The Olympic Games bring together the best athletes in the world to compete for the title of ‘world’s best’ at their individual sport. Sports categories exemplify the muscularity and skill required to master world class events. It sometimes takes a lifetime of work to achieve those goals, but with our schedules, we don’t have that time.
Traveling internationally is a chore and expensive too. We shouldn’t have to go that far to enjoy the thrill of victory. Of course, the agony of defeat carries a lot more weight when competitors live next door. Next door? We can ‘localize’ our competitions to include average homeowners and residents right here in town!
What if Miami Springs and Virginia Gardens produced their own Olympic style games? Our cities could compete against each other in sports that could not be viable anywhere else.
A few of our new sports could include Olympic Scrap Grabbing. Teams will place a piece of scrap metal in their alleyways behind their homes and see how long it takes for the scrap metal guy to pick it up. The entries should not be hidden under a pile of leaves or other non-metal trash. The quickest pick-up wins the gold.
A locally sourced Semi-Olympic sport, Traffic Zipping, could be how to zoom through our circle without offending any other drivers. Judges stationed in the circle would hold up score cards for the drivers to read as they carom through the cut through traffic. If you can’t read the scores as you speed by, you’ll have to go around a couple of more times. At that point, you’ve already lost. There are no trophies for this and winners will get ticketed.
‘Finding the Right Street’ During the dead of night, residents will be given an address in Miami Springs or VG on a dark street they’ve never been to and will be timed as to how long it takes to find it. We’ll start at the circle. If you have passed the same street more than twice, you’ve eliminated yourself. Score keepers will be stationed at least 10 feet from the road with flashlights.
Olympics for seniors. The ‘Why Did I Come Into This Room?’ competition.Seniors will stand outside a room in their own home and when they enter a different room, the senior with the quickest correct response for why they’ve entered that room will be declared the winner. There are no losers in this competition, only people who know where they are.
‘The Wave’ Competitors will wave to passing drivers as they walk a dog and try to see if drivers wave back through the dark car window. The winner will be the one with the most waves. This sport will be hard to track, so we’re counting on self-tracking for this one. Getting waves from city vehicles add 10 points to any score. Hold up your ‘doggy bag’ when a police officer drives by.
‘How Many Can You Name?’ Residents will have 30 seconds to name as many local streets named for birds and Indian Tribes. If you name all of them, you’ll become Mayor for a Day and get to name any street after a family member.
For the Indian section, have we forgotten some of the lesser-known tribes like the Hekowee? They were the famous ‘lost tribe’. They didn’t know their whereabouts and kept saying “We’re the Hekowee?”
Ever since the sport of curling made it to the Olympics, people have been wondering what other sports allow you to drink alcohol while you participate? More to the point, which ones encourage you? We will encourage that aspect of our local Olympic participation and maybe Bryson’s will support the effort! All sports are included except the driving ones!
