Horseshoes was the name of the outdoor game this week.

Well, it’s been a long summer and the games are winding to close. Much like the Olympics, this summer’s battle between myself, Jake Grove, and my friend, Michael Staton, has to come to an end at some point.

That end is fast approaching.

For the past few weeks, I have been a bit like China and the United States in the recent Olympics, in that I have dominated the competition. I have won disc golf, bags, bocce ball, croquet (barely) and a Wiffle ball home run derby. Somehow, Michael bested me at HORSE, which still boggles me a bit.

This week, as one of the last games to be played, Michael brought his horseshoe prowess to the playing field as we played a game of horseshoes in my backyard. Seeing as how terribly I did at the last game with “horse” in the name (and having only played horseshoes three times previously), I did not have much faith.

Things started with Michael explaining the rules and even being so kind as to show me a good way of throwing the shoe. As most of you know, the object of horseshoes is to take a horseshoe and throw it at a peg in the ground approximately 20 feet away. If it goes around the peg, that’s a ringer and three points. If it leans against the peg, that’s a leaner and worth two points. If it gets within a horseshoe of the peg, that’s a, well, something, and it’s one point.

You play to 15.

Michael brought his smooth delivery to a two-point lead early, but a lucky ringer by yours truly took it to 3-2 pretty quick. After some talk of how different it was to play on grass than in sand, I hit another ringer and (shock!) a one-pointer for a 7-2 lead. Michael came back within 7-4, and then I went for it with a leaner and a 9-4 lead.

A couple of one-pointers later and it was 10-6 and the heat was getting to us. That’s when I pulled out “da dagger” and hit two consecutive ringers to win 16-6.

Now, Michael plots the final game of the summer. It’s meant to be a kickball game featuring two teams of our making. His from his place of employment and mine from my bartending gig. It will take some time to plan and probably will happen in a couple weeks.

Stay tuned, believers, and remember to get out and have some fun for yourself this weekend.