Playoffs: Main St. Methodists 17, St. John's 6

This gamed sucked. Not because of the score, or because of how I or the team collectively played; this was one of those games that are unfortunately common in any sport or competition - one where a few overly competitive people completely took the fun out of it.

Amongst my teammates there is a father and his two sons. Good people, all of them, but sometimes they take the games way too seriously, and when they do, it can get ugly.

The father, rounding second when the ump called the play dead, was upset that the ump didn't allow him to continue to third. he started yelling and jawing with the ump, and it pretty much lasted the rest of the game. If you have a problem with the ump's decision, I have no problem if someone tells him so, provided the issue is dropped shortly thereafter. Didn't happen in this case. What's ironic is that the father, when he's not playing for our team, is an ump himself. While it means that he has complete knowledge of the rules and was probably right in his argument, he should have known better.

One son got injured during the game and was going to be replaced. He refused to come out, after we had informed the team of the switch. This caused some confusion that resulted in us batting out of order.

The other son is one of the cockiest people I can think of. He plays within the rules of the game, but he plays to win, even if that means not listening to his teammates or taking out a fielder to reach base safely. Today, he got a hit and made it to second. Rather than listen to the base coaches and hold there, he decides to take off for third, and ends up getting caught in a rundown. He ended up sliding/bowling into the first baseman, preventing him from fielding the ball cleanly and causing him to fall. Yeah, sure he was safe, but it wasn't worth potentially hurting someone. He also ended up swearing at the ump when a play didn't go his way.

It was embarrassing. I was ashamed to be on that team. This is a recreational softball league. There are no trophies, no prize money, no fame and fortune. If you can't play and have fun, win or lose, you shouldn't be playing. We were representing a church! We were playing another church! It was sad and it bugged me to no end.

So that's the end of of our season. We played well, but inconsistantly. I managed to end up with an average over .300, which was one of my goals for the year. (The other, to hit the ball out of the infield, didn't happen. What can I say, I'm a line drive hitter with no power.) The only thing left if the eventual end of the summer pool party. Although there is a kickball league starting up in the fall...

My Season Totals: 5-16 (.312 Ave.) 5 BB, 5 R, 1 RBI