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Stumbled upon this article randomly that's pretty good, which defines a "scrub" in the context of any competitive game. It's primarily about video games with references to chess and other things, but easily applies to a sport like football as well. This is CIS though and I know most of ya'll have the attention span of a gold fish so I pulled out some of the more relevant bits.
IMO, Mario is a scrub, and isn't actually playing to win. He's self imposed a false notion on himself about *how* to win, and is more concerned about winning in that particular way on offense than actually winning at any cost:
"A scrub is a player who is handicapped by self-imposed rules that the game knows nothing about. A scrub does not play to win."
"The scrub would take great issue with this statement for he usually believes that he is playing to win, but he is bound up by an intricate construct of fictitious rules that prevents him from ever truly competing. These made-up rules vary from game to game, of course, but their character remains constant"
"You will not see a classic scrub throw his opponent five times in a row (In street fighter). But why not? What if doing so is strategically the sequence of moves that optimizes his chances of winning? Here we’ve encountered our first clash: the scrub is only willing to play to win within his own made-up mental set of rules. These rules can be staggeringly arbitrary. If you beat a scrub by throwing projectile attacks at him, keeping your distance and preventing him from getting near you—that’s cheap. If you throw him repeatedly, that’s cheap, too. We’ve covered that one. If you block for fifty seconds doing no moves, that’s cheap. Nearly anything you do that ends up making you win is a prime candidate for being called cheap. Street Fighter was just one example; I could have picked any competitive game at all."
"The first step in becoming a top player is the realization that playing to win means doing whatever most increases your chances of winning. That is true by definition of playing to win. The game knows no rules of “honor” or of “cheapness.” (or FIZIKAL) The game only knows winning and losing."
"The scrub has still more crutches. He talks a great deal about “skill” (or in our case, FIZIKAL) and how he has skill whereas other players—very much including the ones who beat him flat out—do not have skill. The confusion here is what “skill” actually is."
"I once played a scrub who was actually quite good. That is, he knew the rules of the game well, he knew the character matchups well, and he knew what to do in most situations. But his web of mental rules kept him from truly playing to win. He cried cheap as I beat him with “no skill moves” while he performed many difficult dragon punches. He cried cheap when I threw him five times in a row asking, “Is that all you know how to do? Throw?” I gave him the best advice he could ever hear. I told him, “Play to win, not to do ‘difficult moves. (running up the middle into a stacked box successfully)’” This was a big moment in that scrub’s life. He could either ignore his losses and continue living in his mental prison or analyze why he lost, shed his rules, and reach the next level of play."
Full thing is worth a read: https://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/introducingthe-scrub
IMO, Mario is a scrub, and isn't actually playing to win. He's self imposed a false notion on himself about *how* to win, and is more concerned about winning in that particular way on offense than actually winning at any cost:
"A scrub is a player who is handicapped by self-imposed rules that the game knows nothing about. A scrub does not play to win."
"The scrub would take great issue with this statement for he usually believes that he is playing to win, but he is bound up by an intricate construct of fictitious rules that prevents him from ever truly competing. These made-up rules vary from game to game, of course, but their character remains constant"
"You will not see a classic scrub throw his opponent five times in a row (In street fighter). But why not? What if doing so is strategically the sequence of moves that optimizes his chances of winning? Here we’ve encountered our first clash: the scrub is only willing to play to win within his own made-up mental set of rules. These rules can be staggeringly arbitrary. If you beat a scrub by throwing projectile attacks at him, keeping your distance and preventing him from getting near you—that’s cheap. If you throw him repeatedly, that’s cheap, too. We’ve covered that one. If you block for fifty seconds doing no moves, that’s cheap. Nearly anything you do that ends up making you win is a prime candidate for being called cheap. Street Fighter was just one example; I could have picked any competitive game at all."
"The first step in becoming a top player is the realization that playing to win means doing whatever most increases your chances of winning. That is true by definition of playing to win. The game knows no rules of “honor” or of “cheapness.” (or FIZIKAL) The game only knows winning and losing."
"The scrub has still more crutches. He talks a great deal about “skill” (or in our case, FIZIKAL) and how he has skill whereas other players—very much including the ones who beat him flat out—do not have skill. The confusion here is what “skill” actually is."
"I once played a scrub who was actually quite good. That is, he knew the rules of the game well, he knew the character matchups well, and he knew what to do in most situations. But his web of mental rules kept him from truly playing to win. He cried cheap as I beat him with “no skill moves” while he performed many difficult dragon punches. He cried cheap when I threw him five times in a row asking, “Is that all you know how to do? Throw?” I gave him the best advice he could ever hear. I told him, “Play to win, not to do ‘difficult moves. (running up the middle into a stacked box successfully)’” This was a big moment in that scrub’s life. He could either ignore his losses and continue living in his mental prison or analyze why he lost, shed his rules, and reach the next level of play."
Full thing is worth a read: https://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/introducingthe-scrub
