Showed up at what in days of yore was kinda a regular start time, to find a pool full of pandas, waiting pandas, and a team of challengers. I guess I shoulda called it a day after I mowed the lawn. Today was not my day. Winless in the 4 I played.
But it is almost always better to play than not to play. Like I said, it's a long season...
Rumor has it LJ won some dynasties today. Would've won more if he could just play with 5 LJs and one hitter. I'm sure he will be correcting that statement and thanking his teammates for their performances soon enough. I'll leave it to him to recount the tales of derring do and add a little self aggrandizement.
On league rules--there are none, or very few, and they only really address what goes on in the pool: one foot on the wall when you serve, don't touch the net. That's pretty much about hit. Outside administration is flexible, optional, sometimes non existent.
Point of order: when you've got a busy day and a lot of pandas are dry and waiting, all drys should be playing when a game ends. Now, you can go one of 2 ways with this--dry player with shirt up picks their team out of available drys, and then the other drys pick up a couple of players from the losing (not Dynasty) team. Conversely, get all the drys in the water, and herd them into matchups that seem fair. Other players can fill in or sit as is their wont.
What's not supposed to happen is that after the who's playing machinations have concluded, that people who are dry are left out, and people who just played 3 in a row are back in. That sends a very bad message:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyM4uAJBujALuckily, Marcello, our early rookie of the year favorite, understands this, and sat so Nate could play. That's called the concept of fairness, and sportsmanship, something Marcello has already learned, along with a positive attitude and good team spirit.
We have much to learn from him! And, lo and behold, Nate went on to play on a couple of big winning teams.
It just seemed strange to me that Scott and Javi ended up on the same team basically all day. They were very dominant. Kind of goes without saying these days. Not saying there was collusion. Once Mueller is done with his current investigation I'll ask him to look into it.
Sometimes we've got competing agendas out there: W-L, and inclusion. At the latter stages of my career, I would rather fail on by preferencing the latter option. You don't play, you don't learn. If you always end up playing with the same players against the same players, you don't learn the crucial interchangeable parts aspect of this game.
Example: Jonathan is a good baller. Especially on the front line. The man needs some sets. Kenny Rogers will do more if you give him more to do. Kyle got a couple of looks today in a losing effort, but that's a win, because he got to make the plays. How many years do people have to wait in the wings before you give them a chance to make a play?
Nice to see Joe and Chris Jay back at the pool again. They were like the little girl with the curl today--when good, very very good--when bad, bad.
Tbone and Jess had some strong plays today.
Best game of the day from what I saw was the last one, to 21, where those that had for the most part been fighting and losing all day denied LJ another dynasty. Sun was a factor.
We haven't even discussed Navy's FAP program. Today was not the day for that. Too many of us. But if people are hanging out and watching, if they borrow a ball and start hitting it around, they might want to play. I'm reminded of Marcello hanging out off the coast, listening to the sound of our rock and roll last year. Sometimes, inclusion makes us stronger. Even if it initially messes with your W-L percentage in the quest for those precious tin cans at the end of the year.
Just saying. See you next weekend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1HhblSEXoc