Waiting for the inevitable.

It was the last game of the summer season, and finally, we got to play kickball. Of course instead of going out in a blaze of glory, we got our asses annihilated by Venus and Mr. Design. Yes, our two season reign of terror abruptly ended in Humboldt Park last night. Considering two of our teammates had previously played on a kickball league, there really was no reason we didn’t dominate. I guess we can contribute our poor showing to a few All Stars no shows from our end…okay, we can’t make any excuses — we just sucked. Right from the beginning, our competitors took an early lead and didn’t stop ’till the finish. A couple of times they kicked the ball far into the field, which made it difficult for us to retrieve it. We basically had no strategy and quickly became overwhelmed, even when it was our turn to kick. The worse came at the end of the fourth inning when we received a triple play — bases were loaded, but in one fell swoop, all of our teammates got outs. It was a fitting end to a less than perfect game. As the waning summer sun set over the horizon in the park, we couldn’t help feel a little melancholy that yet another season was ending. At least drinks and pizza were readily available to drown our sorrows in. Here’s hoping we’ll make our comeback in the Winter League.

The Summer Saucony O’s Office League comes to a close in the Windy City next Tuesday with the Kick Ball Championship game! Venus Zine has led the series in Chicago with 4 wins for the season. My Open Bar is close behind with 3 wins, followed by WXRT with 2 and Mr Design with 1.

Venus Zine may have the championship in the bag, but we’ll still pit them against My Open Bar on the kick ball field to see if MOB can beat the ladies (well, mostly ladies) in yellow for one last “in your face” moment of the season.

Meanwhile we’ll see if underdogs Mr Design — the tallest team in the league, if not the winningest — can score one more win against WXRT to close out the season. Good luck Chicago!

Colin warmed up.

 Jason Vorhees stopped by.

Joey ran away from Jason, er, made a mad dash to homebase.

We scored a huge victory over Mr. Design. While taking a group photo, they quipped: “So, that’s what winning looks like.” You betcha! We grew weary waiting for Venus and XRT to finish their game, so we hopped in Colin’s truck and rode to the bar.

 Victory tasted like martinis and manhattans. Sweet, sweet, victory.

The Saucony O’s summer office sports league is in full swing, and we have a game lineup next week that’s gonna knock your socks right out of your Jazz Lo-Pros.

Monday August 3rd & Tuesday August 4th - NYC teams plays Kubb in Central Park.

Tuesday August 4th - Chicago teams play wiffle ball in Humboldt Park and our Boston teams play steal the bacon at Boston Common (pray for no rain this time!)

Wednesday August 5th - Seattle teams play touch football under the Space Needle while our SF teams play field crumpets at Draves Field.

Now what the eff is field crumpets, you ask? Field Crumpets is a game played with two teams of players which try to score points by hitting the “crumpet” (generally one of those squishy playground balls) into the opposing team’s goal using their crumpet sticks (big fat wiffle bats). Field Crumpets is highly related to the games Field Hockey and Soccer, though it references several other sports. The game also includes various unique rules, many of which reflect the founders’ desire to emphasize fun and silliness over competition.

We look forward to the silliness!

Field Crumpets photo courtesy of fieldcrumpets.com

Last season champions

So far this season, we hadn’t been living up to our potential. We’d lost the first two games and were determined to bounce back. Last season we dominated Kubb. Twice. Trivia and SPUD might not be our thing, but throwing wooden sticks is. We paired up against leaders Venus Zine in a battle to the finish. We quickly knocked down their blocks, but when it was announced we had to knock the king over throwing a stick under our legs, things got a bit challenging. It took us a while to master the technique, but eventually we killed them. In round two, all of a sudden Venus came alive. It’s almost like they let us win the first game. One by one they knocked down all of our blocks. Victory was in the air until they had to knock down the king. There were a couple of close calls, but the king remained standing. This allowed us to make a huge comeback, catch up with them, and then knock the elusive king down. 2-0! Our game ended quicker than XRT’s and Mr. Design who could only play one game due to the difficulty of knocking down that pesky king. With just a couple of games left, we’re still very much in the tournament. Do we smell another victory?