AWVP

Sunday very funday AAR. We had sekrit balls today. Meatballs that is. There was a sekrit recipe. Was it one from the 500 in Erin’s resident appreciation cookbook? Who can say? What can be said is that both batches are gone.

Let’s revisit some rules, such as they are, before we get to the fun stuff. Lifts. Underhanded scoops with both hands. Let’s not go there. Serves. Ball need to leave your hand rather than hold a push. What is out? I like Kenny’s explanation. Look for center splash. Imperfect science, even with ropes.

More rules. As pandas trickle in, the losing team gets the first new player to arrive, and still gets the serve, even if that means losing team has more people than winning team. because dynasties are supposed to be hard to get.

The 2 Dans we’re confident they would achieve Danysty right out of the gate. But no. They had to wait. Instead it looked like Chief Erin Kenny were going to get the first one of the day. Until this happened to me in game 3:

https://youtu.be/jhBcELzXP1I?si=81RdjnnYe2soVeD-

7 straight hung on me to start 0-7. We came back to get to 10, but the damage was done.

As as a small defense, there’s a reason in 3s why the classic formation is 2 on servers side and one on “the island” rather than the reverse. Single player facing server is going to have some challenges anticipating short/long.

Such excuses didn’t impress Erin today: “maybe you should drink less. Or maybe more. Figure it out”

Which reminds me of another rule: good natured smack is part of the game. Erin mastered that part today. Wasn’t just me. She was taking no prisoners. The other notable was “Reno, are you through crying?” And there was more where that came from.

Got to play with Brey with same dynasty denied team and got to 2 in a row only to come up short again. Added Ram and Paul K to finally pull the back ropes and get to 5s.

That’s when the Double Danasty happened. Game 3 went into overtime. Well fought win, as it should be to achieve dynasty. I think that was Paul’s first one. Good job, cookie.

This caused Kenny’s head to explode, again:

https://youtu.be/A_MnyV-HH3U?si=lBDG-3rhYyzrMFmH

So we’re starting to lose players, and I’m figuring ok we’re done. Because I’ve played every game today. Which is a thing you can do when it’s one pool, no waiting. And there’s a thing I learned—sometimes the last game is the one you shouldn’t play, because after a full day of fun in the sun with copious amounts of adult beverages being consumed, it’s likely that people will be getting pretty lose, and General Boobery will be in charge.

Erin would have none of it. “Don’t touch those ropes! We’re not done yet.”

And it was good that she said so, because in the rarest of the rare, Kallie Lou Who said I wanna play too.

And I’m never gonna turn down a request from AWVP’s greatest fan.

So off we go to last game to 21. Brey, New Dan, and Angel decide to take on the remaining pandas—Kallie Erin Reno Riata Dan, yours truly—short court both sides.

Angel helpfully said he hadn’t lost a game all day. You don’t want to say that until the last game of the day is over. Just sayin.

The 3 amigos had the game pretty well in hand, but 3 on 5 is a hard game. So it went into extended OT, where, ultimately…
Kallie Fox Force 5 got the W!

New Dan was asking what the panda mascot was about, and why we have 2 mascots: panda and Optimus.

So let’s rehash for the new folks. Pandas are loveable, fun, and a rare breed. Yeah, that’s us. Optimus is the wooden statue of a warrior holding another warrior’s head. That’s us, too. Because we play to win. The 2 mascots need to be in balance: too mud panda leads to playing beach balls and not keeping score, while too much Optimus takes all the fun out of the game.

Todays last game was 80% panda, but boy howdy I have not laughed that much or enjoyed playing a game just for the fun of it in many years.

Those who did not attend really missed out. A frabjous day, callooh! Callay!

Ballchair bless the pandas, every one.