During this Christmas and holiday season friends and families will get together to eat, exchange gifts, sing songs, share stories and just have fun. One of the ways many friends and families have fun is to play games, whether it be cards or board games. Games are a staple of fun in many a house this time of year. Thinking about this got me to thinking about all the adventures JM and I have had playing cards in our life.
Now let me point out a couple of things about cards (read closely, because I'm about to give away a JMH secret):
1. If JM and I are playing cards, we are playing as a team.
2. If the game isn't a team game, see #1.
Now that you understand the above two rules, let me tell you that JM and I have never lost at cards. It's just that simple, we win at cards. JM and I are very competitive. Now, I know you've heard that before from other people, but let me say it again, JM and I are very competitive.
As close as we are as friends, we are just as passionate about winning. We are pals, but all is fair in love and war and games! We used to routinely get together and play Madden on PS3. It was a tradition, we had to play every time we got together. We were very equally matched, who won usually just depended on who had practiced more before hand or who got lucky on one play. There were never any blow outs. But points lost by didn't matter to the one with the lower score. Losing wasn't an option and things tended to get ugly to the point where controllers weren't safe, TV's weren't safe, the dogs weren't safe, even other friends weren't safe. Whoever lost was not happy. Whoever won couldn't be truly happy because once the game was over the winner felt like they needed to support their friend. It got to the point that we mutually decided to stop the tradition of playing Madden against each other.
So back to playing cards. JM and I have played all sorts of card games, poker, gin rummy, spades (blind nil!), UNO, SkipBo and all sorts of other games that I don't ever remember the names. JM is the real card shark and he usually has to tell me how to play before we get started with most games. I on the other hand have just a few games that I can play well.
We obviously weren't with Madden, but we were smart enough to realize that we couldn't ever play cards against each other, even we were supposed to. So we have always played as a team and if it isn't a team game, see rule #1 again. Now you may be thinking, if it wasn't a team game and both of you are so competitive, how do you decide who is going to win? The answer is simple, we don't. JM and I have never discussed who was going to win. We just knew.
Now some of you may be thinking "that's cheating." JM and I have played cards with a bunch of different people, I dare you to ask any of them to point out one time where we cheated. We have never cheated. Sometimes one of us just has a bad game and sometimes one of us just has incredible luck. It happens.
Some of my favorite times playing cards though are when JM and I play as a team. We are deadly playing as a team. We are so incredible lucky when playing as a team. I will let JM tell the story about one New Year's game of cards where our luck in winning made his brother in law Matt, who is normally the picture of calm, cool and collected, so mad at us that I thought he was literally going to tear the house down. It's one of those moments in JMH history that I will never forget.
Now I can't give away all of our secrets, but if you are ever playing cards with us you may hear the following phrases:
1. I knock.
2. You ain't got no pad hand.
3. My gal is red hot.
4. Your gal ain't doodly squat.
5. Cards with the tards.
6. Are you kidding me?
7. I'm thinking.
8. That's nice.
Now, what those phrases mean will stay between JM and I, it's a sacred code between pals and that's how it will stay, but just know when you hear one of those phrases, you either have already or you are going to lose soon.
Even if it's not reflected in the final score JM and I always win when we are on the same team.
That's my kind of luck...MH
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