i've always been a fan of clearing up things that are underrated and overrated. for example, sushi is overrated. fact. on the other hand, 'america's funniest home videos'...incredibly underrated (side note: why are the three finalist videos always the worst? frankly, i don't even stick around for the last 10 minutes of the show. at no point in the history of mankind has a parrot playing basketball with a monkey ever been funnier than a kid hitting his dad in the nuts with a sledgehammer. anyways, i digress..)
scrabble...underrated. it is one of the few board games that i have never gotten sick of. it's not a game that requires a ton of skill and/or attention (you can play it while drinking beers and watching tv) and you only need two people to have a solid game. while this seems like a pretty laid back way to kill some time, if you're anything like me you like to turn everything into a competition. such was the case when i played scrabble not too long ago with my girlfriend and her family.
on this particular weekend, i was in new jersey meeting her family (parents, grandparents) as well as neighbors and family friends. we were getting ready to have a cookout, and we were passing the time with a friendly game of scrabble. i was playing against her brother-in-law, while she sat on with both of her grandparents and observed. wanting to assert my dominance in this age-old classic board game, i had no intentions of losing. however, i began to get a little worried as i learned how formidable my opponent was. i slowplayed the match a bit too long, thinking i would eventually drop some 75 point humdinger and march off in a blaze of glory. to put it quite simply, that was not the case.
with the match in doubt, i caught a lucky break. he had to pass on his turn since he had no moves. this opened the door for me. i knew that if i could somehow get rid of my last three letters, i may have enough points to muster up a come-from-behind win. i looked to my opponent: he had 3 tiles left. since he had no moves, my hunch is that he had a couple of crummy letters. i then looked at my letters: C L T. i then looked to the board. with so much going on, there weren't many open spots. an open Y.....what the hell could i do with that. maybe that A-M would work....nope. then, i saw a break in the action. standing all by it's lonesome on the northeast corner of the board was an open I. above the I was two open spots, below it-two more open spots. think about it......... that's right, i had a perfect opportunity to spell a word otherwise known as 'nature's rubik's cube'
i looked to grandma. i looked at my letters. i looked at grandpa. i looked back at my letters. i wasn't going to lose this match...i couldn't. just as i pictured myself celebrating the victory by high-fiving...well, myself, i also pictured the disgusted look on everyone's faces and me getting thrown out of the front door by her father. i couldn't put myself through it. i found myself at a moral crossroads and i, unfortunately, had to take the high road. "no moves", i begrudgingly declared. moral integrity: 1. scrabble pride: 0.
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