Over the years I have been to many sporting events, concerts, and other events in which prizes may be thrown or shot out of cannons into the crowd. I have never caught such things for several reasons: 1) I am usually sitting in cheap seats. Even with the aid of a T-shirt cannon, very seldom does a prize reach the elevations where my seats are normally situated. 2) Girls throw like girls. More often than not, there are no pneumatic cannons available for the delivery of prizes to a crowd. I attended a Phoenix Suns game in which the cheerleaders hand-tossed shirts into the crowd. Most of the shirts were distributed to the expensive seats where free shirts aren't needed. Those girls threw like girls. 3) I don't consider myself to be particularly good at catching things. I'm not horrible at it, but in a crowd of 20 or so people who may be competing for the same airborne prize, I'm not so arrogant as to suppose that I would be the most catch-skilled member of the group. These factors being the case, I have never caught T-shirts, knick-knacks, foul balls, flying pucks, or other such prizes...until last night.
Megan and I took Leah with us to the Pima homecoming football game last night. The stands were much more crowded than they normally are, and we didn't sit in our normal seats, which are much closer to the field. At one point, the cheerleaders began flinging little foam footballs into the crowd. Most of the crowd stood and began yelling for the cheerleaders to throw something their way. I remained seated because I had a certain bugaboo on my lap. As I sat there, I saw a little blue prize peek its nose over the outstretched arms of the standing crowd. Due to its high vertical trajectory, I could see that I had a legitimate chance to catch it. I was holding Leah with my right hand, so I lifted my left hand (a hand I don't trust to do the most menial of tasks. My left hand is pretty stupid. It's a wonder I ever learned to juggle) toward the oncoming prize. I placed my hand directly in the flight path of the ball, and none was more surprised than I when while sitting with a baby on my lap and using a hand I don't trust to hold beverages I snagged the ball in mid-flight and brought it in like a falcon on a mouse. It seems such a little thing to catch a mini foam football that probably represents a per-unit cost of less than 10 cents to the pep squad. Be that as it may, I'm still dubbing myself a bona-fide winner.