Softball
This is a post that’s been several weeks in the “thinking,” but I’m just now getting to writing it down.
I’ve been playing on two co-ed softball teams this summer, one team in a church sponsored league and the other in a general league through a sports complex. Wow, they couldn’t feel more different from each other!
I was invited to play on the church league team by some friends and I’ve really enjoyed playing in this fun, semi-competitive league. All the players have been nice and shown good sportsmanship, and while everyone wants to win, it’s not at the expense of benching someone an entire game or arguing every call or trying to bend the rules to add an advantage. The games were on Sunday in the early evening, and we didn’t get rained out once. It was very hot a couple of days, though. The last game in this league was this past weekend and we finished with a 5-4 record. It would have been 6-3, but the very last game was called because of lightning with my team batting and down by one run in the last inning. Regardless of the record, it was a blast to be playing on this team and meeting new people.
I’m having very little fun in the general league, though. The team I’m on is sponsored by my company, so I’m playing with my co-workers, which is cool, but the overall atmosphere of this league is entirely different than the other league. Everyone is very competitive, it feel formal and “professional” and there hasn’t been a game yet without some kind of controversy. We’re 0-4 thus far, so that sure isn’t helping things, especially when some of your players show up drunk and don’t seem to care. The games are on Friday night, some games as late as 10pm, and with these games under the lights, and it just doesn’t feel as good as playing in the sun. To zap any remaining good feelings about this league, you have to pay an admission fee before entering the complex. This is in addition to the league fee, which thankfully the company paid for.
Oh well, it’s just great to be playing again. Maybe next year I’ll find a couple of church leagues to play in rather than going for the open leagues at sports complexes.
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Aug 30th, 2006 at 00:49:35
Man, I couldn’t agree with you more. I actually quit playing with the team from work for the same reasons you quoted. We played on Thursday nights at the same sports complex your team plays (I think). I really enjoyed playing on our church league team. I’m sorry I missed 3 games, though. I wish I could have made them all. What’s funny is back in college I would have been like the guys in the other league…very competitive and not wanting to sit out at all. I guess I’ve mellowed out a little and now I just want to have fun.
Aug 30th, 2006 at 11:47:11
I wouldn’t mind playing on a legue. I’m not a very competitive person though, so the sports complex one sounds like not a whole lot of fun. Maybe we could all get together one weekend and play a game at one of the local parks?
by the way - your poll seems to be broken. adding a link gave me a 404 and my vote for fork didn’t get processed.
Aug 30th, 2006 at 14:11:14
Hi! Just say your pictures from your rafting trip and it looked like you had a lot of fun. Have you ever rafted on the Gauley (WV)? I work for USA Raft and was just surfing around. Pictures were great thanks for sharing.
Aug 30th, 2006 at 17:52:09
I here you on the differences between the leagues. At times my experiences were completely different. The church league was more competititive and had more calls to be argued. Our coach is quite a schemer though. This guy knows every rule about softball, and knows how to play them to your advantage. Ended up winning a number of games taking advantage of the rules and pitchers that could throw strikes. Makes the games slow and not much fun, but a win is a win…or is it? Anyhow, glad that you have been able to get back into the swing of things. Cleats hold up well for you? I’ll have to break mine out again for fall ball here soon. You playing any fall ball?
Aug 31st, 2006 at 08:26:28
The problem with the poll happens when the page hasn’t fully loaded. If there are still aspects of the page loading, there’s something with the AJAX involved in the poll that causes the Vote, Add, etc. links to behave as actual links to a page rather than working with the server in the background. Just make sure the page is done loading before voting and it works fine.
Paul, I’ll let ya know when another league starts so you can join if you want. I haven’t found any fall ball church leagues yet, but I’m keeping my eyes open.
Dave, the cleats worked great. I couldn’t imagine playing without them now…I slide everywhere.
Nicole, Nope, haven’t rafted on the Gauley yet, just the New River. I’d like to some day, though.
Sep 1st, 2006 at 23:22:46
I wouldn’t mind playing, I’m with Paul…I’m not real competative either…playing for fun on a weekend sounds fun…But so does paintball….