Cross Country Sports League: Week 1

It's that time of the year again, when the leaves die and flutter from the trees fleeing from snow, when the productivity levels dip below Jeff's height, when 5 Guys  come knocking at our arteriole doors, and when sleeping in on Saturdays becomes possible; no, it's not weekends during the summer, it's the two week break. While the two week break poses an ominous threat akin to sunlight for Ryan Federline to the rightfully fearful health fanatic(s) of the team, many bask in the freedom that it brings. During the two week break, the typical over-exhausted runner can be seen sometimes at night prancing aroung the track in an abscent state of mind, in a food coma anywhere that doesn't rhyme with "Saladworks", or towards the end of the break staring at running shoes as if to exercise their demons. Thankfully, the only shoe demons on the team  inhabited Wang's shoe, but have already torn their way out. Praise the lord.
Anyhow, by this point in my tirade that has probably wasted time enough for you to do about 10 burpees, sideplanks, or to hold a full conversation with Gilead. Now to the meat (Sorry Vignesh & Vimalesh), the climax of the entire post which comes along with such grandeur such that it may only reach your eyes once. On Monday, November 19th, the same day 149 years prior that Abraham Lincoln delivered a rather famous address at Gettysburg, CCSL (Cross Country League) opened its doors for business, calling innumerable, tired cross-country runners to the DeCou turf fields for the first game of the season: ultimate.

In the ultimate frisbee game, which raged into the night, Ben Dillon and team Asian fought against team WKUK (and John Lee). Starting out slow due to dump and runs by Mike Minion, Burt(s), and John Warkala of team WKUK, team Asian quickly fell to 0-5. Fortunately, Ben Dillon had threatened his team and Dan Helfand so much by that point that they started clicking, getting up by as much as 3 points at one time. However, due to precision passing by Mike Minion, diving catches by Dan Helfand, and defensive pressure by Mike Bruce, and outstretched receptions by John Warkala, team WKUK was able to go ahead by the near finish, leading 19-18. Team Asian soon became completely Asian, as Ben Dillon decided to tunnel home to Ashland shortly after falling behind. In order to offset this devastating loss, team WKUK decided to give team Asian one point as consepation, and thanks to an easily excitable soccer dad who threatened to kick us off "his" field, the game ended in a 18-18 tie. The several surprising standout players were Zach "Quack" Goldstein, who must have put glue on his hands, and Vimalesh Vasu, who appears could wheel and deal the frisbee.
 I also feel that I should mention Bryan Burt here because I'm pretty sure he would have failed a drug test during that game about ten times over.

The next day marked the inauguration of CCTL (""Tennis League) into the annual schedule; it was a huge success: Mike Minion won the Singles tournament, while Ryan Federline took the doubles titles with Dan Helfand, although Ryan deservedly took all the credit. Top 7 Week 1 tennis rankings are as follows:
1) Minion
2) Helfand
3) Dillon
4) Bruce
5) Mele
6) Taylor
7) Groff
Throughout the year, these rankings will continue to be updated.

To close out the hectic week, alumni day on Wednesday brought down Ben Helfand and Russell Beatty from their respective mountains in PA, while it similarly drove Mike Liachowitz down the coast to visit us from MA. The first game of the day, CCFL (""football league), brought fervor to the eyes of many as the day was charactized by incapable offensive lines (not to point fingers, bryan, warkala, and Jeff), the inability of players to catch the ball, and very little scoring. Honestly, all I can remember is getting crushed on every 4th down, every kickoff heading out of bounds, and last but certainly not least, Byran Burt annihilating Ben Dillon on 1st down "by accident"; it looked a lot like this:

Later in the day after Bryan Burt dislodged the ball that Ben spiked into his head, another game of ultimate arose, pitting Minion, Ben Dillon, and Dan Helfand against Russell and Ben Helfand, among other contributors; after several successive drives in which no one could score out of dropped and deflected passes, the game was given up, and the beleagered runners turned to 5 Guys, soccer, and later the East-West game, (which East won 28-0 thanks to Daishi Goto), and later something something else that is unmentionable and very censurable. By now, I don even know what the heck I am writing, so I'm just going to stop before I go on another tangent. Stay posted for next week's post.