A Sport of Degradation and Humiliation

Today was the 1st Annual LRAP Dodgeball tournament. Nick was kind enough to let me slip onto his team. Unfortunately, I didn't pull my own weight. I managed to pick off a player early on the the first game only to be eliminated a second afterward; our team managed to eek by for the win that time (our opponents were The Learned (Hand) Jobs). After that, we were beaten by Blue and 7th-Story; both games I got nailed early and didn't even throw a ball. We never made it to the second round.

Overall, I was glad to have the opportunity to do something competitive and athletic. It's a part of my life that I've been missing lately, and maybe this will be the thing that gets me off my ass and back into some sort of competitive sport of some kind. On the other hand, they really needed to do a better job getting the rules out to the teams (a lot of people didn't know about being able to line-cross when 2 or less players were on each side, and then halfway through the they first started enforcing a rule that allowed a player to stay in after getting hit by a head shot) (EDIT: Waldie also had several legit complaints, including people playing on multiple teams, people who were both officials and players, and general bracket shadiness--all good points). I was also dissapointed with the amount of playing-on, false starts, and centerline crossing by my classmates; I had hoped that we were all above that sort of thing. Then again, I guess lawyers are known for trying to get away with whatever they can. On the other side of the coin, I would like to give out props to the Top Gunners and Cullen Sucks, who as far as I can tell, set the standard for sportsmanship throughout the tourney. And Pinkston, because he was just plain awesome. =)

Footnote: For the record, I don't think dodgeball is degrading or humilating, I just thought that line makes a cool title. I'm definitely not one of those whiney hippies that wants to end the great institution that is elementary school dodgeball, and would take great offense if anyone thought I was.