The Blogger Games is brought to you this week and every week by The Captain’s Speech. The Captain’s Speech has the taste adults have grown to love and is part of a complete breakfast!

Paul is brilliant when it comes to finding new ways to bring us all together as bloggers in the blogging community. This time it’s with (I assume) an Olympics-inspired series of games that will carry us through the next several weeks. Follow that link at the top to see how the results were tallied for last week and to play along this week. I was pretty excited when I first looked at the results post and saw that was part of a three-way tie for first. This afternoon, as I returned to provide my answers for this week’s questions, I discovered that I have been stripped of my gold medal and now have a silver. Well… I guess it’s just an honor to compete on the global stage.

Each week, the Games will consist of multiple choice questions about Paul which follow specific topics. This week’s topic is sports, a fitting topic since Paul’s blog started out as a sports blog. If there’s not a hockey related question, I’m gonna be disappointed.

For answering purposes, the answer I choose will be italicized.

1. In Grade 6, I was captain of which intramural team?
A) Floor Hockey
B) Basketball
C) Indoor Soccer

2. Which jersey number did I wear in my first year playing softball?
A) 8
B) 10
C) 13

3. Which piece of sporting equipment do I not currently have in my bedroom?
A) Football
B) Lacrosse Ball
C) Tennis Ball

4. Which sport have I never attended in-person?
A) Rugby
B) Soccer
C) Football

5. At the first baseball game I ever went to, what did I eat?
A) Pizza
B) McDonald’s
C) Hotdog

6. Which hockey team’s jacket did I not own as a child?
A) Colorado Avalanche
B) Toronto Maple Leafs
C) Detroit Red Wings

7. Which ball has never hit me in the face?
A) Soccer Ball
B) Basketball
C) Volleyball

8. In university, I participated in this intramural sport…
A) Ultimate Frisbee
B) Badminton
C) Dodgeball

9. I tore ligaments in my fingers playing this sport…
A) Volleyball
B) Basketball
C) Football

10. Which baseball player was on the cover of my favorite video game?
A) Derek Jeter
B) Albert Pujols
C) Manny Ramirez

My turn to share…
Paul says: Did you play any sports growing up? What did you like/dislike about gym class? Which sports do you like to watch/follow? Have you ever gotten hurt playing sports? Anything else about sports you’d like to share?

I was never very athletic growing up. The closest thing to a sport I ever played was when I was on a Saturday morning kids’ bowling league for a few years. I got pretty decent for a while, but not good enough to go pro. Wait… no… it just came back to me. I played baseball for one year during middle school. I played right field. I got one hit in my short career and scored one run. I was not good.

I can’t say I liked much about gym class once we hit middle school and beyond. I mean, in elementary school, it was all just playing and learning what it feels like to play fair and win and lose without throwing a fit. Middle school meant changing clothes between classes and awkward showers. As if there isn’t enough pressure on kids that age.

I will say that I enjoyed taking Phys. Ed. during summer school between my freshman and sophomore years of high school. That summer was all field trips to swimming pools, hiking trails, bowling alleys, and Putt Putt courses. Best decision I ever made in my high school career.

I’m sorry to say I don’t follow sports at all these days. I’ve never really been one to keep up with sports of my own accord. When I lived with Dad I would watch ESPN with him and I knew enough to engage him in discussion about what was going on in the world of baseball or football. Same with when I had roommates who could quote sports statistics the same way a seminary professor can quote the Old Testament in Hebrew. I think COVID made it easier for me to just stop caring about sports altogether. But I have enjoyed tuning into the Olympics highlights… I always enjoy that, whether it’s summer or winter.

And I say I don’t follow sports, but I’ll still always consider myself a Yankees fan. Dad was a Yankees fan and that’s how he raised me. I couldn’t tell you a single player on the team this season… unless Aaron Judge is still with them… is that still right? I don’t even know. I also have a bucket list goal of seeing a game played at every professional stadium in Major League Baseball. So far I’ve been to seven… out of 30. Got a long way to go.

To my knowledge I’ve never been injured playing sports because I’ve never really played sports. Though a part of me wishes my parents had gotten me involved in rec soccer when I was little. I think I would have liked that and it would have been a great way for me to get into better shape instead of always being the “husky” kid who was eventually made fun of, leading to a nasty bout with anorexia during my teenage years. Not saying that soccer as a kid would have fixed all that. But it makes me wonder what might have been. I don’t think I would have been very good at it and probably wouldn’t have gone any further than the JV team in high school.

That’s it for this installment of The Blogger Games. Be sure to follow The Captain’s Speech to see how other bloggers respond to Paul’s questions and to follow along with each week’s medal ceremony.

Feature Photo by Florian Schmetz on Unsplash