Man Up

So, this is the picture hanging off the edge of my cubicle as of yesterday.  What does it represent, you may ask?

It is my company's official recognition that I am a participant in the NFL Challenge Pool, a competition strictly amongst the men of the office to pit their football prognosticating abilities against that of their fellow male workers.

No women allowed.

Anyway, the Challenge works like this: every Player picks a team.  The objective is not necessarily to win, but to not lose.  No money changes hands.  No points accumulate.  Rather, at the end of each week's play, one NFL football team in the Pool will have lost by more points than any other team in the pool.  The player in the office that picked that team would then be required to wear the Team's colors as his nail polish for the entire week.

That's right, prancing around the office in the gaudy color schemes of the NFL for the entirety of the business week.  Come the new football week, there would be a brand new under-achieving NFL football team, and yet another conservatively dressed businessman looking like an extra in a Lady Gaga music video.

Suffice to say, considering what was on the line, I gave some thought to what team I would pick to minimize my prospects of having this fate befall me.  And so I picked the Seattle Seahawks.

Fast forward to last night, and the official first game of the NFL season: Seattle vs. the Green Bay Packers.  Well, y'all know the outcome on that one, and there is precious little chance that any other matchup this weekend will result in the epic ass whooping that Seattle put on Green Bay, 36 to 16. 

 

That means that I picked wisely.  That also means that my co-worker that picked the Green Bay Packers is - as we speak - coming to terms with the fact that he will be representing his favorite team in a heretofore unanticipated fashion. 

 

"Cheer up!",  I told my mates in our bullpen, "Jack could have picked lipstick and eyeliner!"

 

"Shhhh!", said one of them; "don't give him any ideas...."