I am not disagreeing with you. I am saying there are a lot of teams that fall into your abnormal category. If you have have a significant number of teams that fall into this category, then the behavior is no longer considered abnormal but in fact with in the range of normal for the the league. Note of course outside and inside observers could still consider this abnormal behavior.
I think the psyche of these teams goes beyond winning a pen as you put it. There are a lot of people who want to win very badly even if nothing materially significant on the line. I think it goes back to sports in as kids and in high school. Many people are ingrained with the Lombardi mentality of "Winning isn't everything, it is the only thing" .
I guess this assumptions on my part, but I just dont see the number of teams that are only there to win and nothing else, as "significant".
Typically if you look at it from the local level, this is a handful of teams who usually are either the same ones that seem to win every single year, or they are the ones that show up out of the blue for a quickie.
I know how they think, from their perspective they are moving onto the playoffs every year, and they feel that they are hitting a bump in a the road somewhere in there, so from their point of view "everyone is like that", or when it comes to cheating "everyone does it". (Ive heard that argument before)
But that's because they totally ignore and discount the local league. You can pretty much win most local leagues before even one match is played just by who you can manage to get on your team. (especially if you can cheat and get away with it) Im not saying that everyone is a cheater who wins their league but Ive seen it happen.
And you are right, there are individuals who meet my description of "abnormal". They only want to win. If they could stay in 3.0 and win all the time they'd do it forever because they love it. If you forfeit and they win, they will take that as well, they dont care.
They probably dont even REALLY like tennis but they just happen to be in a situation (ie... someone who is clearly better then 3.5 but keeps appealing to stay in 3.5) which is allowing them to win a lot and allowing them to feel good about themselves.
But once they lose they are miserable and they think something is wrong. Then they dont show up to matches, and they make lame excuses about how they have so much else to do.
They are actually afraid of losing so these are the same people who sometimes if they split sets with you, they'd rather forfeit and give you a cheap win, then they would play the 3rd and risk losing.
But that's just an experience of one individual.
Playing in the league and running a team is something different. It should be about the experience and the effort. If you win you should feel you've accomplished something because you had to work hard to get there.
But there are whole teams of "abnormal" people with "abnormal" behavior. They are not in the league because they enjoy playing in the league, they are only there to win a cheap prize (as a team).
You are right, many people blindly follow simple slogans because they dont have enough brains to actually think for themselves.
But since they think that way, here's another one which I think is by Lombardi:
"Being a winner isnt just about winning, it's about how you deal with losing as well."