Are you sweating yet? Either from the August heat or the INTENSITY of the competition?! Next week our six NYC teams play field crumpets, the newest and weirdest obscure sport in our summer office league arsenal. Chicago gets their chance to steal the bacon Tuesday at Humboldt Park. Seattle’s teams play SPUD on Wednesday, a favorite recess game. And our Boston and San Francisco teams play ladder golf, a sport which I’d never heard of until this summer, and now I swear I see it everywhere. Parks, weddings, bar mitzvahs. I was setting up to play in the park recently and a ranger asked me if we were setting up for mini-equestrian… so Boston & SF, if you want to host an impromptu dog show or pony show, have at it.

Man were we tired after a game the two hand touch football game last Wednesday.  A whopping 6 Seattle Weeklings showed up and brought their “A” game.  But since it was a 6 on 6 game, we were stuck playing the ENTIRE time with no substitutes, and a limited water supply.

We played the energetic Easy Street Records and battled it out play after play.  Despite the miraculous hail mary touchdown catches and awesome interceptions by both teams, the game ended in a 12-12 tie.  Both teams were hungry for the win and decided to take the game into overtime.  But with the overall tired-ness of everyone and Bandits calling our names, we were content settling with a tie on our record.

Needless to say, it was a fun night and a great workout.  And I’m sure I wasn’t the only one sore the next morning.

As the regular season starts to wind down for the Seattle SOSO league, the games get rougher. Two-hand touch football saw the Seattle Weeklings pitted against Easy Street Records on field #1, and 2 time champions Bumbershoot went toe to toe with the determined crew from KEXP on field #2.

Turnovers plagued both the Weeklings and Easy Street early on. On their first possession, a lazer beam of a pass from the Easy Street QB ricocheted off its intended target only to fall right into the hands of their opponent. It was going to be that kind of night. With each team scoring a single touchdown and failures to convert an extra point, the teams were tied 6-6 at half time.

Seattle Weekly holds on to the ball with everything they’ve got left.

Easy Street comes prepared with Easy Street Beverages ™.

The second half only brought more evidence that the caliber of these two teams matched play for play. Refusing to end the game in a tie, Easy Street and Seattle Weekly abandoned their short game and lobbed their passes into the end zone hoping to find their target. This happened maybe twice.

TOUCHDOWN.

Seattle Weekly maneuvers for the kill.

Easy Street’s one touchdown in the second half was answered in kind by a hail mary pass by the Weeklings. The 12-12 tie led to a sudden death match. Nobody scored.

Meanwhile, on field #2, Bumbershoot and KEXP scored touchdown after touchdown. With the taste of their first victory of the season so close to their grasp, KEXP defended their endzone against the ferocious Bumbershoot Hot Dogs. But alas, KEXP’s defense couldn’t withstand the evermounting pressure and the Hot Dogs’ last touchdown put them over the top 36-34 .

KEXP runs it down into Bumbershoot territory.

Bumbershoot about to get handsy with the ball.

At that point, Easy Street starting foaming at the mouth so we abandoned the field to quench their inner beasts with beer.

Good hustle out there, everyone.

Despite the Seattle Weekling’s quick win in the first round of Kubb against Team Bumbershoot, we were dealt our first loss of the 2009 summer season. As the games progressed, we realized Kubb was a game of strategy, but weren’t able to tweak our game-plan in time to catch up to those crafty Bumbershooters.

The loss was hard on the team, but thankfully we were able to drown our sorrows in free beer and tasty tamales at Bandits after the game. Since then, we’ve bounced back and are ready to get a W in tonight’s two-hand touch football game!

And congratulations on your first win!

And mighty KUBBs to you, too, Bumbershoot!