Total Embarrassment

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On Friday night, my daughter and girlfriend wanted to go to the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Regional Championships held at the University of Florida. I thought it would be a fun time, so off we went. Considering it was a last-minute decision to go, and we weren't even sure if there would be tickets left to the event (the UF women's gymnastics team has sold out every home meet since 2013), we were surprised that there were three seats together in the center of the arena close to the floor. The event was great, and tense competition ensued among the four teams completing. In between the team rotations, the announcers had fun with and engaged the audience to keep things light and fun. During the first interlude, they did a segment called "Awkward Dad Dance Cam," in which the television cameras scanned the audience and zoomed in on various dad's dancing to the Village People's song YMCA. Of course, who gets singled out by the cameras? Yep, me. I did my best to dance along to YMCA, all while it was being projected on the Jumbotron screen for the entire arena to see (all 10,000 people in attendance). Yep, totally embarrassing, because this guy can't dance to save his life! But wait...it gets better. Towards the end of the evening, during another break, they did one called "Air Guitar Segment" in which the television scanned the audience and zeroed in on people pretending to play the guitar to AC/DC's song Back In Black. Once again, the cameras focused on me jamming out to AC/DC. I loved it, but I think I totally embarrassed my daughter and girlfriend (who--because of sitting on either side of me--were also shown on the big Jumbotron screens). But who cares, I had a blast. And even better, the University of Florida's gymnastics team (my alma mater) won the event and will continue on towards winning a national championship. Overall, it was a great night and a fun time. Would you have gotten up and danced or played air guitar in a large stadium or arena if the television cameras zoomed in on you for a closeup and projected it on the big screens for the whole world to see? The photo has nothing to do with the discussion, but it's a topiary of Goofy blowing a dandelion at the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. I've often been told that Goofy and I are one and the same.