Week 3 Words - To Gloat, or not to Gloat

To Gloat, or Not To Gloat…

So, I got the following call from Commish this week:

Ring Ring

Me: “Hello?”
Commish: “Doug?”
Me: “Yeah.”
Commish: “I’m taking the SWS Corporate Jet to Bermuda this week. They have a hair wax there that I really like. That leaves you to do the Words. I wouldn’t want to take away your chance to gloat.” Click.

It’s been a while since I was in school, and so I couldn’t immediately figure out what Commish meant by “gloat”. I’ve heard the word before, and I had the vague idea that its connotation was somewhat negative.

I consulted Wikipedia. Who needs Webster’s anymore?

Wikipedia says the definition is this:

1. To exhibit a conspicuous sense of self-satisfaction, often at an adversary's misfortune.

I was starting to figure it out. My brother, Mark H. finally joined the pool after all these years. His wife Kelly joined last year, and she used her winnings to buy a nice handbag. I think Mark really wanted a new handbag, too, and so he joined for 2009. I was really happy to see this. A pool like ours really needs donors. Let’s face it, not everyone can win every year (just ask Big Papa Marc or HoosierMatt).

You can imagine my surprise, then, to see that Mark had a really good chance of winning the pool in Week 1. I called him on Sunday night, figuring that he hadn’t been able to do all the math yet (we have a big pool!) to let him know his chances of winning were pretty good, and that second place was locked in.

He answered the phone “Mark’s football picks service, may I help you?” When I told him who it was, he said- “Oh yes, I’ve reserved Thursday morning from 8:15a-8:30a for your picks consultation… yeah, that’s Central time- I realize its 5:15a for you, but you’ll have to suck it up.” This was kind of cute, at first. But it didn’t end there. I began reading on Facebook that he was indeed regularly exhibiting a conspicuous sense of self-satisfaction, often at an adversary’s misfortune.

I thought more about Commish’s comment, and I realized this: I don’t have to gloat. I can just keep kicking Mark’s butt at everything in life, but do it inconspicuously.

Anyway, I asked my 4 year old son, MJ Cranky P what he thought. He said “Daddy, you don’t need to gloat! Let’s shoot a quick video response to Uncle Mark’s gloating”.

And so we did.




I would be remiss not to congratulate the other pool players in the money for Week 3:

Bean – 2nd place – just enough cash to buy a “Mr.” or “Lima”
Commish – 3rd place – which is just enough cash for a Caribbean hair waxing.
E-Z – 4th place – just enough cash to buy a clue that adding the “-“ is harder to type than “easy”.

I should also note that Rick has moved into first place overall. This is remarkable because Rick hasn’t placed particularly well in any week (3rd, 6th, and 15th), and yet he is in the lead. If this continues, I may lobby Commish to change the pool so that only those who have won a week will continue after week 12 (ala NASCAR).

E-Z and Wisefool fill out the top 3. Rick and Wisefool have already fallen out of the Survivor pool, and I hope E-Z falls out in Week 4.

Best of luck to all in the upcoming weeks! J

- Dougey Fresh