We all know someone who just can't stand losing. You know the type. Whatever you happen to be doing has to be a competition, and they have to win. This personality affliction, while merely obnoxious among the ranks of rank amateurs, is also common denominator among many of the all-time greats in professional sports. Long-time readers of this column may recall stories about famously competitive athletes like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant driven to obsessive extremes after losing an ostensibly friendly game of ping-pong. Before you begin to suspect that this trait is endemic to cagers, please consider the curious case of Cristian Ronaldo. If you are a soccer fan, you will already be quite familiar with the Portuguese star forward for Juventus F.C., considered the greatest player in the world and in the conversation for the G.O.A.T. (If you're a soccer fan, you're probably also annoyed when people call it "soccer" instead of "football." Rest assured, your indulgence regarding these and other Yankee idiosyncrasies goes neither unnoticed nor unappreciated.) One thing that really gets Ronaldo's goat is losing. At anything. Not content to dominate on the pitch, the flashy forward is always angling for another W. According to fellow Portuguese player Nani, one should bring active wear if invited to Ronaldo's house. "Cristiano was very competitive," says Nani. "When you’re staying in his house for a day, it means he challenges you at any time. He had a swimming pool, a tennis court and ping-pong table." This only scratches the surface of Ronaldo's relentless drive to win. More telling is an anecdote about a run-in he had with former teammate Rio Ferdinand. Ten years ago, when both played for Manchester United, a friendly game of ping-pong between the two quickly turned heated. According to their teammate Patrice Evra, it was a lopsided affair in Ferdinand's favor. "He's a machine," recalls Evra. "They were playing table tennis and Rio beat him and we were all screaming." Such a damning verdict would be tough for anyone to take, especially in front of a jury of one's peers. Ronaldo's competitive side, however, has proven to be peerless. "Ronaldo was so upset," continues Evra. "Then he sent his cousin to buy [a table]. He trained for two weeks and came back and beat Rio in front of everyone. That's Cristiano Ronaldo." So, yeah, Ronaldo is that guy. Luckily for him, he is good enough at his day job to subsidize his sporadic obsessions.

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