No love for the Asian sensation

The differences between my two dodgeball teams and leagues are myriad. Although the recreational league on Tuesday nights is full of confusion and chaos with people being ignorant of the rules, my rec team, the Moth Balls, are quite tranquil in their approach to the game. Our last game, for example, was really laid back on the bench, even though the other team were jerks and had no idea what the rules were. On the other hand, in the competitive/intermediate league everyone is much more experienced and knows the rules. Any unfamiliarity with the rules comes from the captains not properly communicating any changes that might have been made at the last minute to the rules. That said, the teams are vicious and will have a nasty disposition towards each other most of the time.

Last night's game is a perfect example of this: we were playing a team called SLAUGHTERHOUSE, who we've played at least once before. I am also pretty sure that they've played in previous seasons on other nights or divisions. They were very familiar with the old rules as well as the new rules. However, how they decided to apply them was sketchy. The new rules state that anyone hit in the head is safe, but the person who threw the ball is out. One of their players therefore made a point of getting on his hands and knees and tried to get hit squarely in the back of the head every time we had the ball.

He knew the rule, but he chose to use it as a sword instead of a shield.

They also engaged in something I like to call "Wishing someone off the court". Tool Time blocked a ball, and The Deal was able to slide under and catch his ball. However, they insisted that Tool Time had been hit by a second ball. Really, any ball that came near Tool Time they'd call him out, whether it hit him or not.

In particular, they had one player, who we took to calling Asian Sensation, who was a pain in the ass. He'd call "Ready Set Dodgeball" before we had most of our players on the court. He'd then call it again, but this time while he was three or four steps away from the wall. He'd get hit and not leave the floor and he was one of the main perpetrators of wishing off the court. He was generally just a pain. The worst part? He wasn't even that good a player!

Fortunately, we easily beat them 16-13. More importantly, we played a much more relaxed game then the previous week where we got completely out of hand. That is now my going concern - - making sure that we as a team, as a group of friends, can improve our sportsmanship and stay loose for each and every game. It is definitely our biggest weakness as a team, and is more often then not our Achilles Heel.