Team America plays in the intermediate indoor volleyball league for the Chicago Sports and Social Club every Thursday night.
It was a dubious start for Team America in the Upper Intermediate league. We were without Kristen, Sarah and Steve, three out four of our setters. On top of that we played a team that has been together for a long time. That being said I had more fun losing three games in this league than in winning 17* games in the last league.
To say we had problems on the court is like saying the Cubs have health issues on the mound. Ok, perhaps that's a little harsh, but I can say that since I'm a Cubs fan. Our service return was better than it has been although those passes sometime ended up being errant. There were more than a few good digs, unless the hit came from their big hitter in which case I think we got one, maybe two, digs and one block. Not to toot my own horn, since I only got one block on about 50 attempts, but that was AWESOME. I can't remember the last time I got a block on someone that good.
There were a few lapses though. I know I definitely did this, and I saw it a couple other times, but we need to help the blockers out when they get tipped over or around. I know I got caught flat-footed a couple of times in the back row and should have come up to help. Aside from that, if we can find a little more offense I think we're going to do alright in this league. You know, besides that monster hit Stroh put down in the second game.
Oh and before I forget, I found this wicked clip of a vball match. I was looking for examples of good swings and well...take a look.
*Thanks to Jim for clarifying our win total from last season. 14-7 regular season, 3-3 post.
After a lengthy delay I am back to my old blogging ways. A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks so let’s try to recap it now.Is this going to be a long one? Yup. Are you going to sit there and read it all? You better. Just in case I added a little something extra at the bottom.
FIRST UP: St. Patty’s Day Weekend (Sort of) I admit, our St. Patty’s day celebration was held the weekend before the actual date.This is because Chicago’s parades (the Downtown and the Southside) are scheduled for the Saturday or Sunday, on or before March 17.So basically, this year’s calendar gave us opportunity to celebrate that most emerald of saints twice.Am I Irish? No.Am I Catholic? No. Do I wear women’s underware? I prefer not to answer that question.Regardless, this is my favorite non-Hallmark holiday to celebrate because it’s basically one big excuse to drink.
Clare did a really good job recapping events, but, while definitely putting up a good showing, she didn’t make it through to the end of the night.Personally I’m still trying to recap everywhere we went to:
Merkle’s
Lucky’s
Red Ivy
Sluggers
Bar Louie
Gold Crown Liquor
Piro’s Casa de Red Bull (this is where Clare tapped out)
A house party God knows where
Ta’Too
And finally home.
I'd have to say the highlight of the night would have to be Dave forgetting his credit card over at Sluggers. Highest of high comedies, only because he seems to do it everytime he goes out (see below).
Coming in a close second would be my brand new socks blowing out. Seriously, I thought the Gap brand would be better than that. I should I know, I'm a Gap alum. I'm halfway through my second wearing and all of a sudden I feel a bit of a draft in the right show. Turns out the seam completely blew out. I knew I should have gone to Abercrombie.
I’d post more pictures but most of them are password protected for the sake of our careers.I will however share these before and after shots.
Clare and I (before)
Clare and I (after)
Me (after after...mostly just after shotgunning a couple of beers)
Good times.
SECOND UP: Team America: Play-offs Week 2 Report
Team America plays in the intermediate indoor volleyball league for the Chicago Sports and Social Club every Thursday night.
In a rematch of our Week 5 opponent Team America put up a valiant effort but came up short, losing 2-1 against Come From Behind.I’m not sure what to say about this loss.Ordinarily I’d have gone Bobby Knight after a loss, or at least a smoldering Gene Keady, but that didn’t happen this time.While there were obvious flaws in our game, we played our best ball when it counted, but we came up short.Seriously, the scores were 15-13, 10-15, 15-13.You don’t get any closer than that and not win.
Hopefully, our rising to the level of our opponent will carry over to the next league.Starting March 28, Team America moves up to the Upper-Intermediate league. It should be pretty exciting and it all begins tomorrow!
THIRD UP: March Madness
Ok we are well on our way to a new national champion but I thought I would recap the events of the first weekend. As is our custom, Steve and I took the first day of the tournament off and headed to Durkin's at 11 o'clock, in time for the first set of games. To our dismay the special of the day had been switched from domestic drafts to Bud Light only. This presented a problem since I have a hard time with Bud Light. Not only does it give me a wicked hangover, but it isn't that good going down either.
Still, Steve and I powered through and managed to consume more than our $25 share of Bud light, Domino's pizza and wings. All that in only five and a half hours, not too bad. Afterwards we made our way to Joe's where I'm sure we pissed off our waitress because we only ordered Diet Coke's and a basket of french fries. Honestly, I didn't even feel like drinking anything anymore because my bladder was so fatigued. We sat there, watched the first half of the Illinois game and then headed off to our volleyball final. All in all, not a bad first day. I even won most of my picks that day too. Which leads us to...
The second day, this is when things went down hill. Garrett's college fraternity brothers were in town for a bachelor party and I ended up tagging along with them. We started out at Durkin's again and this time the Bud Light went down a lot easier, mostly because I was more concerned with getting my money's worth on the shortened St. Patty's day schedule at the bar. $25 all you can drink 9am to 1pm. I didn't get there till 10:30, so I had to catch up. After that it was bar hopping all over the northside, when we finally ended up at Red Ivy at 6 p.m. where Clare met up with Dave and I. The rest of the crew decided they were going over to Barleycorn for food, but we stayed to 1) meet up with Clare and 2) go back to a previous bar so Dave could pick up his credit card that he forgot (see, I told you he does it all the time).
That night I ended up in bed and asleep by 9:30, well before I could realize that Kansas lost their game and I had just lost the national champion in my bracket. So basically, this marks the second year where I was effectively eliminated from competition in the pool that I was running. Good times.
The rest of the weekend was a blur, but mostly it was just watching A LOT of basketball. Thank God Clare likes basketball otherwise this may not have gone over as well.
Fourth Up: The Hidden Gem
This is a clip of Chuck Norris reading Chuck Norris facts. "This is my thesis!" (extra points to anyone that can name the movie the quote came from)
If anyone is looking for us this weekend we'll be on the fourth annual St. Patrick's Day pub crawl.
***Please note, this was a suggested pub crawl schedule. We will definitely be deviating from this list. For current location call Joel, Clare, Garrett, Jen, Jon, Melissa, Dave, Peter, Paul and/or Mary for an update.***
Saturday - March 11, 2006
Locations & Times
The Irish Oak 3511 N. Clark St. 10:00-11:00
The Blarney Stone 3424 N. Sheffield 11:00-11:45
Johnny O'Hagan's 3374 N. Clark 11:45-12:45
Vaughn's 2917 N. Sheffield 12:45-1:45
Harrigan's 2816 N. Halsted 1:45-2:35
Griffin's Public House 2710 N. Halsted 2:35-3:25
Burwood Tap 724 W. Wrightwood 3:25-4:15
John Barleycorn 658 W. Belden 4:15-5:15
Halligan Bar 2274 N. Lincoln 5:15-6:00
Four Farthings 2060 N. Cleveland 6:00-7:00
River Shannon 425 W. Armitage 7:00-???
All dates, times and locations are subject to change. Local, state and federal taxes apply.
Team America plays in the intermediate indoor volleyball league for the Chicago Sports and Social Club every Thursday night.
First things first, yes I wore a skirt and whitey tighties to last night's game. Personally I think I look hot, but that's just me. It may have actually benefitted us, as it probably distracted the other team on a few plays as they wondered what the heck was going on.
I thought we played a very strong game all around last night. The vast majority of our serves were playable. Granted, I did have at least one that went into the net, but not bad overall. Our service receives and first passes were crisp which lead to good sets and some excellent hits. I was totally jacked to see Ali, Sarah and Jim hitting the way they were.
Last night's victory brings us to next week's challenge, the team that swept us 3-0 in the regular season. Come From Behind is a good team, that plays fundamentally sound ball. They're not going to do too much to hurt themselves, but they aren't explosive offensively either. The majority of their points came off of tape hits that trickled over the net, or dinks over blockers.
That being said, there are a few things to keep in mind:
The games in our first match were close. Our final scores were: 8-15, 12-15, 13-15.
We rallied from about 10 down in one of those games.
Their guys don't hit.
With that in mind, here are my keys to the game:
Continue to make our serves. We did a great job of that last night.
Be ready to adjust serve receive if we're getting eaten up. Serves to middle back came in at chest high against this team last time; we may need to adjust for a better first pass.
Ball Hawking. CFB is a finesse team that dinks more than it spikes. They'll try to drop balls behind blocks or in-between players.
The way I look at it, if Steve and I are giving up our annual March Madness tradition we are going to win the whole, damn thing. Ask Jim, I always have leftover vacation days because there are only three days a year that I request: one day around New Year's Eve and the first two days of the Tournament. So if we have to drag anyone kicking and screaming into the finals we'll do it.
An interesting thought came to mind. We play three games in a match. If we win it all we'll have played three matches. I usually drink three pitchers after we win. The pack of whitey tighties that I bought has three pairs in it. Coincidence...I think not. Three is the magic number and I am the walrus.
In the past two days I've seen leg warmers on a few women around town. Is this some sort of weird revival of horrid 80's fashion? Seriously, in one case we're talking about bright red leg warmers pulled up above the calf. Of course she had a denim jacket and big hair to match. To be honest, I'm a bit frightened by it all. I refuse to go back to wearing thin leather ties. Don't even get me started if I see women start wearing stirrup pants.
Any, this walk down amnesia lane prompted some strange musical cravings. Take for example today's odd choice, ZZ Top's Legs from the Eliminator album. I haven't heard this song since my cousin Grace used to baby sit me and would let me watch videos with her and her friends. You know, back when MTV actually showed videos? Along with Duran Duran's "Rio," "Legs" used to be one of my favorite videos growing up. I watched the video today and thought, "Dear God, what the hell was everyone smoking/snorting in the 80's?"
Actually what I was really thinking about were the following:
I would never eat at the diner that opens and closes the video. Seriously, the board of health would have shut that place down by now.
If I worked at a shoe store and had to endure the same conditions she did, I would have quit or sued. Then again if I worked at a shoe store I probably would have quit anyway.
There's no way that that many trendy stores were in one strip mall. If they were just going from store to store they should have ended up at a Chico's, or a Dress Barn, or a Culotte Corral.
What the hell is going on with the girl's socks? Are those cuffs and ruffles? Someone actually thought that was a good look?
Ummm...yeah, if I were the girls friend I would have said something along the lines of, "You just spent the entire afternoon and God knows how much money on this make-over and now you're hopping onto the back of a dune buggy with the guy from the greasy spoon across the street. Good choice."
So obviously, a little bit of different viewing experience than when I was eight.
I'd just like to preface today's entry by saying that I am ordinarly a very understanding and compassionate person. Ask any of my friends and they'll tell you that, while I am a smart ass, I'm a pretty good guy. I'm pretty much only saying this now because what I'm about to write will probably make me sound like an uncaring, heartless bastard...but really, I'm not.
Today I thought since my friend Brad has a hall pass (read: wife out of town) for the week and is coming in to grab food and a few beers tonight, I would go ahead and take the Red Line home instead of my usual bus. Even with the five block walk it's faster, so I'll have time to hang my suit and tie up as opposed to falling asleep on them when I come home at God knows when.
As usual, I was able to get on a Red Line with no delay right after work today. Even better the car I was getting into had plenty of empty seats, so I thought "Rock on!" Well I, along with the other half dozen poor souls that got on with me, realized that there was a reason for all the open seats.
Now let me preface everything by telling you about my sense of smell. It's pretty good. I've been able to distinguish which type of Old Spice High Endurance body wash my poker buddies wear. I was able to tell what my coworker was eating from Panda Express without having to see it. My biggest pet peeve is my clothes smelling like food because I inevitably smell it for the remainder of the day no matter what amount of Febreeze I use.
Anyway, my olefactory senses were suddenly assaulted by what I can only describe as a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick to the nose. I looked around and, sure enough, found the source of said roundhouse kick. There were a couple of grocery bags full of trash and a bag woman in serious need of a shower and change of clothes. Seriously folks, this was a moment where I was envying the guy that has to take out the trash that somebody forgot about last week at a bad Indian restaurant. Cat diarreah on your rug after said cat eats food from the aforementioned garbage bag would have smelled better than what I was enduring at that moment.
To make matters worse she had her back turned away from me and I had no idea what it was she was doing. More than likely she was just trying to rest, but I've seen some weird shit in my time. Like one time, I got off the Red Line at Washington and turned, looked and saw a homeless man pulling up his pants and throwing a plasting bag full of "something" toward a lightpost. The bag went "splat" and not in that fun Double Dare kind of way either. That was a fun morning. So, now I have that going through my mind and I start wondering, "What if she does throw shit at the rest of us? Is there any way I can dodge that? Why did I bring my golf umbrella, I'll never get that open fast enough. Will that come out of wool? As long as it doesn't get in my mouth I'll be ok, right?" Yeah, I'm pretty whacked, I know.
Anyway, I start looking around and realize I'm not the only one having issues. The girl sitting next to me was valiantly trying to read her book, but I'm sure I saw her start dry heaving a little. A trixie sat down behind the homeless woman and the look on her face was one of pure dispair once she realized that she got blocked in by another passenger and couldn't get out. I was seriously having difficulty breathing through my mouth. My chest hurt the same way it would if I had 100lb weight on it, or if I was trying to watch Paris Hilton act.
I tried to do my sudoku and make it to my stop, but I just couldn't. I ended up switching cars at the Clark and Division stop. It was just too much to bear. I saw some of the other passengers get off at the Fullerton stop and they looked like they were ready to lose it, especially that Trixie.
Anyway, I wish there was something I could have done to help her, but I have a strict no homeless interaction guideline that I follow when in confined spaces. Hopefully she gets some help one of these days and I'll be praying for that.
Why, you may ask, does the Madness afflict me so? Well that's easy:
This is the best sporting event of the year. 48 hours of basketball in the first four days, where it's "play or go home" for everyone. Everyone plays harder, and even if there's a blow-out, there's always three other games to watch. Not to mention the inevitable upsets and Cinderella stories. Seriously, how could you not love it?
Betting: bracket pools or otherwise. I would expand on this but discretion is the better part of valor. If you want more info just email me.
The food and drink - how can you go wrong with specials like the one below? (see Thursday below)
I have these days off work and am usually in a bar where there's no chance of getting cell reception. Do I have to go into what happened last year? Ok fine...
...I had the first two days off for the tournament as I traditionally do except this time I had a huge project due at the end of March. (Setting that project date was my first mistake) Suffice it to say, I ended up having to come in on BOTH days. Not only that but on Friday I ended up stuck in the server room until 9:30 p.m. I felt like Dante, "I'm not even supposed to be here today!" But I digress...
Luckily I have already secured March 16 and 17 (Happy Birthday Mrs. Hutchinson!) as personal days off work, so I couldn't be more excited. Traditionally the weekend is structured as such:
Thursday - 11 a.m. to 11ish p.m. - Hit Durkin's with Steve for the all you can eat and drink special. For $25 you get all you can drink domestic drafts and all the Domino's pizza you can eat. Not only that, but they also rearrange the bar so that in addition to the bar's usual TV set up, each table has its own small LCD TV with satellite hook-up.
Friday - 11 a.m. to ?? - I'll usually hit another all you can eat and drink at another bar to catch the rest of the games. Once work lets out the rest of the gang meets up and we carouse through the rest of the night.
Saturday - 11 a.m. t0 ?? - At this point the old liver is in a hurt locker and needs a bit of rest. Not to say that I'm not out watching the games somewhere, but I probably won't start drinking until later on in the afternoon. To be honest, in years past, I usually overdo it on the greasy bar food as opposed to the beer. There's something about pizza and chicken wings that I can't pass up.
Sunday - ?? - ?? - In the past my church service was always around 10 so that I could make the early game. Now it starts at 11, so either I go to the early 8:30 service or I miss the first half of the 11 o'clock game. Either way, this is a recouperation day where I usually suffer through CBS' coverage of the games.
Now, there are potential issues this year. If Team America (the volleyball team that I play on) makes it out of the first day of the play-offs, we will be playing the night of Mar. 16. This will put a severe crimp in Steve and my plans for the day, as we've been asked not to show up to any more games inebriated. Second, St. Patrick's Day is the 17th. I'm not sure how this is going to impact the proceedings, but you can bet that they will. Third, it's Lent and that will limit my meat consumption on Friday. Are you allowed to eat corned beef or not?
So, whatelse can I say? This is my favorite weekend of the year, hands down. Now if I can just find the number for that liver transplant place...
Team America plays in the intermediate indoor volleyball league for the Chicago Sports and Social Club every Thursday night.
It looks like I'm going to have to wear a skirt next week. In a stunning turn of events, not only did Team America win all three games of its match this week, but every team member showed up prior to the game and drank. Not bad guys, I honestly didn't think you had it in you.
That being said, the team that we played this week was not at all good. Which makes sense since they're the last place team, but really why would you even bring that up unless you're a complete jerk? I will say this, after dispatching Triple Penetration in roughly 30 minutes, the inter-squad scrimmage that we had after was the most I've worked in a long time.
I'm not sure if they're going to let me wear a skirt to a Boys & Girls Club, but I guess we'll figure something out....and no, I will not be shaving my legs for this.
