Seattle kicked off the SOSO 2009 league with some ultimate bacon (aka my old Saucony running sneakers) stealing underneath the Space Needle. Ready to size up the new competition, the Seattle Weekly, KEXP, and Bumbershoot waited around for rivals The Showbox to bring their A game. This was not meant to be. The Showbox must’ve been feeling the pressure from two time champs, The Bumbershoot Hot Dogs, and went running home shaking in the their Saucs. I could tell the other teams were disappointed, but I promised them they could split the tab set aside for The Showbox and the smiles were once again on their faces. Time to steal the bacon!

The evening was filled with dives, kicks, and awkward wrestling poses, ending with Seattle Weekly taking 2 games over Bumbershoot and KEXP. Bumbershoot’s one win against KEXP would keep their spirits high as we headed over to Bandits Bar and stuffed our faces and bellies full of beer and tamales. That was a great season opener, Seattle!  I’m looking forward to many whiffs and tamales in two weeks!

Last night’s fiercely competitive and slippery game between Matador Records & Sony Music went into extra innings after the initial five ended with each team at 8. The top of the extra inning saw Sony with an admirable 4 runs hit in. Matador with an intense 3 runs in, bases loaded with two outs, popped one up, but it proved too easy of a catch that Sony snagged to end the game with a final score of: Sony Music 12. Matador Records 11.
Whoever says wiffleball is lazy Sunday afternoon game has obviously never played with these two worthy record labels.
MVP of the game definitely goes to Matador’s Winston who slipped & slid into catches, bases & opponents all night. With an indomitable rejection of pitches we see him soon moving onto the pros.

Give her a kiss and carry her over the threshold- or in this case the finish line. Wife-carrying is a bona fide sport in which male competitors race each other while carrying their wife or female teammate through an obstacle course to the finish line. The fastest team over the line wins.

You might think that this sport must be played in some random European country, but (although it did originate in Finland) it is played competitively in Monona, WI and Marquette, MI among other US cities.

To fully comprehend this tough love sport, you must understand the rules, which are set by the International Wife Carrying Competition Rules Committee (!!). The length of the track is 253.3 meters and surface areas consist of sand, grass and gravel. The track must have two dry obstacles and a water obstacle (about one meter deep) yikes!

Not married? No worries. You can borrow your neighbor’s wife or simply pick one up off the street, but be careful who you choose, she must be over 17-years-old with a minimum weight of 49 kilograms or 108 lbs. If your wife is smaller than this & refuses to fatten up you bear the burden of actually having to carry a sack of potatoes over your shoulder to make up the extra weight. Even if your teammate is not your wife, you should still carry her with love and care because if you drop her you will be fined 15 seconds per drop. Don’t worry about brain damage if she falls on her head- she is required to wear a helmet! As for the rest of her body you are held responsible! 

The goal of the game is to have fun! There are special prizes that award for “Most Entertaining Couple” & “Best Costume” along with the title of “Strongest Carrier”.

Carrying style is up to personal preference. Some popular holds include: piggyback (boring), fireman’s carry (over the shoulder), or Estonian-style which is the most popular (the wife hangs upside-down with her legs around the husband’s shoulders, holding onto his waist).

Need to re-kindle the spark in your relationship or just want to try something crazy and new? Then Wife Carrying is for you!  

Last night I decided to try out an obscure workout by taking my first ever “Punk Rope” class at the 14th Street Y. Punk Rope, a playful workout to the tune of punk music, is the brainchild of ACE-certified personal trainer and USA Track & Field coach Tim Haft, and has since branched out to classes in 14 states!

If you haven’t jumped rope since your playground days, rest assured the skill will come back to you. But it will also make your body hurt about a hundred times more than it did when you were ten years old. At least if you’re a n00b like me.

Once I got my rope jumping legs back, Tim and his lovely assistant and certified personal trainer Shana Brady, led the class through a “Cops and Robbers” themed night of jumping rope, relay races, stretches, pilates and cardio. We skipped rope in time to the Clash’s “Police & Theives,” ran “jail-break” relays and acted out murders with plastic knives to the tune of The Queers’ “Murder In The Brady House,” did lunges and squats in an interpretive routine choreographed to the theme song of “Hawaii 5-0″ and did push-ups while rockin’ out to “Maxwell Murder” by Rancid, ” I Fought the Law” by the Dead Kennedys and “Breaking the Law” by Judas Priest, to name a few.

There was so much laughing and high-fiving that it hardly would have felt like a workout were it not for the shortness of breath and massive amounts of sweat. Oy!

Summer’s official first day is Sunday June 21, but players in the Saucony Originals Summer Office Team League know summer has begun when they find themselves playing games in Central Park that are usually reserved for seven year olds!

The games kick off with everyone’s thankful return of wiffle ball! There were upsets & blow outs (not what you get with a hair dryer & brush) last year which means teams are going into this game with revenge & defense on the brain.

After the game we’re running… jogging, ok sauntering over to Blondies for pitchers & wings. It’s where the real games begin!