Participation Ribbons For All!

O, the two sweetest words in the English language: d-fault!

With only four members showing up for last night's hotly contested battle of third tier teams, HUJ were forced to concede the match to their outnumbering opponents (i.e. us). Someone pointed out that prom season may have contributed to the poor turnout - I say, where are these kids' priorities? In my day, when you committed to a co-ed rec sports team, you wore that responsibility like a ball and chain - proms or Disney vacations or emergency surgeries or Cheers series' finales be damned. Pfft.

So not to waste our field time, the teams were split up and a friendly scrimmage ensued. We gave them Bryan, Michelle, Becky and (new) Sarah; they gave us a workout. Quickly evident - had HUJ shown up, it may not have been the cakewalk some of us were expecting. Case in point: that frosted blond kid who ran half the length of the field for a long put, only to go completely horizontal, grabbing the disc with one hand, and finishing with a somersault on landing. Then he crushed a Nalgene bottle on his head and gave the closest female a long, gross, tongue kiss. It was impressive.

In the end, the scrimmage was close (unsurprising as we were essentially playing against ourselves) and more competitive than might have been expected - witness Derek nearly face-planting into the giant metal soccer net after racing neck-in-neck with a HUJ gazelle into the end zone. Most everyone got to touch the disc, with Dan and Bryan both making some exceptional plays - the former laying out to catch an errant toss of mine into the end zone, and the latter chasing down a great pass from (new) Sarah to end the game.

And then the Hammers made their triumphant return to Freeman's, where I was poisoned by whatever manner of biohazardous material lives in their antique draft lines, and Bryan made friends with a pajama-wearing VLT jockey. Ahh, home sweet home.

Happy Canada Day, folks. Rest those quads and calves.