I Lost
I think we started the ritual when I was about 15 years old.
I would bet my brother Jeff, using the spread, on every single football game played each week.
We would keep a running count...and at the end of the year we had to settle up.
A dinner.
In those early years it was just a few burgers at a fast-food joint.
The winner would just crush the loser.
Well.
When Jeff left us...I decided that I couldn't face doing it anymore. I passed the tradition to Sam and he went head-to-head with his beloved Uncle Chuck.
They are in season 5 of their battle and I hear rumors that they've toyed with the rules.
But the stakes are still the same.
This was the first year I jumped back into the fray...choosing Jake as my foil.
I lost.
Jake and his guest, Quinn (who eats a truckload of my food anyway) decided on Red Lobster.
Kathy doesn't eat seafood so I took Sam along as my guest.
Huge mistake.
Sam ate two and a half lobster tails.
Crab legs were flying.
The ocean called because it was running out of shrimp.
We ate, and ate and ate.
They drank Coke after Coke.
Our waiter (who was a bit on the miserable side) showed up with the check without even asking about dessert.
"Take that check back, we're getting dessert," Jake said.
Four molten Oreo things with ice cream.
None of us could move.
The bill was cringe-worthy.
But inside I was smiling.
Because as Pops reminded me later that night:
Jeff would be screaming it from a mountain top:
"You're soooooo stuuuuuupppppiiiidddddd!"
I would bet my brother Jeff, using the spread, on every single football game played each week.
We would keep a running count...and at the end of the year we had to settle up.
A dinner.
In those early years it was just a few burgers at a fast-food joint.
The winner would just crush the loser.
Well.
When Jeff left us...I decided that I couldn't face doing it anymore. I passed the tradition to Sam and he went head-to-head with his beloved Uncle Chuck.
They are in season 5 of their battle and I hear rumors that they've toyed with the rules.
But the stakes are still the same.
This was the first year I jumped back into the fray...choosing Jake as my foil.
I lost.
Jake and his guest, Quinn (who eats a truckload of my food anyway) decided on Red Lobster.
Kathy doesn't eat seafood so I took Sam along as my guest.
Huge mistake.
Sam ate two and a half lobster tails.
Crab legs were flying.
The ocean called because it was running out of shrimp.
We ate, and ate and ate.
They drank Coke after Coke.
Our waiter (who was a bit on the miserable side) showed up with the check without even asking about dessert.
"Take that check back, we're getting dessert," Jake said.
Four molten Oreo things with ice cream.
None of us could move.
The bill was cringe-worthy.
But inside I was smiling.
Because as Pops reminded me later that night:
Jeff would be screaming it from a mountain top:
"You're soooooo stuuuuuupppppiiiidddddd!"
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