Reasons Why I Love My Job #63

by Crazy Ivan

I'm sweating like crazy and I'm not looking forward to how I'm going to smell on the drive home, but it was well worth it.

If you've ever hung out at Myachi HQ, you're familiar with the target we use for our golf tournaments.  It's essentially like an archery target; a bulls eye in the middle and a few larger target circles around it.  Normally, when we play Myachi Golf, the bulls eye is three points, the next ring is two points and the outermost ring is worth one.

To keep the floor clear, we hung the target up on one of the walls so it was only a matter of time before we started playing a version of basketball with it.  I just stepped out to make a phone call and when I came back in, I suddenly found myself in the midst of a 2 on 2 game of exactly that.  Two maniacs, Landslide and Zach (who is considering the Myachi name "Bunnicula") were playing with Monk and their dad.

Myachi basketball is a lot of fun as Fresh has demonstrated a number of times in the past.  As fun as the game is, it is not the #63 reason why I love my job.  That's actually a reference to the fact that dad was playing, too.

No surprise that a guy dad's age would want to play Myachi.  After all, their dad is about 19 months older than me so definitely still in his Myachi prime.  But I love the fact that Myachi offers a game that father and son can play together (or, in this case, a game that father and son and son and Monk can play together).

When I was growing up, there were two distinct classes of game; traditional sports that my dad would play with me and everything else.  When I got into Transformers or Pogs as a kid, I couldn't exactly expect my dad to play along.  As I got older, my favorite toys changed to things like skateboards and bikes, but still it wasn't something my dad was going to play along with.  He's a pretty skilled dude, but there was no way I was going to teach him to ollie.

But I have to think that if I'd gotten into Myachi at the age of 12, my dad would have been just like the dad out in the gameroom right now.  He's be playing until he dropped.  I would teach him new moves, he would invent his own combos and when the weather was nice, we'd be outside doing some long distance passing.

The best possible thing a game can do is bring people together.  It feels really good to go home at the end of the night knowing that you've helped to strengthen the bonds of a family.

I'd continue to spout sentimentality, but as I write this, I'm missing some serious Myachi basketball...