Do you know what a “mulligan” is? In golf it’s really a “do over.” Do you use them? Do you believe in them? Do you have to win? If I were out golfing and hit a bad shot, if it were for nothing, I’d re hit the ball. Who would care? Nobody but me. But if it was for a tournament or the bragging rights or a prize of a perfect game, no, I’d never use a mulligan. Because I’d know it wasn’t a perfect game.
Paul and I were talking about this the other night about bowling. Why isn’t there a mulligan in bowling? I can’t imagine a do over in bowling. How do you un-bowl a ball? I know it’s expected that you un-hit a ball but it seems different. How could you be bowling and get all strikes and throw a gutter ball and collect a mulligan?
What about in real life? Would you have used a mulligan ever in your life so far? If it’s too personal you don’t have to say in detail but is there anything so far you’d like to do over? I know I’ve said things I’d sure like to un-say and I’ve gotten hurt and I’d like to have un-done or something like that but I’ve heard people say they’d like a mulligan for an ex or something important and I really thought all those “mistakes” or things you’ve done make you part of who you are. I’d never wish to undo a relationship because they all have meant so much to me.
I know I’ve re-set our bowling game if Paul was out of the room and I bowled a bad ball. But I’d never re-set it during a game or if we took it seriously. Sometimes we’ve both thrown lousy balls and we’ll just re-start the game but we both decided if we were bowling for real, we’d never want a mulligan. It just doesn’t seem fair. I know my brother won’t use them in golf. He thinks it’s, for lack of a better word, cheating.
What about you? Mulligans in real life? Do you wish you could redo anything? Do you have to win to the point of a wanting to use a mulligan?
Us Girls..Our Views 
A do-over? Sure. There is one thing (of a personal nature) I can think of that I really wish I could un-do. And some things I wish I could un-say. But it’s not the end of the world.
Just tonight we received word (not unexpected, mostly) that we didn’t do so hot on some applications we wrote last year. Well, we took on way too many and I knew it at the time. We were spread too thin and didn’t do the best job we could. If we had it to do over, I think even the boss (who made the decision to do too much) would have said “no” to some of the apps and maybe we would have done better on the remaining ones. (Or not – it’s hard to say since they are very competitive.) At least we would not have lost so much sleep for nothing.
But as bad as it feels when I realize I screwed up, so far, nothing has been “so bad” that I couldn’t put it behind me and move on, hopefully a better person.
As far as winning games, I tend to refuse to play if I don’t feel likely to win at least a third of the time. I’m not really into sports or games, so I would rather find something else to do than play a game I’m pretty sure to lose. If I were playing a sucky game, I might be tempted to “do over” something, but hopefully I would resist the temptation and be a good sport for the sake of the winner.
Which reminds me about yesterday. My kids were playing “Candyland” and on the very first draw, Miss E drew the card that advanced her almost to the end. (I suspected that was not a coincidence, but who knows?) Anyhoo, that would have been a very un-fun game no matter what Miss A did, so I restarted the game and took out all those “jump way ahead/back” cards so nobody would have such a ridiculous advantage. Frankly, I did this because Miss A is not a good loser and I didn’t want to deal with it during the rare chance we had to play a game together. So Miss A ended up winning (by a little) and Miss E proved herself to also be a sore loser. So what great character lesson did I invent? I told Miss E that she’d won the first game and Miss A the second, so they were actually tied. Ha! I am such a wimp. But who wants to deal with drama over Candyland in the final moments of the evening?
I play this game all the time with myself. I might ask for a do-over for part of college. I received some very poor advising, and it really affected a lot of things after that. But many of the other “do-overs” I consider would potentially have a pretty undesirable result (like eliminating Josh from my life), so I figure I’ll just go on as I am and hope it all turns out all right. One Mulligan that I might take is a do-over on some of the things following The Wreck. There are some DEFINITE do-overs I wish I had there.
As for Mulligans in games? The only time i take them without guilt is when I”m learning a new game. I offer them willingly, and take them gratefully. Greatfully. (ok, neither word looks right) But once I’ve learned the ropes of a game, I play with gusto, even if I’m horrible at it, and I lose badly.
I was just talking about this with Navar the other day about winning. I told him I’m not very competive. It’s easier to come in second for alot of reason. I use to play tennis with a friend it was so important that she won and I just didn’t care that much as long as I played well, I dindn’t have to win. Yes in life I would take a couple of Mulligans but, the way I look at it is the biggest mistakes I’ve made in my life shaped my charecter. As far as finding out what my values are. I’m not going to burden you with the dirt, unless you tell me your dirt first! Second thought I don’t know.
I don’t really care if I win either. Unless someone is obnoxious about HAVING to win. It’s super fun to beat people with attitudes like that. They must think they’re better than everyone else to have a need like that that needs to be filled all the time. To always have to win and be better, I’d hate to live with that constant need. I find with Paul and I that I like it when we take turns winning. It’s not fun to lose all the time but I’d hate to play a game every night with someone who felt he had to kick my butt all the time. I don’t think that would be fun at all.
Gosh Joy, you make a mulligan sound like a bad thing. I don’t have to win but winning is more fun than losing. I won’t cheat to win but if everyone is following the same rules I will mulligan away.
I didn’t mean to make it sound bad but take for example, Paul and I play Wii bowling every single night without fail. How fun would it be for either of us if the winning wasn’t a shared thing or we acted mean spirited towards each other if we lost? Then I don’t even think it would be fun to play. We clap for each other and cheer each other on. We don’t dance around and make the other feel like a dope if they lose. I know some people I won’t even play games with because to them, it’s ALL about them winning and it takes all the fun out of playing.
Oh, sorry. I’m used to five year olds dancing around going, “Hahaha. I WON! I WON!” Lol
LOL!! Ya, we don’t have that happening here.
I’m not a competitive person by nature. So, no, winning is really not important to me. Certainly not important enough for me to use a mulligan to win, if I were given the chance. I’d rather come in 2nd place, than win knowing I used a mulligan. It wouldn’t seem the same to me. That’s not to say, I don’t like winning. Everyone likes to win!