2012 Super Dare, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Day One
Next time I overhear a conversation about Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I will butt in and say, “Yes! That is a fabulous place to take the family for a holiday!” with a straight face.
Next time someone says in an unctuous tone, “You’re going to Milwaukee? Have fun,” I will say, “I will have fun, thank you very much, I don’t appreciate your smarmy attitude, and you will be jealous.”
You see, when the destination for this year’s Super Dare, the championship race for Urban Dare, was announced, I had my doubts. Nothing against the Midwest, or a good American blue collar town, but for me, a garden spot for a weekend of recreation didn’t jive with Milwaukee. How would you feel if an annual competitive event you are fond of announced next year… …Wichita, Kansas? I can tell you I would feel awesome, because I am from Wichita, and it might just give me an edge over the competition. But it wasn’t Wichita; it was Milwaukee.
Take into account, all the information I had about Milwaukee I absorbed from cases of Old Milwaukee and Milwaukee’s Best in college, as well as reruns of Laverne & Shirley.
What was Laverne doing in the closet anyway? Not to mention the glove; where did that thing end up? In the next shot Shirley seems to have it back on, is it the same glove? Did she get a new glove? Did Laverne feel guilty and give up her own glove to Shirley as reparations for stealing it and thoughtlessly sending it to an unknown fate inside this chilling machine?
I digress.
I am a believer now. Milwaukee rocks!
The start of Part One (of three) of Super Dare: Obstacle Course was in the shadow of the Monument to Solomon Juneau, the first mayor of Milwaukee, in the scenic Juneau Park. A darn nice spot to kick things off. The park is on the bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan and the waterfront park. The course was nearly identical to last year’s course in Pasadena.
A quick rundown: a wheelbarrow race, a 60 piece jigsaw puzzle, make a balloon animal sword (kind of like half a poodle, but there is no getting around how phallic it looked), a baseball bat spin dizzy run around bases, a softball toss, a 3-legged race, the “spellbound” word puzzle. All of these tasks spread in a loop around Juneau Park.
There is something purely awesome about a wide age range of adults getting fired up to compete in events you might find at a 9 year old’s birthday party.
Drodge and I rocked the course and managed to pick up the two minute time deduction for finishing first.
That evening we reconviened at Red Rock Saloon for the Part Two of Super Dare: Trivia. It was to be eight rounds of trivia, until the first round was tainted by someone using their phone to answer questions. So, now seven rounds of trivia. The trivia was a mixed bag although there were quite a few local interest questions, recognize a photo of a state senator, “what is the state beverage?” type stuff.
FYI: the state beverage is not beer, it is milk; if you are asked this question about any state say milk with some confidence (Wiki: List of U.S. State Beverages). Kool-Aid and milk (not together of course, but both) Nebraska? …? My point exactly you would still get credit for milk!
After a fun evening of barbecue, open bar, trivia, and a disappointing lack of use of the bar’s mechanical bull, we held steady thanks to Drodge’s encyclopedic sports knowledge. We snagged second place to receive no time for trivia — the first place team gets a two minute time deduction for winning, second place recieves no time, third recieves a 30 second addition, fourth one minute, fifth a minute and a half and so on.
I am not kidding about the glove, if you know where it went please let me know.
…concluded in 2012 Super Dare, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Day Two, or Where Did All The Breweries Go?
- Tyler Follow @mrskinny Follow @nadscontrol
