Enjoying time with friends and family

WE ALL HAVE things we do that are “our thing.”

I read a lot. Reading is my thing. My friend Luke plans trips for people. Travel planning is Luke’s thing. My roommate Jeff loves maps for whatever reason. Maps are Jeff’s thing.

Sports have never been my thing. Ever since the summer after kindergarten when I broke my wrist on the first day of soccer practice, sports have not been my thing.

During elementary school I tried football and played basketball for a few years, and I even tried volleyball for a year in high school, but those were all because my older brother Martin was already on the team and my parents figured that, seeing as how they had to drive to the games anyway, they might as well put me in a uniform and let me make an ass of myself for their enjoyment.

They were good experiences in the “years later I will look back at this and laugh” sort of way, but they all reinforced an important point: sports are not my thing.

So naturally I have been surprised to find myself enjoying sports more and more over the past four years of college, and particularly this year, my final year at Fresno State.

My newfound love of sports started out innocently enough when I was a freshman. My roommate in the dorms dropped out of school (for which I take no responsibility), but he accidentally left behind one of his golf clubs.

I can’t recall how it happened exactly, but my ex-roommate’s golf club, my friend Sean’s three tennis balls, and my garbage can were combined into one of the best golf-based games known to man.

That game was Basket Golf, better known as Bolf. The simplicity of bolf is charming, yet deceptive.

The goal is to chip three tennis balls into the basket (that is, the garbage can) from a distance of about nine feet, which sounds simple until you actually try doing it.

At first my friends and I would congratulate one another for getting one ball in out of the three; eventually we were cheering wildly if someone made all three or taunting one another mercilessly if someone failed all three attempts.

When people came over it didn’t take long for the bolfing to begin, and it would often continue late into the night.

Sport invention has continued of course, with varying results. There have been high points such as Toilet Ball.

Sean got a mini-basketball hoop that hung from the door, but the only room in our suite with a high enough ceiling for basketball was the bathroom.

So naturally, we were soon playing games of HORSE in the bathroom, the best shots being from the shower or while sitting on the toilet with the stall door closed.

Then there have been low points like Magnet Toss, a game that was born and luckily died in the space of one night.

Luke and I were both doing homework late one night when for some reason or another we both came into the living room and became particularly interested by two identical magnets on our refrigerator.

To this day I don’t know which one of us first suggested, “Hey, why don’t we try throwing these magnets toward each other at the same time and see if they will stick in midair?”

Whoever it was, I pray that God have mercy on his soul. We must have played for at least an hour before the magnets stuck, and even then we kept playing just to see if we could do it again.

I’m not just into fake sports, though. I love going to see all our sports teams whenever I can. My friends and I have painted our chests in freezing weather for football games, as well as in the comparatively warm environment of the Save Mart Center for women’s basketball and volleyball games.

I have even become a fan of hockey, a game that I used to make fun of because I fell into the “You can’t even see the puck” fallacy.

So why the change? At the heart of it, I think my priorities have shifted away from working all the time, and I just want to spend the little time I have with my friends and family.

Spending time with the people we love should always be our top priority. If my brothers want to go to a football game with me, the homework can wait.

If my roommates think it’s time to play Super Smash Bros, it’s time to play Super Smash Bros.

It’s great to have deep conversations and find out what people are all about, but I think playing with someone or watching a game with someone can send an equally powerful message.

It tells them that we love them beyond their thoughts and words, beyond their accomplishments and failures.

It says “I want to enjoy the little time I have in life, and I enjoy spending that time with you.”

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