Bragging rights.

A rare event occurred this week; one that only happens about every 6 to 8 months or so.

My ex took the kids on a Friday night.

He manages one of the top restaurant chains in the city and, with Fridays being the busiest day of the week and all, he rarely gets to take one off.

But somehow, the planets aligned and he ended up taking the kids overnight last night. They were geeked and he was geeked and I, being a huge geek anyway, was even more geeked than usual.

So what are two hipsters like Mark and I to do on a Friday night? Hit the bars? Go clubbing? Catch dinner and a $9 movie?

Nah, we decided to really whip ourselves into a frenzy:

We went to Goodwill.

Yep, we went to our local thrift store on a mission -- to find our family's new traveling trophy for the weekly winner of our NFL football picks.

You see, each week, Mark takes down everyone's picks and Tuesday morning, announces the winner. To be honest, I thought they'd get into it more, but seeing as my kids never really watched football before Mark got here, they really couldn't care less about the game.

This is evident when Mark makes the rounds Sunday morning to collect everyone's picks. They generally choose their picks simply by repeating whichever team was named last.

Panthers or the Falcons?
Falcons.

Vikings or the Lions?
Lions.

Buccaneers or the Bills?
Bills.

We're lucky if they even look up over their bowls of Frosted Flakes when picking their teams.

So, to add some excitement and drama to the whole event, we've decided to sweeten the deal. We're going to give the weekly winner something to brag about and give the kids a reason to cheer on their picks during the games.

The weekly football winner will be awarded The Winner's Trophy of Fame and Honor and be allowed to select a prize from The Prize Basket of Glory and Might.

The award ceremony will take place at dinner every Tuesday night. Photos will be taken and speeches will be made. The winner may even receive a crown.

I expect there'll be much trash talking and chest thumping as we progress through the season. I also expect that there may be some tears, because when there's a winner, there's also a loser - and in our case, there will be four.

So, since we came up empty at Goodwill last night, I'm under pressure today to find a trophy worthy of this prestigious event. It's gotta be big. And gawdy. It's gotta smack of ego and acclaim. Oh, and it's gotta be cheap.

And The Prize Basket of Glory and Might? I plan to fill a basket with king-sized candy bars - the biggest I can find. I guarantee you the kids' eyes will bug out of their heads at the sight of it.

Yes sir, this is going to be big. So big, that I predict that our Tuesday night award ceremony will be the highlight of the week. And at the end of the season, the person with the most weekly wins, will get to do something unprecedented in the history of our household -- that is, unprecedented if the winner is under 10 years old.

The winner will singularly decide where we eat a celebratory dinner, which, if said winner is under 10 years old, will most likely be Chuck E. Cheese's.

But, if that creates a passion for football and enhances the spirit of competition in this house, it's a risk I'm willing to take.