People Have More Fun Than Anybody

Joe does this quirky little thing every time he goes to the grocery store. He goes up to this soda machine that sells this oddball brand of generic-looking soda called Super Chill, and one of the buttons for flavor options is this blank button with the words "Mystery Flavor" typed in on a piece of white paper. All it is really is just all the other flavors of Super Chill in the machine lined up to come out randomly without knowing what you're going to get, but Joe always pops a quarter in every single time and takes home whatever random flavor of soda that comes out of the chute. So we have this fridge full of various Super Chill sodas that Joe never has any intention of drinking, because Joe only drinks Mountain Dew and very little else. Told you it was quirky.

So an interesting thing, last night. We were passing out Halloween candy to the neighborhood trick-or-treaters where we would hand out the bowl of sweets at the door and let the kids pick and choose what they wanted, and suddenly Joe starts to randomly throw a can or two of the various Super Chill sodas that he has been accumulating over the months. And here's the thing: Over the Reese's cups, Junior Mints, and mini Milky Way bars in the candy bowl, the children were choosing the cans of soda instead. In fact they were quite thrilled that we were passing out soda. Even their parents seemed to like the idea. Joe kept filling the bowl with Super Chill sodas to the point where he gave out every last one that he had been squirreling away for the past few months -- and it's not like he was foisting them off on people in lieu of candy... the kids preferred the soda over the candy. They were choosing it over candy. What they hey?

Then again soda is pretty much liquid candy as it is. But still, why soda? I figured children drink sodas more regularly every day than being allowed to have candy. I know families who let their kids drink sodas with every meal, but only allow candy in certain occasions. Maybe they chose soda because they already had a bag full of candy from all the other neighbors. Maybe there really is something perpetually enduring about soda to children, a staple in the life of every high-fructose-red-blooded American boy or girl ever since the dawning the 20th century. It was certainly an interesting experiment. And much more successful than that one year when Joe and I ran out of candy and started giving out soy sauce and ketchup packets from our overflowing bowl of take-out condiments. Boy, the kids were pissed that year.

I also want to congratulate Joe for winning the hosting contest this week where he will now co-host the Minority Round Table on CTIradio.com every Tuesday night at 11pm EST, discussing various pro-wrestling topics with occasional gust stars and taking calls. Tune in, if that's your bag. Waytago, toots!