I can't be held responsible for the things I say or write...

7.12.2007

I am QP Live

There has been chatter on message boards that some people are claiming they are QP Live. For today, July 12th, 2007, all memebers of the Faygo nation are QP Live. Do not get all bent out of shape if you read any of this chatter. For today is a big, big day.

What is today?

Today is the semis and finals of the DC Liberty WAKA Kickball league. Our team is the number 1 seed. We are set to take this title. We won the regular season title and beat a nationally ranked team on the way to that distinction. That's right, there are rankings in kickball too. Totally odd, I know...but then again, there are national frisbee rankings.

But I like our team. We play hard. We play smart defense. In kickball, that means not trying to peg people everytime, not making the throw for the sake of trying. We let players get on base if they need to but we hold them from advancing. We communicate on the field, we banter back and forth and we rely on Faygo to give us what we feel we have earned. On offense, we get on base with a combination of finesse and power and we run the bases agressively.

But what I really like about our team is that the entire league really likes our team...except for me. One team in fact refers to me as "The asshole pitcher guy"...I like to shorten it to T.A.P.G.

I've thought about this and decided I like being disliked by the kickball people right now. I also think I understand it.

I think the game is pretty stupid. It reminds me of my first year of frisbee, where all the new players where high socks, stupid hats and in general try to look like idiots. I also don't like how you don't just roll the ball into the plate and let people destroy it. When I first started playing, that's all I wanted to do.

Because of the various rules of kickball that I find stupid, for example, if you are not wearing the team t-shirt, you are not permitted to play (never enforced), I try to call them out whenever I see them...loudly. I think people started to dislike me because when stupid rules violations occur, or when stupid rules are enforced, I like to let people know how stupid it is. I try to do this in a sarcastic way, but the tone I take is one that pretty much only I know I am being sarcastic and everyone else thinks I'm being serious. I can see how this doesn't go over well.

Additionally, I am pretty competitive when it comes to playing. I don't yell or freak out or anything, but I pitch hard and fast, overhand in fact, and I don't really joke around all too much when I am there. I think this makes me look as that jock who can't separate intense competition from something fun, like kickball.

In reality, I don't want to lose to some douchebag in a pink shirt with a fucking visor on. I don't want to lose to a team with shitty tie dyed socks that remind me of the socks that the UPenn Void players used to wear in college. I don't want to lose to a team of people that would rather bunt that kick a ball as far as they can. I'd rather not lose to a bunch of fucking rejects, is what is boils down to.

That's not competitive, is it?

But today is a big, big day.

I went to bed last night focused on my job today. Today is, hopefully, the first double header we will ever play. I hope my arm doesn't fall off. It hasn't been feeling good recently, but I think I can power through for tonight. My team needs me and I need to do this to shed my self imposed "least clutch player of all time" title.

I have the butterflies in my stomach that I get when I know it's time to show up. I have the feeling I used to get before every lacrosse game in high school when I knew that I was on the field to carry my team to victory.

So tonight, I hope to channel all of what I've learned and used in previous athletic competitions to overcome whatever doubt I have in my abilities. I plan to do this for my team. For Faygo.

Because, today, all member of the Faygo Nation are QP Live.

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