Introduction: parachuters and ballroom dancers -- The competition machine -- What goes down when the stakes go up -- How the worriers can beat the warriors -- Even odds: why women need them and men don't -- The utter importance of pillow fights -- The difference between winning and not losing -- How one night of blackjack sped up the world economy -- The 'roid rage of chess -- The hierarchy of teams -- Michelangelo had an agent -- How the Black Sox cleaned up Wall Street.