Over the past couple weeks at work, we've been organizing a softball team. We joined a league in Culver City and last night was our first game. Many things went wrong during the game, like just before the first pitch we were told about the particular pitching rules (between 6' and 12' high lob that must land on this tiny rubber mat). Ouch... so our first 20 or so pitches loaded the bases and scored them a couple of runs. We didn't play at all as well as we did in practice, made a lot of dumb mistakes, etc. They eventually invoked the Mercy Rule on us when the other team was ahead by more than 20 runs.

All of this really doesn't bother me. I don't care about winning, especially on our first game against a much more experienced team. It's other things that really got to me and depressed me about the event.

First... the game is an hour long. An hour?! *sigh* I figured we'd be getting out, getting some exercise, maybe getting our asses kicked, but at least we'd be out in the fresh air playing games. An hour. *shakes head* I got to bat once in an hour. I got more exercise riding my bike to work this morning.... and that was downhill. *sigh*

Second... Bad attitudes. Most of the people on the team, were really good sports. They kept their spirits up in the face of a crushing defeat, other people not so much. When one of the players turns to me about 20 minutes before the game is over and says, "Well, I might as well go home because there isn't enough time for me to get to bat again..." I wanted to yell at him. This isn't about you, it's about the team. Your team mates are still standing at the plate and still need your support.

Third... Practice. One of the players at the end of the game said we needed to organize some practice sessions. So, I turned to him and said, "Were you at practice yesterday?" (the one I arranged). He said, "No." I asked, "Were you at the practice last Saturday?" (the one I also arranged). He said, "No." *sigh* Jerk.

Lastly... Bottles. I went out of my way to bring a big cooler, I went and bought ice, I filled it up with drinks and brought it to the game. People happily partook of the drinks... and then promptly left all of the bottles scattered around the dugout. *sigh*

I'll be there next week because I made a commitment to do so, but I'm going to ride my bike so I can get some exercise.