Growing up Rudy the Rabbit, win a 55′ LG TV and the #BigGameChallenge

In summer after the sixth grade I was still looking for a sport to play.  One day while playing neighborhood football I caught a kick off and ran for a touchdown.  This was now my game.  I lifted hard that summer, drank raw eggs and exercised lots but didn’t play football oddly enough.   Late that summer I played football again.  I caught the ball, ran and got hit-hit hard.  It may not have been a hard hit, but it was enough for me to realize that I didn’t like getting hit and needed to find another sport.  Thankfully at that time a young upstart comedian was in a movie called Meatballs that would show me the sport that would define my teen years.

Cross country isn’t a sexy sport.  It’s running, just running three miles as fast as you can.  Circa 1984 on the high school level it was team based, so it’s like NASCAR, except with longer hair.  Long hair wasn’t mandatory, it was just cooler.  That plus the swimmers, who were far geekier than us, had to wear those weenie bikinis and might even go so far as to shave their hair-really, who would do that?*

Back to Meatballs.  Meatballs was a summer camp version of Animal House.  It had the innuendo of a teen sex comedy, but also comedy from Billy Murray and a David vs. Goliath theme of getting things accomplished.  Rudy is a young teen, trying to find his way, get the girl and win a cross country race against a stereotypical 80’s stud.   This is where Rudy the Rabbit was born.

It was based on that scene that I started to run cross country.  I enjoyed it because it was just me, rise or fall, strength of the teen spirit, plus there were some cute girls that ran. There’s something romantic about running long distances.  It’s like you’re running to raise money for a disease or exploring places that no one in your circles have visited.

“I saw Trey running the other day”, a neighbor once said to my parents.  “and he wasn’t jogging, he was running.  Where was he going? “Oh, I was just running, running before Forrest Gump ran, just running around Greensboro and trying not to grow up.

Running memories tends to,  pardon the pun, run together.  One particular race sticks out because of how quickly I ran and the wardrobe I had on, or rather didn’t have on.  The wardrobe for cross country was always the same, a tank top and shorts.  However, on the courses that were more rural and wooded I would often take my shirt off.  If fulfilled the creative thoughts of a teen who was running in the woods to get away from monsters or towards some exotic location where Duran Duran was giving a concert for 18 year old girls that drive Ford Mustangs or VW Bugs.

I was running in a blind daze and the finish line was quickly approaching.  “You have to finish the race with your shirt ON!!”, one of the girls on our team said from the side lines.  Oh, a girl is talking to me….and I need to put my shirt on to have this race count.  At least a girl was talking to me.  And I put my shirt on just in time to finish in the top 5.

I was never a good enough runner to consider it as anything more than a fun thing to in high school.  I usually finished in the top 7 though, with a mile time of around 5 minutes or so.  However, the movies, what introduced me to cross country are still something that I enjoy.

The way I’ve watched movies at home has changed lots and for one lucky reader they’ll change big time when they enter the Ultimate Big Game Party Sweepstakes.  Just visit the site between 1/19 and 2/9 for your chance to win a 55’ LG TV, Bose sound TV system and a $500 RiteAid® gift card.  You can come back every day during the sweepstakes period for additional chances to win Big Game-worthy prizes.

If I were to win, I’d watch any number of ninja movies, some mid to late 80’s classics and of course, the big game.  Go Broncos.  Good luck entering and what would you watch?

Disclaimer: I am being compensated by Life of Dad, LLC for my participation in the #BigGameChallenge promotion. Sponsored by Lunchbox, the #BigGameChallenge sweepstakes gives anybody the chance to win a spectacular home viewing system.

*Note, sarcasm.  I’ve shaved my head for the past 15 years and it rocks.  But in the eyes of a 16 year old kid in 1986, anyone that would shave their head is just too weird, or a punk.  And punks were just trying too hard with their Vans and Generation X cassette tapes.