Read This Before "The Game"!
Attn: Phil H
Gentle reader, if you have college football fans in your life, this weekend is like Christmas, with several rivalry games: The Egg Bowl, The Iron Bowl, The Old Oaken Bucket Game< and of course, “The Game”. Christy was a diehard Buckeye fan; her father for years had lower bowl seats and traveled to many away games. She was so diehard that this near perfectly-behaved girl only swore when discussing her illness or The Ohio State’s arch rival. (I won’t name them because this is a family outlet.)Phil H knows them as TTUN (That Team Up North), although Christy added an “F”: TFTUN! 😡
During Christy’s junior year, I rotated through the water company’s union jobs as part of my management development program. The water company union prez (George) knew my Dad (former IBEW union prez), so he looked after me. He also distributed football betting cards weekly. He advised me to ingratiate myself with the boys by gambling. When I won, I treated the boys during morning break time. I had a memorable run, cashing 9 of 13 weeks. At church, I showed Christy my card for Nov. 15th. Christy expressed dismay that I hadn’t taken her beloved Bucks at Wisconsin. I told her winning on the road was a risky bet! She ordered me to bet the game, so I added it to my 3 already choen that week. When my card won, she happily declared she was treating me to Ivanhoes to celebrate! She did…out of my winnings, since she picked OSU! 🤦♂️
The best part for me? 3-4 times after OSU won, she sang her shorter version of the Ohio State drinking song. She’d put her hand on my shoulder, leaning so her hip jutted out, then nodding her head as if she was just a little tipsy. With a wink she’d begin singing
“I wanna go back, Oh!
I wanna go back Oh-Hi-Oh!
And we’ll drink a little booze
‘til we wobble in our shoes!
I wanna go back to Oh-Hi-Oh!”
She then waved her arm in the air as if holding a pom-pom.
The last time she sang it was after that Wisconsin victory. When she finished, she giggled, giving me a quick peck on the cheek before we left for Ivanhoes. How could a fella not fall for a gal like that?
The following week was “The Game”. I’d been double-dog dared by my union boys to roll over my $20 winnings with a pick 6. (My card could now win $500.) I looked at George, he nodded affirmatively. It’s house money, so I made 6 picks, but because UM was a “pick’em” game, I steered clear of it. Christy saw my misdeed, becoming very annoyed. “Bawk-bawk-bawk, you chicken!” “A coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero dies just one: I like the coward’s odds!” Placing her hand on my shoulder she did an epic rant: if I didn’t bet her Bucks then she’d never sleep with me! 😱 Reminder: Christy was a perfectly behaved girl.
“Ummmm, aren’t the odds of you sleeping with me already zero?” “Not zero! The odds of my sleeping with you live in the same city as zero, they live on the same street, the same dormitory, same floor, they even share a room and bunk beds with zero! But not zero.” Christy paused, smiling. “Someday after an Ohio State victory, I may be so happy that the odds I’d ever consider sleeping with you might plummet from a billion to 1 all the way down to a million to 1. But when I remember you didn’t take Ohio State, it’ll skyrocket all the way to a trillion to 1! Have I made myself clear/” 😡 “Message delivered, loud and clear. So loud my dead relatives in Gaston could hear it.” I marked my 7th choice, OSU over TTUN. I then added, “If I hit all 7, I get to take you to a hotel with a hot tub over Christmas break, chaperone included.” Christy grinned, telling me the only game I’d win was on her beloved Bucks! We shook on it.
I hit on my 6 original games. Sadly, Matt Frantz missed a last minute 45 yard FG attempt that would have given them the win, and me $700. Did I bring up “The Game” with Christy? Do I look stupid to you? Our next day together, I studiously avoided all football talk. Finally she glared at me, remarking, “Don’t say a word about your gambling losses, not a word!” 😡 Apparently she thought I did look stupid. 😉 I can’t blame her for that! 🤦♂️ But I didn’t bring it up with her: I knew it would take a few months for her to joke about it.
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I'm listening to the Ruminant as I clean the stove and adjacent kitchen spaces; I'm so glad I didn't do that before the Bro Cooking Adventures of Wednesday and Thursday ... "Thor, you're planning to FRY?!? Nobody told me!" "You went to bed at 7:45." "Oh, right."
Anyway, Jonah said, not for the first time, that he thinks the rising popularity of Jew-hatred illustrates that, "There are few taboos left," so young strivers who want to monetize attention turn to anti-Jewish expressions because that gets attention.
I disagree. There are plenty of taboos. In the U.S., perhaps the biggest one is any negative observations about Black people. Young strivers, such as the New York Young Republicans whose texts were published, are pushing on that one, too, but it's not yielding at this point. Expressions of Jew-hatred, however, meet widespread (though not universal) popular acclaim.
As I see it, the general taboo is against negativity toward Official Victim Groups, and the designation of Official Victim Groups occurs almost without reference to actual reality. Thus, Muslims are an Official Victim Group, even though (just as one actual reality) 23 countries have Islam as their official state religion, and that's not in the manner in which the Church of England is an established state religion.
I have put my 50-degree sleeping bag inside my 30-degree sleeping bag. I could have done the opposite, but the 50-degree one is narrower. I hope I'll be warm enough tonight.