4 games, 20 minutes, 1 angry guy
Dan Renick/ Staff writer
Issue date: 4/9/04 Section: Sports
Earlier this year I said one of the best parts of intramural sports is coming up with a funny name for your team. I want to correct that statement. The best part of intramural sports is playing, when you actually get a chance.
My intramural softball team, Off Constantly, is posting a 3-1 record this year. Not bad, huh? What if I told you we had only played three and a half innings this season? That's right, four games and only 20 minutes of play in the three weeks since the league started. Let me explain the record.
Every team automatically gets a win for showing up to the captain's meeting, that's one. We lost our first official game. The game before us started at 4:30 p.m. and ran 10 minutes over the half hour limit. When we finally got started, the supervisors stopped the game at 5:30 because they didn't want to delay the next game. Funny since the game before went 40 minutes long.
Our second game was rained out and each of the teams got a win. That's two wins. Before the regular season went any further the intramural sports director decide to change the rules and format of the league. Originally, teams would pitch to their own players and each hitter got only one pitch.
Bad pitch, foul ball, swinging strike - it doesn't matter. One pitch is all you get (lame to say the least). Last year the pitchers would pitch to the other team and the hitters would start with a 1-1 count. A lot of games ran over time because players would watch pitches go by waiting for the pitch they wanted or for the walk. Going from that league to the one pitch league is quite an extreme change.
After many complaints to the league, directors made a change. They set up a 72 team, single elimination tournament and this time hitters would get - ready for this? - two pitches. Needless to say it was an improvement, but that meant, despite our lack of field time we may only get one game.
I was looking forward to game, which was scheduled for 4:45 p.m. Thursday, all week before I received another let down. A couple of friends and I were sitting around a few hours before the game when we received a fateful call.
The team we were scheduled to play defaulted, and we will advance to the second round. That was our third win.
So that's how we've come to our .750 winning percentage. Even if we moved a step closer to the intramural championship, I don't care. I want to play. That's the point for the league, right?
Besides, if we never get to play, no one will ever get a chance to beat Off Constantly.
My intramural softball team, Off Constantly, is posting a 3-1 record this year. Not bad, huh? What if I told you we had only played three and a half innings this season? That's right, four games and only 20 minutes of play in the three weeks since the league started. Let me explain the record.
Every team automatically gets a win for showing up to the captain's meeting, that's one. We lost our first official game. The game before us started at 4:30 p.m. and ran 10 minutes over the half hour limit. When we finally got started, the supervisors stopped the game at 5:30 because they didn't want to delay the next game. Funny since the game before went 40 minutes long.
Our second game was rained out and each of the teams got a win. That's two wins. Before the regular season went any further the intramural sports director decide to change the rules and format of the league. Originally, teams would pitch to their own players and each hitter got only one pitch.
Bad pitch, foul ball, swinging strike - it doesn't matter. One pitch is all you get (lame to say the least). Last year the pitchers would pitch to the other team and the hitters would start with a 1-1 count. A lot of games ran over time because players would watch pitches go by waiting for the pitch they wanted or for the walk. Going from that league to the one pitch league is quite an extreme change.
After many complaints to the league, directors made a change. They set up a 72 team, single elimination tournament and this time hitters would get - ready for this? - two pitches. Needless to say it was an improvement, but that meant, despite our lack of field time we may only get one game.
I was looking forward to game, which was scheduled for 4:45 p.m. Thursday, all week before I received another let down. A couple of friends and I were sitting around a few hours before the game when we received a fateful call.
The team we were scheduled to play defaulted, and we will advance to the second round. That was our third win.
So that's how we've come to our .750 winning percentage. Even if we moved a step closer to the intramural championship, I don't care. I want to play. That's the point for the league, right?
Besides, if we never get to play, no one will ever get a chance to beat Off Constantly.
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