To every game there is a season (football = fall, basketball = winter), but no season lends itself more to game-playing than summertime's long months of languor, escape and school vacation. I'm not talking about baseball (after all, in Tampa Bay "the boys of summer" have been playing since February) — or even about all the jumping, running, vaulting and swimming we enjoy every four years in the Summer Olympics, aka the Summer Games.
For this edition of Creative Loafing's annual Summer Guide, we decided to invent some summer games that anyone can play.
Thinking of hitting Adventure Island? Try the WaterPark Olympics. As Eric Sni—, er, Bud Crookshank explains, lolling in Paradise Lagoon is much more invigorating when you make a race out of it. Doing a little beach-bar-hopping? Read the story by Wayne Garcia and Alex Pickett for tips on doing it via trolley, plus our recommendations on other pub-crawl routes and a quick compendium of drinking-game classics.
Since summertime means dancing — or at least music — in the streets, we turned a search for St. Pete's street musicians into a mock-reality show called Busker Idol (minus Simon). For those who prefer to stay inside, Leilani Polk makes a game out of all the pseudo-reality mucking up TV screens this summer. Taking a road trip? Joe Bardi gives you Tampa Bay Travel Bingo, in which roadkill and bumper nuts can make you a winner! Looking for stuff to do? Check out the full listings of museums, beaches, attractions and the like, plus a Word Search to play after you've found your ideal beach.
And what would a beach day be without a little skin? We invite you to pass judgment on some of the finest flesh on the Gulf Coast in our Less-Is-More Swimsuit Contest. And if you plan to do some gawking in person, we offer you a set of rules for doing so without getting sand kicked in your face — plus some rules for other time-honored summer pastimes (like office hooky and mall-walking) that may never have been written down before.
Finally, we make up some games that we assume are impossible — or at least we hope they are — like the Hands-Free Barbecue Cook-Off and the Don Quixote Hurricane Challenge. You probably shouldn't try these at home.
Elsewhere in this issue, look for critical previews of summer movies, visual arts and the hottest concert event of the pre-summer season, WMNF's Tropical Heatwave. And for an advance glimpse into perhaps the most disgusting game of all, look for Brian Ries' advice on how to prep for Dairy Inn's Hot Dog Eating Contest. (What can we say? The man likes a good dog.)
Got any summer-game ideas of your own? Please send them to us at letters@creativeloafing.com.
Let the games begin.
– David Warner
Click here for more Summer Guide
This article appears in May 9-15, 2007.
