I just gotta say, this year the astronomy department’s intramural softball team is the best I’ve ever played on.
I’m not talking about our record. Our record sucks. The Mercy Rule (no team can score more than ten runs per inning) has been invoked in our favor. Several times.
But for having fun and a good attitude, it’s the best team ever.
About 1/3 of the players actually have some ability. They can do things like, catch the ball and hit the ball far and throw the ball very fast. These are folks who have actually played softball and baseball in high school or other competitive settings.
The other two thirds, eh, we muddle through. About half of us (that’s about 1/3 of the team, for those keeping score) are people from other countries, many of whom had never seen softball when the season started.
Everybody helps everybody out in learning the rules and working on our skills and whatnot, and I think everybody (except maybe the people who were already total softball god(desse)s to begin with) has shown a lot of improvement over the season.
We make up geeky cheers and give each other sporty nicknames and holler a lot and have fun, whether we eke out a victory or get totally slaughtered, and when we line it up at the end and say “good game,” everybody means it.
So root, root root for the Astros, if they don’t win it’s a shame, 'cause it’s one, two, three, four, five, six strikes (we don’t call strikes or balls in our league) you’re out at the ollllldd balllll gaaaame!