As Kaitlynn was hitting her stride during her basketball season, she had some unfinished business to take care of with Jeff. It was the long-awaited challenge between Kaitlynn and Jeff - the final edition of Father versus Offspring in the challenger's sport of choice. Dating back to when Collin was a kid, Jeff has promised $100 to each of his kids when they challenged and beat their dear ole' dad in any sport. For Collin and Kevin, the sport was swimming and for Connor, it was basketball. Kaitlynn followed in Connor's footsteps and challenged her Sweet Daddy in a game of hoops, the best of 3 games for "around the world" basketball. The time felt right, since Kaitlynn was in top form during her 8th grade season of basketball - which was exactly the same age as Connor when he won his challenge as well.
When Challenge Day arrived, Connor was home and ready to be the hype man for Kaitlynn to cheer her on to victory. Connor quickly assumed the role of reporter and commentator, and Kaitlynn and Jeff were ready for the match.
Once the challenge was underway, Connor and I watched the drama unfold from the end of the driveway. And drama it was... Kaitlynn was off on a hot streak, making many of her shots to kick off the game. Connor's commentating game was also strong - so strong, in fact, that Jeff soon asked him to "knock it off" or something to that effect, likely because Jeff wasn't making his shots and was highly irritated at Connor's snarky reporting on the matter. Connor responded by switching to "golf mode" where his commentary was understated and quiet to avoid upsetting the competitors. Ha!
After Kaitlynn easily took Game 1, however, the drama intensified when Kaitlynn began missing shot after shot in Game 2. Jeff was steadily progressing, but Kaitlynn couldn't find her comfort zone and was becoming visibly upset and frustrated. The tension was building in the commentary as well; the spectators were really feeling the pressure. Kaitlynn's only hope was in Jeff's Achilles Heel - the one shot close to the garage that he just couldn't seem to make. Try after try, he kept missing that shot. While he struggled, Kaitlynn stealthily recovered and began to creep in toward victory. The crowd (a.k.a. Connor and I) were on the edge of our seats as the tone of his commentary began to build in nervous anticipation and excitement.
Before we knew it, Kaitlynn had come from behind and hit the hottest of all hot streaks, making every shot around the world one by one as Jeff remained frustratingly stuck at the shot by the garage that could've won the game for him time after time. It all came down to the final shot, where either one of them could've taken the game. Kaitlynn's confidence was high and the spectators went silent. With a flick of her wrist, the ball went up and then... SWOOSH! She won the game, an incredibly shocking come from behind win to take the $100 challenge and defeat her old man!
Kaitlynn was elated but before she could celebrate, it was time for post-game interviews with our commentator extraordinaire. Kaitlynn was on Cloud 9 and Jeff's description of his defeat was, well, "defeated." He then revealed that he had hoped to make it to age 60 before losing to his 4th and final kiddo, but alas, age 59 it was. Our sideline reporter summed it up perfectly with his final remarks. "This just in: Jeffrey Courtright RETIRING! We didn't see this one coming!" Ha!
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