I was a benchwarmer in college, but I still absolutely hated losing. Hated it. I’d always use that as motivation to show up even earlier before practice and stay even later after, trying to overtake that person in front of me on the depth chart, so that ultimately I could be in there playing minutes that mattered.

I certainly agree with you that you can’t blame yourself for things you can’t control, but for me there was the frustration of not quite being at a high enough level to be a starter, and moving up the depth chart was in my control, so it was still frustrating to lose as a team, even sitting the bench from start to finish. I wanted to climb the depth chart, start, and beat opponents we played. To me, that was something that I could ultimately control, and it would contribute to the overall results of the team. I wasn’t alone either, we had several that would be really bent out of shape after a loss, who never played a minute. We also had others who didn’t seem to care as much.

I think a lot of it comes down to the degree of competitor that an individual is, although where you play may have some influence.