I'm Better Than You - By Tucker

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I am Better Than You

I like to ‘trash talk’. You may not know that talking to be, but when I see a good opportunity I’ll take it. 


One example is during freshman year I would love to google, “IQ test free” “Free IQ test”, and other variations. It is not because I liked taking the tests, although that is part of it, it is because I liked to ‘talk trash’ about my IQ score. 


I could easily get a score of 125 and if that is because I am taking the same test twice or not did not matter to me. I just saw the number at the end of the test and thought “aha I need to tell people about this”. I would go to school and tell people my IQ, the same people multiple times. In a cruel act of karma, many of the people I talked to had IQ’s of 130, 140, 150. I was annoyed and a little sad. 


I had handaly lost the trash talking battle. In this case it was something stupid. It wasn’t even real trash talk, it was just “I have an IQ of 125, what is yours” “150”, and that was the end of it.


There was no reason to talk trash. It definitely came off as insecure or just straight up annoying. Trash talking can be fun, but my first attempt I failed and came off as a little weird.



I practice basketball, a place were trash talk thrives. I’ll trash talk some of the players on the basketball team and sometimes I’ll lose. Usually I won’t get in a one-on-one, but during PE or a visit to a friends house something can happen.


One example is of me vs Adam Bobat. I was saying I was better for a while now and it just so happened that at this friends house there was a basketball hoop, so of course we played a one-on-one while everyone watched on, and I got my ass beat. He was making shots from far away and I could only drive, but he would block or be annoying close to the basket.


After that I tried saying something like “I’m better in 5-on-5” , butI had already lost the battle and I understood that quickly. 


Trash talk is not necessary as it puts people down. Wether the people you are talking to, or yourself when you lose. Many times I talk before even thinking about the consequences. The best outcome cannot be worth it when taking into consideration the worst outcome. You either put someone else down, for your own benefit or worse you lose, you are humiliated and this interaction will be remembered for the rest of the school year at minium. I may have a different perspective if I usually won, but that is not the case, and this is the perspective I have. 


This next season of track will be interesting as I have been hyping myself up in the same way with basketball I have seen how much better people can get over this offseason and I have been practicing. I have been more subtle in my trash talk this time to the point were at times it seems they don’t know my goal. 


The saying goes that no matter how hard you try there will always be someone better than you. I believe this to be true, but I still have not truly internalized it. I’ll talk trash one step up from were I am standing, just enough were it seems I can win, but handially lose in the end. The difference in Track is that I am still bragging, and wether or not I get humbled this next season is yet to be seen.

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Questions for reader: How good are my transitions?

Do the different topics all come together well at the end of the essay?

Comments

  1. Robert GaoJanuary 27, 2025 at 10:52 AM

    Great work, Tucker!

    I'll respond to your questions. As per your transitions, I can understand the logical connectors - the information continues logically. You go from describing a self-proclaimed characteristic, then providing anecdotal advice, then self-reflection, then a call-to-action / resonant ending.

    However, I suggest using some transitive words to begin each paragraph to better signal transitions (i.e. indeed, additionally, moreover, etc.). These words allow the reader to better understand the transition and shift in logic.

    2nd question - I'd say, yes. The threads of your essay - your demeanor around trash talking, your own athletic expertise, i.e. - are summed up well in the sentence that reads "I'll talk trash one step up from where I am standing."

    ReplyDelete
  2. TuckerApril 2, 2025 at 12:31 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete

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