On a visit to see my mom, I noticed her television was set to one of two channels. One showed old sitcoms like “M.A.S.H.” and “Everybody Loves Raymond.” The other was “The Game Show” channel.

I asked why those two and she said she didn’t have to commit a lot of time or effort to the plot and each segment only lasted a half hour.

She had a point.

In old sitcoms, the main person on the show gets in trouble, pranks ensue to try and get out of trouble, and everything wraps up in 30 minutes, give or take a few commercials for prescription drugs or life insurance.

As luck would have it, she’d chosen “The Game Channel” for the day’s viewing. As old game shows played in the background, I couldn’t help but listen. A question popped up on “Jeopardy.”

“Gekko!” I yelled out.

My mom was surprised. We were talking about what to eat for lunch, and she must’ve been surprised thinking I’d like a lizard for dinner.

I pointed to the television and told her it was the answer to the question on “Jeopardy.” Because she had the program on as background noise, she didn’t pay attention to the questions on the show.

“Baskin and Robbins!” I yelled out.

This was the correct answer to the next question. After that, Mom took a nap, and I proceeded to play the game along with the contestants.

“Jeopardy” is also a board game we used to play as a family on Sunday afternoons. We’d divide up into teams with all of us avoiding choosing our dad – he was a ruthless cheat.

We found the heaviest thing we could bang on the table to signal we knew the answer and sat down to play. The games were loud and cutthroat, and our sisters-in-law were terrified to take on the competitive Hebert siblings.

The grandkids would play happily in the other rooms and occasionally come in to wonder what all the yelling was about. That’s because we argued about almost every answer, our competitive nature getting the best of us.

“Family Feud” was another favorite, and we always thought we’d be winners if we could get on the show. The lightning round at the end was one we always enjoyed.

Lord help the teammate who couldn’t think of an answer fast enough. For years, we’d remind them of their failure to answer quickly in the lightning round.

Our love of games started when we were kids. We’d watch game shows in the summer when it was too hot to go outside. “The Hollywood Squares” was a favorite, and the off-color answers usually went over our heads.

One show that required brain power was “Password.” We Heberts enjoyed the board game, and most of the time was spent trying to find ways to give physical clues, even though that was against the rules. We still argued but not like the lively yelling matches from “Jeopardy.”

Today’s game shows are mostly glitz. There’s a lot of flashing lights and skinny models in tight dresses. Contestants don’t require brain power. They need luck, a love of the camera, and the ability to clap loudly for themselves.

Watching some of the current shows, I longed for the days when brain power was required to win. We didn’t have smart phones or the internet when we played those board games on Sunday afternoons.

We had our memories, teamwork and a healthy dose of friendly competition.

These days, we live too far away from each other to sit down for an afternoon board game.

But if we did, I’ll bet our level of competitiveness would be just as ruthless as it was all those years ago.

Gosh I miss those days.

 

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.