Congratulations to MyOpenBar not only for being totally awesome because they always tell us where to get inebriated for free, but for becoming Chicago’s very FIRST Saucony Office Team Champions!!
The sun was bright on that beautiful Sunday in the spacious area that is Smith Park. Both Threadless & MyOpenBar came to WIN! Competition was tight during Tug of War, Egg Toss, Dizzy Bat & Three Legged Race. It came down to the last game- the wheelbarrow race in which MyOpenBar clinched the victory. WXRT & Venus Zine came out to play as well with WXRT allowing some local teenage boys to play on their team in order to win almost every game against Venus Zine.
After the games, teams headed to Old Oak Tap to revel or drown in free booze & great food!
We hope everyone had as much fun as we did this summer!!!! You’re ALL winners in our book!

They say that two heads are better than one. UR Chicago proved that two heads were in fact better than four. After an early first game loss to the Venus Zine ladies, UR’s dynamic duo of Jessica and Rannell rallied to take the next two games of Kubb. So much for girl power. Was it the lingering inspiration from watching Michael Phelps win 614 olympic gold medals? Did Rannell’s abundance of testosterone tip the scales in UR’s favor? Did the Venus Zine ladies concentrate too much on hurling verbal abuse and not enough on actually throwing the sticks at the kubbs? It would take a team of experts running scientific tests to ascertain for sure.

What will the last game of the season be? Will it take a keen eye or pure power? Hopefully it will not be another Swedish game. Hopefully it will be inspired by the Japanese. Like this one.

defeated!

Who in the what now? Team Shark Attacks fell to the undefeated Total F*cking Nightmare Storm during the Kubb matchup. We had no idea was Kubb was. All we knew was that it looked like an item that you could buy in Ikea next to the frozen Swedish meatballs.

Turns out it was less annoying than Bocce Ball and more fun than Cornhole. If Kubb is truly a Viking game, then I should of prepped by playing a good ‘ol fashioned round of Crossbows and Catapults.

Team Shark Attacks unsure of the murky water ahead

Rannell throws a mean wood.

Can you handle the flash AND the pressure, mr. photographer? CAN YOU?!?!?!?

Clayton makes a big play. Lizelle is the only one somewhat interested.

If I’ve learned anything from Lost, it is to throw together or die alone.

Who knew Capture the Flag would be so hard? myopenbar.com had some fierce runners! Le sigh. The first lost is always the harshest. We have proof.

ooooooooo.

aaaaaaaa.

ssssssssss.

Oh well. At least there was ice cream.

Alright, team. Take a knee.

What was that out there?

Seriously…What. The. Hell. Was. That?

Oh, no no no, you guys were great. I’m talking about the weather. It got dark, drizzled a little, then turned, well, gray. Like a color film that all of a sudden became black and white. It hurt my eyes just trying to keep my eye on the ball. And it hurt when the rain drops hit me in the eye(s).

But even though there was a definite lack of heart this week at the game itself (and again, by heart I mean drinking), you never ceased to impress me. Eva with her attempted catching; Amy with her actual catching; Dugan with his crafty pitching; Scott with his pants-on-fire base-running and accusations of cheating. It was a cacophony of beautiful yelling and ball tossing - much like my nights in college - and I couldn’t get enough.

Yes, our opponents made some questionable calls, but don’t let them make you question yourselves. Be stronger than their juvenile taunts, blind-sided base umpiring and run adding/subtracting whims. Though I only remember scoring twice, so that third run, tallied by our unwavering Saucony judge, must have been a pity point.

More importantly, I’d like to talk about the real victory at California Clipper afterwards. My heart swelled with pride when I saw that four members of our team stayed until the bitter end, while only one UR Chicago player did. You can’t cheat in that game. Because then you end up sober. And sobriety, as we all know, is for losers.

That’s dedication. And it’s the kind of dedication that will result in our very first win when we play capture the flag in a couple weeks. W00t, my friends.

W00t.