Childlike Behavior

I am a firm believer in acting like a kid. Not all the time, mind you, but on rare occasion I consider it a very healthy thing to do—let loose, laugh a lot and just behave in a silly way.

It is quite freeing, I tell you.

Last night was a prime example of letting go, whooping it up, and relishing the little things. Brett and I declared last night to be Dave & Busters Olympics 2008. He had a pre-loaded game card from a past work outing, and we were ready to go. After fueling up on fried foods and a bottled beer (not all activities were childlike), we were ready to go.

During dinner we plotted out the game plan. Two ribbons were at stake: FIRST Place, and LAST Place. First place warranted the tagline "Total Domination," while Last place was left with "The Low Moe."

Five key events were chosen: Skeeball, Pop-a-shot, Gunslinger, Daytona 500 Racing and Nothing But Net. Other random sideline events were declared to be warm-ups or time-fillers during NBC's television time-outs: Colorama (roulette-like game), Jump Around (e-jumprope), Spin-o-Matic (wheel of fortune) and Motorcross Bike Racing.

As the athletes prepared for competition, the trash talking began. I was confident that Skeeball would be my stealth killer, and Brett felt sure of his Pop-o-Shot abilities.

NBC and ESPN are reporting the following results on the sports ticker this morning:

Skeeball
Highlights: Brett dominated early, and Colleen came back in the second half with lots of balls flying into the 100 cup.
Athletes' Reactions: "Was it always this hard?"
Outcome: Colleen can roll ugly brown balls better. Colleen wins!

Gunslinger
Highlights: Colleen spent half her time figuring out how to hold the rifle, and Brett took command and the Western Saloon was his. He scored 10 times more points than Colleen, but didn't cheer quite as loudly as she did when she finally hit the beer bottle target.
Athletes' Reactions: "You suck at this. Close the OTHER eye!"
Outcome: Brett is the meanest man in the West. Brett wins!

Television Time Out—athletes are seen spinning a giant Spin-o-Matic and yelling "big money, no whammys" at the machine. Both hit it big, and the tickets started spewing out of the machine. Childlike celebrations abound.

Daytona 500 Racing
Highlights: Brett, in his lean blue racing model, led for 497 of the 500 laps, only wrecking and rolling once. Colleen survived six nasty crashes, and finally learned how to measurably slow at the curves.
Athletes' Reactions: "There's a brake?!"
Outcome: Colleen made her southern roots proud, coming back in last 3 laps. Colleen wins!

Pop-a-Shot
Highlights: Colleen, getting serious, puts up a ponytail. Brett smiles knowingly as he spins his miniature basketball. Games were close, often only separating the pack by 1 basket. Balls kept bouncing to other courts, but the athletes couldn't be bothered.
Athletes' Reactions: "What the $#*@^? I used to be good at this game!"
Outcome: I am afraid Colleen might get in trouble for parading her win on this one, so it will go subtly stated. She dominated.

Television Time Out—athletes are seen failing miserably at the Electronic Jumprope game. Both are embarrassed and walk away in shame (towards the bar), declaring that "the dumbest game ever."

Nothing But Net
Highlights: Colleen swishes her first shot, and then proceeds to airball more than her fair share. Brett gets warmed up, and his form was just as good as his glory days in high school. (This is the giant basketball hoop, and it just seemed SO far away and SO high to Colleen).
Athletes' Reactions: "How do I keep completely missing the basket? And, why am I starting to sweat?!"
Outcome: Brett never let go of his lead, scoring on average 16 more points than Colleen. Brett wins!

Motorcross Bike Racing
Highlights: Colleen and Brett choose the Chicago cityscape as the background for their course. Athletes competed in separate events against foreign competitors. Colleen crashed her bike into the El tracks, Buckingham Fountain, the walls on Lake Shore Drive, and took out an entire al fresco cafe on State Street. Brett managed to figure out how to pop wheelies, and proceeded to showboat through the entire downtown, but didn't measure his speed that well on Lower Wacker Drive. Both athletes were extremely impressed with the graphic surrounds, and can blame that as the distracting factor for poor performance.
Athletes' Reactions: "Do we really have to mount and straddle this thing?"
Outcome: Colleen came in 5th in her heat, and Brett rose to 4th in his. Lousy performances, and no medals were awarded, but Brett wins!

Television Time Out—athletes are seen putting their last D&B points down on Yellow at the Colorama machine. Similar to roulette, this game teaches kids that for a truly big payout, you must forgo the sports and just gamble. Athletes win big when the blue ball lands on Yellow, and the machine spits out 150 tickets. Athletes shout in excitement!

Athletes were able to cash in their money for something better than gold and silver medals...CRAPPY FAIR PRIZES! The pair settled on a Chicago Bears mini-football, a Dave & Busters shot glass, and an orange rubber snake. Just to taunt Colleen with.

At the end of the competition, it appears that it was a close series of events, but ultimately, Bob Costas declared Brett the winner of the overall Dave & Busters Olympics. Hanging her head in shame, Colleen accepts defeat like a 10-year old, and threatend to "take her ball and go home."