I've altered my Spaiku to conform to the more traditional format referenced by Pants:
How do you measure
The summer pleasure that is
Water volleyball?
We tried to do that this Saturday. I'd have to say the results were not what I expected from popular voting...
There were 12 awards.
Matt got Summer Serve--and was the only recipient not present to accept his award.
Creepy won Rookie of the Year
As usual, Mikey won MVP, with the most dominant tally of all the voting results.
Pat and Beth tied for Best Defensive Player
I'm a little hazy on this one, but I think Beth and Jess won the Most Improved awards
Dito, of course, got Dirtiest Player
Panda of the Year, Best Serve, Best Point Guard, Drunkest Panda all went to yours truly, and I split the Sportsmanship Award with Jess!
In a popular vote, you have only yourselves to blame for this kind of lopsided distribution. Voting patters were basically schitzo--you people were all over the place--from what I could tell of the tallys, with ~15 people voting, people who received 3 votes were actually winning awards, and if you voted for yourself (which I didn't), you're talking about a really tiny "majority" here.
So, we've proven Rumsfeld was correct when he said that democracy is messy. What do we do to clean it up for next year?
Here are my suggestions:
The Council of Elders will reconvene prior to the event, for the purpose of discussing awards and offering a slate of potential candidates for each award, whose name will appear on ballot sheets. ESPN does it--why can't we.? There will also be a spot for you to do the "write in" candidate thing. So voting will still basically be democratic, but with some suggestion (or a firm kick in the ass) regarding who might be eligible and deserving peeps.
We might also want to consider having a comments/ideas section for next year--helpful panda hints--exchange of ideas is good.
I offered to step down next year as MC to whoever won panda of the year. Since that didn't happen, please indulge me on some thoughts on how to structure things:
I need my 5-10 minutes as MC and hopefully the attention of all assembled pandas for that period. We simply cannot be passing out ballots while I'm doing the year in review--what's next thing. It throws me off my game. Two years experience has now taught me that anarchy quickly ensues. I'm thinking we even need to hold them until all awards have been explained. Otherwise some people are finished voting, some start voting and become confused at some stage in the process, while others remain confused throughout. Maybe the butterfly ballot itself was also an issue.
I'm thinking it might be best to get the presentation off the ground a bit earlier next year. Although we certainly had a long way to go in terms of partying, technology and structure, nay, reality itself, was well on its way to breaking down by the time we got the show on the road. I realize this is a delicate balance--get started too early and the pandas are belligerent and disinterested due to insufficient lubrication. Get started too late and they will be belligerent and at stage fuckus rather than focus.
Game film went over great. Good job, Creepy! There was a cost overrun on copies, and Beth was suggesting we pass the hat...
A good time was also had by all. Thanks to all participating pandas for their participation and their support. I had to clear of a shelf for the 05 trophy case!
_________________ Chief
Death from above! Fire down below!
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