I have to admit to being a little bleary this morning.
Not hung over, just not completely clear.
Last night on the way home from work, I stopped by my favorite dive bar.
I was going to pick up the information for this week's NFL games and have a pint.
I ended up having two pints and playing some pool.
This bar is a dump.
It is great. Everyone knows everyone even if you've never met them.
The only thing bad about this bar is that they still let people smoke in there.
I try to sit away from the big groups of smokers, but it's a small bar. There is going to be some wafting.
Oh and they don't serve hard liquor, just beer and wine basically.
Which is a bad thing if you want a gin and tonic, but maybe it is a good thing since those drunkards would probably get into fights if they were fueled by whiskey instead of beer.
I am in this pool there where you pick the NFL games, against the spread, every week.
The person with the most games each week gets a little cash, as does the second place finisher.
At the end of the season, the person with the most accumulated points gets some cash, second and third get a bit as well.
I did this last year and the year before, too.
Now last year I did OK. I came in 4th out of about 20 people and I was the highest ranking chick. But I won nothing.
The year before, I won the whole darn thing without ever actually winning a week.
Pretty good, huh?
All the guys were convinced I had to have help from a guy or that because I work at a paper I have some special secret insider knowledge.
Yeah. It's called the Associated Press. Buy a damn paper.
Anyway, we are a couple weeks into the thing and I won the first week by picking 12 of the 16 games correctly. For the first week, that is amazing. Heck, that isn't bad for any week really.
The second week, not so great. I had 5 correct. But the highest score that week was 9 and most people got 5 or 6.
Now really, I am not much of a gambler. I will play blackjack if I go to Vegas. But I only go to Vegas about once every 3 years.
But this football thing gets me all riled up.
I was planning my Sunday around the NFL. Breakfast at a place with a TV so I could watch Indy not cover the spread against Tennessee. Sure they won, but a 2-point win doesn't help me when the spread is 7.
Then home to see more scores. After the morning round of games, it was just too depressing to watch anymore.
But now I am all excited again for this Sunday. It is another chance to build up my overall points.
I don't even think it is the money that motivates me in these things (though that is a bonus).
I think it is the competition. It is proving to these guys that a girl can know football at least as well as they do.
My nature has always been very competitive. I thrive on it.
So when a guy asks me if I pick teams based on the color of their jerseys, it really pisses me off.
My normal response is to push my cleavage together, twirl my hair and say, with a vacant look on my face, "No, I just tell myself 'Miami is playing Chicago... Hmmm... Who would win in that fight? A Dolphin or a Bear?' "
They look at me like I am crazy and drop the subject.
Man, drunk guys are so easy to confuse.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Never pick Kansas City. But I'm sure the Associated Press already told you that :)
Yay for you! I think that you just very well may be the coolest girl, evah! This was my favorite line: "This bar is a dump.
It is great."
I have fantasies about hanging out in bars. Seriously.
Poor Kansas City.
I have to admit to being a Patriots fan, but the whole cheating thing and the Tom Brady baby-mama drama has made me question my loyalty to them.
I am more a fan of players than I am of teams.
I think my favorite player is Shaun Alexander of the Seattle Seahawks.
First, because he is h-h-h-h-hHOT!
Second, because he sounds intelligent. I saw an interview with him and he was so articulate. You could tell he actually paid attention when he went to college. Either that or he has a good PR person coaching him.
Whatever. Hot.
And that bar really is a dump. Some of my favorite places are the fanciest places in town, but some of my favorite places are dumps.
I have no problem going out for a 5-star meal and ending the night playing pool and drinking beers in a dive bar.
But is it wrong that when I walk in, half the people in the bar greet me by name?
I used to go there a few nights a week after work when work was just down the street.
Now that work is 36 miles away, I go there about once a week. It is only 5 miles from home, but not on the way anymore.
I have to admit that when I joined the office football pool I picked the winners by doing the following:
1. always picked the Cowboys to win.
2. looked at the previous week, and if a team won and they were going to be playing at home, pick them to win again.
3. pick the winner by whose team I know the mascot for without having to look it up.
4. if there's any games that didn't fall under 1-4, I would pick randomly.
I did ok.
Post a Comment