Kickball, Game 4: We Know Drama

This week, our team picked up its first win...by forfeit.  Due perhaps to a string of thunderstorms that moved through DC at around 4:30 p.m., about 4 teams forfeited their games.  So we proceeded to play an exhibition game against another team, just for fun.  Who knew so much drama would result?

We lost the exhibition, 7-5 -- but that wasn't the interesting part.  As it turns out, about half the team used to work with one of our team captains.  They didn't like working with him, or so it seems; there's a lot of negative eneergy directed at him from about 4 of his former co-workers.  Ah, politics.  This captain (1 of 2) tends to offer a constant stream of coaching, advice and the like.  Most of it is good, but some of it is unwanted.  In any case, it's nothing worth flipping out about...

...unless you are one of his former co-workers, apparently.  One of them (our pitcher) went ballistic in front of everyone between innings, directing his wrath at the co-captain.  Yes: during an exhibition game.  At one point I heard him yelling, "YOU'RE SO ANNOYING TO EVERYONE BUT I'M THE ONLY ONE WITH THE BALLS TO CALL YOU OUT ON IT!!!!"  Um, okaaaaaaay...sure. 

Here's the thing: it's true, our captain's constant advice/orders during the game can get to be too much sometimes, especially when we are kicking.  However, it's really not worth getting up in arms about.  Trust me -- if someone is annoying the hell out of me, I'll say something to them.  But for god's sake, it's just kickball. 

I understand that, over time, some people drive you nuts.  Some people drive you to the point that you just don't want to hear their voice anymore.  You get so sick of them that even their neutral or benign comments become annoying.  That is clearly the case with our captain and a few of our teammates. 

This raises the obvious question: if they find the captain so annoying, then why the fuck do they play on his kickball team?  He started the team!  Nobody held a gun to their head and forced them to join this team.  Why would anyone think, "Gee, I'd like to play kickball -- but instead of avoiding a player  that I can't stand, I'd rather join his team and be bitchy to him, make snide comments about him whenever the opportunity arises, and allow myself to get irritated by everything he does."  What kind of masochists CHOOSE this situation for themselves? 

It's not only an incomprehensible decision -- it's a selfish one.  The other half of the team, me included, don't share the baggage that some of our teammates to. Thus, we don't give a shit about our captain and what he says during the game.  If it ever gets to be annoying, I can block it out - and I can do it without making a big dramatic scene in front of two teams and a crew of officials.   The pitcher and captain even had a long one-on-one talk AFTER AN EXHIBITION GAME to cler the air.  Jesus. 

At the ensuing happy hour, I told one of the former co-workers (one of the more neutral ones) that the rest of us really didn't give a shit about the feud. It's all well and good that they don't like him, but they might want to consider how their biases affect everyone else's enjoyment of the game.  I can translate this for you: his colleagues need to stow the 'tude and chill the fuck out, because the rest of us don't share your history with this guy and don't give a shit about it or about what he does.  Hopefully, the message will get through to the rest of them. 

While I'm ranting let me just say that this unofficial game was a game we should easily have won.  However, our left fielders refused to move back enough - which led to catches going through their arms over their heads, and them having to turn and run after the ball.  That's never a good thing in any sport akin to softball.  Our captain tried to tell people to re-position, back up, etc. -- but of course there were some people who didn't want to hear it.  They scored their first run off a fly ball to right field where the right fielder didn't even try to go after a fly ball to her area; after I realized she wasn't going to move, I had to chase it down from center field and relay it to the infield. 

Now, I know we're not supposed to be competitive...but if we aren't going to make even the most basic effort, then what the fuck is the point?  To just stand around in workout clothes for an hour?  Really?  Why even bother with kickball, then?  Why not just go straight to the bar?  Seriously, I'm curious.  In what shouldn't be a related note, the "minimum-effort" offenders were women.  Many of the winning teams only have the minimum number of girls in the field (4) at any one time, just because they assume it improves their chances to win.  Do we really want to resort to that?  I don't want to make the assumption that women on our team won't try as hard as male players -- especially since there are girls on our team that hustle and play hard.  But why play if you won't try?  

I have no problem with losing -- really.  I know it's hard to believe, but I don't.  But I do have a problem when people on my own team don't even try.

I talked to our captain about this, and I think I'll send him an e-mail about it.  We need to create a few different field lineups, distribute people in the field to make up for those who won't try to catch fly balls, and just bring some effort.  That should make everyone happy.  

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