Another way to see it, most competition is fun in nature. You have fun working to be the best athlete you can be. You have fun doing your job the best you can. You have fun going out to the bar and finding girls to impress. You have fun racing to kill bosses the fastest and you have fun facing other players in PvP. You have fun trying to get as many achievement points as fast as possible.
I'm not saying there aren't going to be unpleasant aspects and tedium in the preparation and of course losing like the Broncos did is going to suck. But largely, you compete for the love of the game and the journey is the best part, not necessarily the destination.
On the flip side there is nothing whatsoever fun about "I'm going to fuck with people the best I can and the 'game' is to see who hits a node first." Nope, nothing at all. Nothing but a pissing contest that the game could seriously do without.