Yeah, war stinks. Its in our nature to fight though. Especially to fight over limited resources. We are only animals after all, and as high-minded as we think we are we still fall victim to our territorial/expansionist instincts.
Ha! I guess that was you that put my reply in the right thread then. As far as sports go, martial sports are always more interesting to me because as you pointed out in the original statement, the stakes are much higher than simply winning by score.
Yes, though I still draw a distinction between Martial Sport which we see on the boob tube and Martial Arts which have more character defining goals than simply winning. Although, if martial arts are really about "the battle within" as Seifu Brown is fond of saying, then I suppose you could simplify Martial Arts down to "winning the battle within."