There’s this thing that Dave and I do sometimes when we watch TV. It’s not new, we certainly didn’t invent it, we’re just doing our part to keep two of our favorite past times alive.

It’s a word-inspired drinking game.
A la, “Hi Bob!” from the 80’s and “…but, um,” from How I Met Your Mother, we pick a word and every time the word is said, we repeat it–with gusto!, clink glasses, cups, bottles, whatever, and drink.
Now, we purposely don’t select a word we KNOW will be said a hundred times, what fun would that be? But we’ll notice repetitions in characters’ speech patterns that contribute to our choices.

We don’t always drink liquor when we play (hey! since Dave is supposed to be drinking 8 glass of water a day, maybe we should play with water bottles!) but honestly, it’s more fun that way. We do this mostly for shows we watch on Tuesday nights (if you’ll recall, Dave has Wednesdays off, making Tuesday night our Friday). Since our shows are viewed from the DVR, the buzz words vary.

We have toasted to any bastardization of the name “Schmidt” while watching New Girl.
We have shouted and clinked to “Bazinga” with Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory.
When Joey on Friends asked, “How you doin'” we raised our glasses and told him “we’re doin’ good,” clink, slurp.

The only two things we watch live are American Idol and sports. AI has proven much fun this year with the likes of J-Lo’s “baby,” Keith’s “hard (hahd),” and Harry’s “pitch, tone, note”. We also do libatious honors every time Shaw falls on the ice.

Our favorite use of Buzz Words is during football season.
For the past few years, we would drink every time the announcers mentioned Julius Peppers (PEPPERS!).
Before Peppers (PEPPERS!) was Afalava. Kept us sober, but was fun to say. Go ahead, say it… Ah fah lah vah. Fun.
My son found a sign for Afalava beer. How cool is that?

We also flirted briefly with Aromashodu, but Peppers (PEPPERS!) has been my favorite. There are a couple of announcers, and I can’t even remember who they are, but man, they love Julius. They would say his name even when he wasn’t on the field. Those were some– festive– games.
This blog was actually inspired by the Bears’ loss of Peppers (PEPPERS! sorry can’t help it). I don’t even want to talk about where he went but suffice it to say, when we play them, and the announcers inevitably say his name, we’ll be drinking in honor of old times.
I don’t know who will replace him as our new buzz word. But I’m pretty sure it won’t be Houston. That’s not even fun to say.

Here is an article about Bears as Beers!
(I have no idea what a Michelada is, the Peppers (PEPPERS!) “beer“, but this site says it’s a 13 Step mixture. WTH?)

Here’s my caveat: We are adults. We watch television and drink responsibly.
In the words of Bob Newhart himself, I trust my fellow buzz-worders never to “Hi Bob and drive.”