Slight twist on the Old Style Challenge

[KatJ]

If you've listened to any Cub radiocasts, Pat and Ron do a feature called the Old Style Challenge, where listeners fax or e-mail what kinds of sacrifices they would make, crazy stunts they would pull, etc. if the Cubs won the World Series.

 

Lately I'm not too keen on the WS fantasy - I'm sure a lot of that has to do with me feeling almost certain that it's out of the 2006 team's grasp already. Whether that's a fair assessment or not, the mathematical odds alone are pretty steep - at best, a team has a 1 in 30 shot.

 

What I'm thinking of instead is a type of Old Style Challenge if the 2006 team were to win 90 or more games during the regular season. To me, and a lot of other people who know baseball, a 90 + win season is the sign of a good team - the type of team who plays good baseball consistently among all challengers and challenges (such as different stripes of injuries, personnel changes, and personality conflicts). That's the kind of team I feel I can be proud of, whether they make or excel in the playoffs or not. (Recall that the 2003 team won 88 - or was it 87? -games during the regular season.)

 

For me, these are some of the bets I've considered making to challenge the team to make it to 90:

 

-If they win 90+ by the end of the 2006 season, I'll drop 73 pounds by Opening Day 2007. (Note the symbolism.) If they don't, they send me on a four-star, all-expense paid trip to Maui the week(s) the '06 World Series is played (Halloween in Maui would be great fun.)

 

-If they win 90+, I'll shave my head and get my legs waxed. If they don't, it's the Maui trip.

 

-If they win 90+, I'll finish my Open Water Diver certification before Opening Day 2007. Bear in mind that when I last tried to do it in Maui last month, I practically hyperventilated and quickly aborted the certification process. I like diving, but the thought of my b/f being my dive buddy scares the bejesus out of me - and if I stay at Scuba Diver level, I have to dive with an instructor-level diver who I would trust far more underwater.

 

Want to add some of your own challenges, or think up better ones for me?