as well, like maybe among surfers and skateboarders, as there is also a lot of competition, and the desire to be “the best”.
So I’m wondering if anyone thinks that there’s a lot, some, or much of a jealousy factor in the unicycling world. Seems most Unicyclists I’ve met are the nicest, most complimentary people I’ve eve met. Just like here on the forums, everyone is eager to help newbies and are generous with praise for others.
Of course, I doubt that very many-if anyone-would ever admit to being jealous of another rider. There is a kind of “friendly” jealousy in the way some things are said in a non-threatening, fun manner: “I’m so jealous, you have the best trails where you live!”, etc. I don’t mean that kind. lol.
But the other kind is bad, where it’s based on pettiness and insecurity, even hatred because the person who is filled with this negative thinking, feels unable to compliment the person who is the subject of his/her jealousy, for totally unjustifiable reasons. They simply might feel jealousy for another who may indeed be better at something than they are…and they HATE them for that alone!
I really don’t see it much, if at all in the unicycling world, but hey, I’m an optimist! Your thoughts and/or experiences with it?
i havent realy ever seen jealousy here on the forums, mostly just envy. People wish they were as good as others and wish they had the parts, places to ride, etc. as someone as someone else. But not ever in a mean way
I’m pretty envious of the disposable income some unicyclists have that allows them to purchase so many sweet rides. But I’m a college student, so of course I realize that this might change some day.
I envy people who can crankflip without thinking about it. They make it look so easy it looks like they’re just hopping. That’s about as far as my envy goes.
I think there is a big difference between jealousy and envy. I can’t say that I’ve ever been jealous of another unicyclist’s skill or equipment. But I can say that I have been envious to the point of friendly teasing.
I’m sure many of us could complete these sentences:
I wish I could ____________ like so and so.
I wish my uni was _________ like so and so’s.
If only I could learn to _______ as quickly and well as so and so.
This is healthy. Wishing someone ill will on the other hand is different. We can be envious while still applauding other unicyclists and supporing their achievements.
I think there isn’t that much jealousy in unicycling like in some other sports because it isn’t that popular and therefore people want to push newbies as well as the limits of the sport. So there is not much place for jealousy because that would be a handicap for both the riders and unicycling itself.
Before I started unicycling I was a Freestyle Slalom Rider. I hardly believe that anyone of you knows what this is because it is a rather unknown sport too. There I made the same experiences.
Go to the big conventions, where it’s always possible to see a few people who are so focused on winning they forget to be pleasant human beings. Sometimes it’s the riders, but sometimes it’s the parents, sometimes to the embarrassment of their kids.
You are talking about street racing and freestyle, aren’t you? I am sure the amount of jealousy decreases in the more new disciplines like trial, street or muni.
Have you guys seen this ‘uni-geezer’ and how he rides??? What business does an old guy have, ridding, jumping, muni, big wheel, small wheel,… with all those super videos showing everything he can do? Got to be fake, I’ll bet he’s friends with Spielberg, and all those stunts, they’re special effects.
And so what if he can do all that fancy la-tee-da uni stuff, he lives in CA. Heck, the weather there is perfect year around. He’s got no down time, must give him a 20 year advantage. Damm, he even looks 20 years younger…
What kind of freestyle slalom did you do?Rollersktes,skateboard?
I spuppose in some most sports alot of it is your talent and it takes loads of practice to learn stuff. Where as unicycling anybody can do it and i they push themselves enough they can do much more. Ofcourse nearly everyone envy’s something like i envy Raphael for being so good at a young age:D
I think one of my friends is jealous of how much better I and one of my other friends is then him. Its probably more of a friendly jealously, but I think he gets mad somtimes.
