keeping score = fodder to mock your friends later
Last night was pretty nice. I stopped off at the library and picked up a couple books and movies for the kids, and Bottle Rocket for Dana and I to watch (thanks for the recommendation Diesel). On the ride home, I closed a new very small web design job on the phone. When I got in the door, I uploaded some changes for the Battleship New Jersey and LegalHelpin24hrs.com site. We decided to go eat at PJ’s and sit outside to watch the kids run around and look at Ballinger Lake a bit. Bubba had a t-ball game, and I got to fill in for the coach that was out of town. The kids did great, and my Mom and Dad brought my grandfather out to watch Bubba.
Tonight me and my buddy Doug(yes, that’s him) are going to the Phils-Nats game. Speaking of t-ball and Doug, if you noticed his firm’s motto “Vision, Knowledge, Results”, one of my new favorite ways to tease my best friend is to add my own motto to my own emails -> “Vision, Knowledge, Results, Champion” (yes, I bold it). See Doug and I played on the same t-ball team in Indian Mills, NJ, but then were on different teams throughout the remainder of little league, Babe Ruth, and Pony League. This was back in the 80s when you used to keep score and award a trophy to the champion. My little league team, the Iroquois won the IMAA little league championship one year (on my championship winning triple too). Doug’s team, the Mohawk never did. In all his years of competitive sports, poor Doug never got to sip champagne from any championship cup (things were so much more liberal back in the 80s, kids were allowed to drink booze when they won things…).
So as mid-thirties guys, we don’t have a lot of athletic achievement to celebrate these days. Ergo we’re forced to relive the past or go watch some millionaires do it for us. So I rub in my championship often. Perhaps I’ll fish the puny trophy out of the box in my mother’s attic. Which as my son and daughter advance to other levels of sports competition, they’ll start keeping score and awarding trophies and hopefully grow the seeds of stuff to tease their buddies about when they get this old too.
April 25th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Heheh, the fact that that kind of rivalry has lasted for decades is really funny. I am not very competitive, so I really don’t have similar memories … not to mention that I’m not in touch with anyone I knew when I was that young. It must be great to have friends going back that far. Very cool, man.
April 25th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Maybe you need a Champion button for your sidebar.
April 25th, 2007 at 10:30 am
I never mention my athletic achievements lest anyone give me a look that says, “You used to be athletic? What the hell happened?!”
April 25th, 2007 at 11:42 am
I’m anxious to hear what you think of Bottle Rocket. It’s Wes Anderson’s first movie, and it’s similar to his others but without as much self-conscious irony and stuff. I was absolutely hooked right from the scene where Luke Wilson “escapes” from the institution.
April 25th, 2007 at 11:52 am
I was dissappointed with Bottle Rocket, but I may have set my expectations too high. I adore the Wilson brothers.
A t-ball rivalry is hilarious. When my youngest son played it, we parents had to beg the kids to pay attention. They had no clue.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
My daughter totally kept score at her hockey games. They weren’t supposed to, but everyone knew which team actually won.
April 25th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
apertome – Doug and I have been best friends since we were both 4. He and his wife are also my son’s godparents too. I tease him a lot, but we’ve got him on the spot. Welcome back. He’s like Gabe Kaplan in that regard.
Chris – fantastic suggestion
V-Grrrl – is that what the shocked look on their face means when I talk about my own athletic achievements?
Diesel – haven’t watched it yet, probably this weekend. self-conscious irony would be the most ironic if you didn’t realize it
leelee – that’s basically what coaching is, you make sure they’re looking in the right direction to avoid anyone getting kaplooyed by a line drive
tori – I was actually pointing this out to my buddy Doug mentioned in this email today. he suggested I actually do keep score and announce it between innings, but only if we’re actually winning. I pointed out that we also don’t keep track of outs either and everyone hits each inning. so whichever team brought the most players would seriously beat the other team.
April 25th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
I’m envious. That’s frickin’ awesome that you guys are still so close.
I’m 2500 miles away from the people that I grew up with and are still in contact with. We talk fairly regularly, but to say, “Hey, let’s go to a hockey game,” or whatever…well, we can’t. Obviously. And I miss them like crazy.
April 25th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Do libraries still smell like old books?
April 25th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
I’ve always had that competitive streak with a bunch of my friends, but strangely because of where we lived (aka boondocks) the guys I went to all levels of school with were rarely even in the same league as me. Our competition, therefore, had to be honed on the mean streets of the Kennett High School parking lots, ripping up the street hockey court in the loading lot next to the greenhouse. Man, we were cool!
April 25th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
I agree with Chris. You need a champion button. Keep reliving that championship. That’s what championship are for, after all.
April 26th, 2007 at 7:38 am
Kevin – I’m definitely grateful to have been able to stayed in touch with my buddy for so long.
corky – especially in the old smelly book section
Marty – I miss street hockey, which sounds like an excellent way to do some sort of injury to my 36 year old legs
Dorky Dad – yeah that would be sweet, right on the desktop, it would play a video clip of my triple (if one actually existed), Eye of the Tiger would play in the background…awesome