Idiots Write About Sports

I’ve had my share of honors and laurels tossed my way over the years. Way back in 1990, I was the California High School Speech Association state champion in the Original Prose/Poetry category. (I have the gaudy, over-sized novelty trophy at my parents’ house to prove it.) While I was at college in San Diego, I picked up an award or two for some of the articles I wrote for the school paper. On my diploma, there’s a blue strip with some Latin words on that suggesting I acquitted myself rather nicely in my schoolwork. And in my ensuing professional life, I’ve wound up with a lovely plaque here and there for assorted feats of reportage and editing, though the Pulitzer people seem to have misplaced my home number.

My point: I’ve received a few awards in my lifetime. And they are all piffle compared to the honor I received today — finally coming up with the winning answer in the daily trivia challenge at Humbug Journal.

All my life’s work has been building up to this precise moment. I… I need a moment to compose myself…

There.

I confess that a certain amount of Insider Knowledge aided and abetted me in my rapid response. See, I went to high school with Randy Winn — my graduating class was a couple of years ahead of his — so I’ve been following his career with more than a little hometown interest.

And yes, the fact that I graduated from high school a couple years ahead of a guy now in his eighth season of Major League baseball makes me feel really, really old, to the point where I suspect I will probably drop dead sometime within the next week. At least I will have my stirring win in today’s trivia contest to comfort me on my rapidly approaching deathbed.

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