Afterglow 2011 - Day 6 Thursday

Tommy and Stacy won the Horseshoe Championship last year and made it a back-to-back event by beating Kevin and Jenny. I'm sure both sides performed admirably but I wasn't really "all there" to know the innermost details of the game. That's just the way it is pal.

This was a tough one to choose sides because I'm related to all of them. I could try to stay neutral and just cheer for everyone but that's not the nature of competitive sports. There always has to be a winner and a loser no matter what today's youth league soccer programs try to teach the children. But the best part of Afterglow sports is that everyone has fun even if some of them go home and hit the weeping bottle pretty hard.

Things got real from there on out and we amassed to watch some horseshoes. Brian and Kelly were set to play Tommy and Stacy in a game to the death and we all felt like we needed to be there to witness it. Where else can you find this kind of entertainment?

Even though Brian lost the battle he still won the war because he had the most majestic braided hair this side of the Mason-Dixon Line. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong but I'll probably ignore them.

Curtis was my partner for a game of bags and he had to run off for dinner. Dale stepped in as my partner and was rewarded with the chance to play against his son and show him that Dad was still the King of the castle. I don't know who won this game but at this point does it really matter anymore? There are no winners or losers at Afterglow. Everyone who is able to spend any amount of time up here is a winner in life.

I was too busy with a combination of free range drinking and talking to Curtis to do a play by play on the Horseshoe Championship. I'd go back and check the tape but I haven't been allowed to access the Afterglow Archives since the Vilas County Sheriff incident of 2005.

Despite being more fun than the horseshoe tournament and easier to play with a beer in your hand, there wasn't a huge turnout for the bags tournament. The demographic also skewed younger which I guess was to be expected considering that bags is the new horseshoes. I play bags year round at parties and while tailgaiting but I only play horseshoes up here. Oh well. The people who did play were all pumped up to toss.

While Gail, Kelly and the kids were launching balloons I was busy launching bags with Curtis against Brian and Kevin. Don't get me wrong, I love water balloons. But unless I can hit a kid in the face with them point blank then don't even bother including me in the games. That's why I played bags instead. I can abuse the mess out of these little pieces of fabric and not one adult gets in an uproar because only beans are getting hurt, not children.

After Brian put Jenny down she went about planning her revenge. But first she would have to reenergize and refuel. Wheat Thins pack 22 grams of 100% whole grain wheat into every serving of those tiny delicious squares. With that kind of punch she'd be back to playing Bride Wars in no time. Brian obviously could sense this because he hung out with a couple of older dudes who were bigger and stronger then he was. Nobody would mess with you when you are in the company of Curtis and Uncle Rick. NOBODY!!

I'm pretty sure that this was the Championship game. I know that Tommy and Stacy got here but skill and determination but I can't figure out how Kevin and Jenny made it. Dumb luck? A weak schedule coupled with some byes? Or is it that the while I've been making fun of them they actually learned how to play horseshoes? I'd say it's some combination of those along with some other unforeseen mitigating circumstances.

Tommy and Stacy ended up coming through with the victory which would take them to the next round against Kevin and Jenny. They can celebrate for a minute but there was still work to be done.

Jenny came over to our game and tried to Bride Wars Brian but he totally saw it coming and evaded her attempt to take him down. Not being one to be the victim of an attack (even a failed one) he picked her up and showed her that Bride Wars is futile on him. Brian was taught long ago to not take crap from anyone and he certainly wasn't going to allow it today. Not even from a girl. But this was no girl - this was Jenny Reck.

A couple of the adults even turned out to watch this match and the subsequent matches that followed it, so that just goes to show how popular this thing was. The chairs were filling up fast and those who were still down at the beach may have to stand. Don't be late!

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