Belated Turkey Bowl Report

My opponents picked a good time for them to play our annual Sea Family Turkey Bowl, delayed by bad weather and Rob’s absence during the Thanksgiving holiday. It was a good time for them because it was Sunday afternoon when they were well rested while I, being a pastor, was dead tired after preaching two sermons and holding the baptismal service of four new believers. In other words, I was worn out and it was obviously to their great advantage. This was part of their well thought-out gamesmanship, to say the least. Anyway, being a man of great competitive spirit, I accepted their challenge with unsurpassed gusto.

I was a little rusty since I had had to rest my sore arm for the whole year, so my quarterbacking was a little off. The first pass I threw was picked off by Michael for a TD. I was mad at myself but I quickly collected myself and on the next play I had Rob run a crossing route. I hit him on stride and he ran for a touchdown to tie the game. The game went back and forth and was pretty tight all the way through. Rob and I ran a lot of trick plays and they seemed to work every time, even though our opponents appeared to know our game plan. Well, they simply could not stop us. I even caught a long pass behind my back and almost scored, but was caught from behind by William. I must have lost a step. The boys were rough on me throughout the game and one time Michael even threw an illegal block in a running play and laid me out flat on the ground. They didn’t seem to be too concerned about breaking my old bones. Rob and I took a one-touchdown lead toward the end of the contest and seemed well on our way to taking the game, but Michael made a one-handed interception of an ill-advised pass that Rob threw and ran back for a TD. From then on momentum shifted and they took yet another victory. So far my team’s losing streak stands at five. Pretty sad indeed.

We always have a race after the game and this time I came out on top. Pretty good for an old man, right? Although the boys accused me of taking too big of a head start, I won just the same. My opponents talked a lot of trash after the game that annoyed me a great deal. They even accused me of having poor sportsmanship. Well, I was on my best behavior except for one incident when I turned my back to my opponents and shook my backside a little bit. I meant no harm at all, but they interpreted it as something worse. Well, perhaps I lost it a little. I guess after years of practice, I still haven’t learned the art of losing very well.