You Were Right

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A few years ago my family and I made a bet ... actually, I gave them three chances to win the bet, but now they want out.

My wife and kids want a pool. They promised me that they would take care of it, but I currently have two dogs to feed, let out, and play with. I wasn't supposed to take care of either of them.

I don't want a pool because I feel it's a waste of time and effort and we don't have the space. Besides, I'm not exactly brilliant when it comes to fixing or taking care of anything. I'm mechanically-deficient and I'll be the first to admit it.

So we worked out a wager. Simple enough: if the Bills or Sabres or Oakland A's win a championship, they can have a pool. (The A's are Matt's favorite team).

For years, I've been able to skate although the Sabres made it interesting a couple of years ago. Still I'm comfortable with my position in the bet. The family is no longer comfortable. They really want the pool. They all can swim. "It'll be so much fun," they wail. "You won't have to take care of it, we will."

So, I'm not an ogre. I agreed that they could get a pool on one condition:

I will run a video of them admitting that I was right and they were wrong. All they need to do is line-up and say these simple sentences - "You were right and I was wrong about the Bills." You were right and I was wrong about the Sabres." You were right and I was wrong about the A's."

Well, we are at a standstill. Matt and Sam are dead-set against admitting that they were wrong. Jake could care less - he'd sing it from a mountaintop. Kathy falls somewhere in the middle.

Of course, I have lost every battle so far.

"We'll just wait until the Bills win it all this year," Matt said. "I'd never give you a videotape where I admitted you were right - you'd be playing it every fifteen minutes."

Now that's where Matt is wrong - I would have it on a loop, piped into his room to put him to sleep at night.

I tried to explain it to him - "Being married, I'm very rarely right. Give me this little videotape and I'll dig the pool myself."

I'll keep you posted.

Comments

deafjeff said…
This coming from the guy who always had a pool growing up. You couln't have made a bigger sucker bet if you tried. They would have been better off picking teams out of a hat.
02 July, 2008
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