Croquet Fight and American Idol

SportsDude:
Tonight is the big Idol finale Jordin vs. Blake. The obviously safe pick is Jordin. She is black and white, a smile that captures a room and can really belt it out. Blake is modern, hip and original. I will maintain that once again Blake is the only person on the show that I would pay money to see. I think he is extremely talented and original, however, he entered a singing competition and he is a “pretty good” singer. As we have seen in the past thought the best singers don’t always win. It is whoever is the most marketable.

Let’s look at the demographics for the contestants. Blake appeals to the young generation, who eats up music. Blake does not appeal to anyone over the age of 30 though. Jordin appeals to everyone, and although she is young I don’t think she appeals to a real young generation simply because she is not “sexy” enough.

I don’t know who votes the most for American Idol but I think it is 13 year old girls (which makes me question my maturity) so I think Blake will land all of those votes. I’m calling it Blake Lewis is you American Idol.

Croquet

Last night me and shoppergal played a few games croquet. Up until Sunday I had not won a game of croquet against shoppergal because I never played it until we got a set last year. Shoppergal is quite competitive and last night she kind of grazed a ball and it didn’t go anywhere. I was feeling nice so I let her have another hit because the ball didn’t go anywhere. One karma point for Sportsdude. A few hit later I hit the ball and it lands exactly in the middle of the wicket. Depending who you are it could be argued that half is through the wicket or not. Expecting that Shoppergal would remember my kind act, I was thinking that it would be called over half through and I could hit again. Ummmmm……. Let me think….. NO.

Shoppergals, competitive spirit came through. I let her win the argument because I always let her win. However, I was upset about this one. What goes around did NOT come back around. I’m a go with the flow kind of guy but this made the flow stop.

We play on and I’m losing because I can’t focus because I am mad. I try to really nail the ball and the mallet falls of pole and manages to hit my foot and the ball. OK, OK, shoppergal will see that the mallet flew off the club and let me have another try at it, kind of like a foul ball in baseball. “NO, you can’t hit!” said shoppergal.

Whoa, Whoa, Whoooa. Whoooaoooa. Back the horse up. Back the F***** horse up. Where did my good karma point go? I didn’t get to use it earlier and I don’t get to use it now? Ya know what… Santa Clause is not watching, did nobody see this good deed I did earlier? Maybe I should go cash in this karma point in at the casino.

Oh by the way shoppergal won all 4 games of croquet last night. I am ashamed…. I have disappointed men all over the country.

All this leads up to the question “Do you always play to win?”

ShopperGal:
If you're an American Idol hater, skip down toward the end of my post immediately because this top part is all about tonight's finale. As you can tell, SportsDude and I are obsessed with American Idol. And tonight is finally the moment of truth…who will be crowned the 6 th American Idol? Will it be the young but pop-tastic Jordin Sparks or will it be the unique, alternative Blake Lewis?

My money's on Jordin although I'd be pleased with either ending. I think Jordin fits the mold of American Idol much better but Blake would bring something different to the role. He's not a cookie cutter artist. He does his own thing; he has his own style. And it's impressive I must add.

Even more importantly than who is going to win, what superstars will make guest appearances? I heard a rumor that Britney Spears would be taking her train wreck comeback to the American Idol stage. But I find that very hard to believe. I guess we'll all have to wait and see.

On another note (tune back in AI haters) I am the world's most competitive person. Seriously. Ask SportsDude. He'll tell you. Last night we played a game of croquet like we had for the last two nights but last night things got a little out of hand.

I don't think I'm in the minority here when I say that I hate to lose. I mean it. I can't stand it. I will do anything – cheat, steal, lie – to keep from losing. It makes me feel inadequate. It makes me feel defeated. It makes me…well, pissed.

But last night I wasn't even losing and I lost my cool and the competitive ShopperGal oozed out of every inch of my body and SportsDude got to experience the wrath. It happened at the first wicket. I went to shoot the ball and mostly missed. My mallet grazed the ball but the ball only moved about a millimeter. SportsDude let me shoot again (which I think was fair since my ball didn't move).

Well, we move on to the next wicket and SportsDude shoots one through the wicket and it doesn't make it all the way through. In my opinion, it doesn't make it more than 1/3 of the way through. In his, it is half. Rules of croquet state that it has to be at least halfway through to count as through. SportsDude thought it was through and he should shoot again. I disagreed. Well, then he brings out the big gun. He let me cheat (earlier hit which I considered totally legal) and it's halfway though so he should get to hit again. We argued for at least 5 minutes about this. Finally I gave in and let him cheat since he had let me "cheat".

I know it's a stupid story and an even more stupid thing to get mad over. But I couldn't help it. It struck my competitive nature. So anyway SportsDude spent the rest of the evening mad at me. And I spent the rest of the evening mad at myself. I had ruined a fun game of croquet and it's not the first time. It seems like every time I try to play a game I get too competitive and take all the fun out of it.

SportsDude tells me games are supposed to be fun. Well, I told him that they are fun WHEN I'm winning. Is that wrong?