In third grade, our teacher had a competition to see who could come up with the longest list of ingredients found in foods around the house.

It was simple enough. You just had to go through the food in the cupboard and list all the different ingredients you found on everything. Whomever had the longest list, won.

At stake, a bag of lollipops.

The challenge was on. I went home and went through every single item we had. Then I did my neighbor’s kitchen. The next trip to the grocery store, I brought my list for that, too.

I had no idea what my classmates would do, so I went at it as hard as I could – working to be extremely thorough. I was simply NOT going to lose.

Fast forward to my daughter. Last Friday night, there was a Shoreline Sports Foundation shoot-a-thon to benefit Food Lifeline. People gathered to shoot free throws sponsored by donation pledges.

She was around gathering pledge support – either a few cents per free throw made or a lump sum – when my friend told her she’d give her $25, but $100 if she made more than anyone else. That was all she needed to hear.

We arrived early, at her insistence, and got right to work. She put her feet on the free throw line, and for the next two-and-a-half hours, she knocked down 646 out of 1,300 free throws (just four short of 50%).

There was no one keeping track of everyone’s progress, so she kept going for fear of someone making more. When people came by to talk, socialize or just find out how she was doing, she would just get annoyed at the interruption and keep shooting.

It was up to me to be friendly, though, being wired the same way, it was just as hard for me because I understood what she was doing.

I finally asked the coordinator to call an end to it so she would stop because she had two basketball games the next day.

When all was said and done, she came out nearly 200 ahead of the next highest total. In much the same way I destroyed my classmates back in third grade.

When you’re a Friesch…