Settlers of Catan

For those of you who don't know us, our family loves to play Settlers of Catan...and for those of you who do know us, you know we're pretty ruthless players. We have spent many hours playing this game, teaching new friends, and watching the frenzy pass on. I've heard some rumors people in the ward just wont play with us anymore because we are just too die hard, I think they are just scared, j/k! Matt and I used to play a lot of one-on-one until Lexi got big enough to pull the pieces off the table, and we've since retired the game, however I thought I'd challenge Matt to a game a couple of days ago. I only repeat what happened in that game to justify my need to win so badly when I play with others, see the truth is, Matt generally whoops on me. The guy has no pitty, no mercy, and no love when it comes to winning that game. Initially we were both set up pretty well, however the first ten rolls were 9...4..9...4...repeat these two numbers over and over and over, needless to say I wasn't positioned on a 4, and got one lousy brick on a 9. The game was pretty much signed and sealed by the time we rolled a new number. I finished the game with maybe 6 lousy points, and Matt ran away with the whole thing. I could have cried. To rub salt in the wound, even when Matt could have built 5 or 6 other places, and he already had the game in the bag, he would build right in the spot I'd been working towards for the last 15 mins...what a brat. So after many months of being beat up on in this way, I find myself doing whatever I can to win at that game when Matt isn't around, cause if he is, I can usually kiss my chances goodbye (plus I've learned a couple of dirty tricks from him) A family reunion is coming up next week, so I better gear up my settlers moves because if it's like any other reunion, there will be marathons of this bittersweet game.