"Competitive Cheer Leading" has been making the headlines lately right along with "Competitive Eating." I rank those two sports right up there with competitive Poker and Chess for pure excitement. Realizing that this is simply my opinion and there may or may not be anyone else agreeing with me. As much as I enjoy car shows, chock full of customized and restored vehicles of all shapes and models representing hours and hours of labor and thousands upon thousands of dollars, I'm not sure I'd call the competition an exciting sport. Only speaking as an observer of course. I figure, if you want to do something and do it well you must do it to please yourself, not the observer. But then again, if you want to get awards and collect money for it you have to then please the observer too.
Competition can be intense in any of those activities but many times it's not as obvious to every observer. Although this cheerleading can get pretty rough and tumble and I admire the participants. It is not my intention to demean any particular competition here, you can't argue with a massive audience. However, certain elements of the competitive spirit escape me sometimes. It's sort of obvious why mini bikini beach volleyball is popular, even with the sound turned down, but poker? A bunch of players sit around a table pushing out chips and making faces at each other. Competitive eating on the other hand always holds out hope for someone overindulging and throwing up. I have a tremendous amount of admiration for anyone that can compete in the game of chess, but once again as an observer it's not my cup of tea. Golf is on the fringe here, kind of close with Cricket when it comes to my attention. At least competitive barbecuing has the added benefit of food for the judges. I have noticed that the popularity of legitimate competitive combined beer drinking and jart throwing is slowing though.
At a few campgrounds and church picnics I've found competitive horseshoes as usual but coming up in the ranks is competitive ladderball and washer throwing. I went to a couple association picnics and watched women throw rolling pins at cardboard images of their husbands. Perhaps there is no end to what we can define as competitive. Some activities that pop into my head are: sewing, carpet cleaning, varnishing, window washing, shoelace tying, remote channel changing, computer booting etc. etc. I wonder if these types of competition are becoming popular because so little competition is allowed on the school playgrounds these days and people thirst for competition in order to find out where they excel? That's just a random thought, of course. You know me and my random thoughts don't you? I can certainly compete on a professional level with random thoughts. Wonder which channel it's on?...........Joe
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