Win with Civility Month

Alright, so I'm gonna be honest. I was not super-thrilled about starting this thing off with "winning with civility." I had hoped that August 1 would be something like, "Be a Hero Day" or "Cure Cancer Day," you know, something exciting and worthwhile. In any case, I decided that since the premise of this blog is to have experiences and, in particular, new experiences, winning with civility might not be such a bad idea as I don't often:
A) Win
B) React to a win civilly
note: I'm not a jerk or anything, I just like to jump and yell and dance when I win. (And if it's one of my brothers, I will sometimes stick my index finger in their face and say "whooooooo!")
My plans for celebrating this day were not overly complex. Basically, they were to:
A) Win
B) React to a win civilly
I knew that we had church all morning and that directly after church we were heading for a reunion of my wife's family in Circleville, OH. After that, we were to travel to Springfield, OH to pick up our dog from my parents' house. I was concerned that I wouldn't have time to participate in any contests or games, but as it turned out, these travels provided fertile ground for some friendly competition.
I had forgotten that it is tradition at the family reunion to have a watermelon seed spitting contest (WSSC...I am lazy). "Perfect," I thought, "I can react civilly to a win at a WSSC." The only question was, could I win?
Well, as it turns out, this was a far less sanctioned event than I had hoped. What makes a sport a sport is a firm set of rules which increase difficulty to an appropriate extent and which must be applied equally to all participants. This WSSC certainly lacked these elements. There was no limit as to the amount of tries that a "spitter" got. Rather than using a chalk line or a concrete barrier or an electrified wire as a foul-line, we used a wiffle ball. In fact, after the first three or four contestants, the wiffle ball disappeared (to be used in a wiffle ball game!!!) so we "guesstimated" as to where the line was. Most egregious, however, was the fact that if a seed could not be properly "spotted" after it was spit, the spot was determined by the first person who said, "I think it landed over here somewhere."
Now as it happened, I was chosen to go first, even though I had never spit competitively in my life. Though, as an amateur I'd had much experience spitting everything from gum (which I try to spit out, kick up in the air, and catch in my mouth) to spitballs (sorry Mrs. Spriggs) to "loogies." Therefore, I felt I had developed a pretty form for achieving maximum distance. So I stepped up to the line...errr...wiffle ball. I rolled my tongue (that's the secret). I bent my knees. And as I lunged forward with my legs, I spit. I spit like I'd never spit before. It was beautiful. and I SAW my seed float through the air and soar past "the bush." But nobody else saw it. To be honest, I never saw where it landed, but I can attest it was definitely past any shrubbery that was involved. Quickly, one of Megan's cousins (or uncles...who knows) said those fateful words, "I think it landed over here somewhere." And my effort was marked several feet short of the bush (by a wiffle bat).
As the event wore on, nobody else got close to the bush. This despite the fact that the line moved forward by a noticeable margin with each successive spitter. In the end I can safely say that I spit a watermelon seed the farthest, despite not technically "winning."
Rather than file an official protest with the WSSC governing body, I decided to let it go in the name of civility.
I did participate in two other competitions during the course of the day. I defeated my brother in a modified game of frisbee golf in which we use freestyle frisbees (rather than discs) and various markers around our yard. After my victory, I congratulated him on a good competition and wished him well in the future (I only meant one of those things sincerely). After that, my dad and I lost to my mom and my wife in Euchre despite my best attempt to be civil throughout the game. For the record, my mom said she liked it better when I was obnoxious. Apparently, she values sincerity over civility.

What did you do to celebrate Win with Civility Month? Post your stories in the comments section and e-mail any pics to yeartocelebrate@yahoo.com.