So it's Wednesday, September 24 and I think it's safe to say that we've all recovered, more or less, from the latest DcCityBall End of the Year Party (I say more or less because my voice is still pretty much shredded and I can't get the words to Livin' on a Prayer out of my skull). So it's time to look back, make some observations and form a few insightful reflections.
First off, thanks to everyone who has sent in pictures -- I'm still sorting through them and compiling a list of nominees, but they're great and I really appreciate it.
The picture featured on the blog today, sent in by Bayside Tiger 2nd base-lady A. Cavanagh, quite aptly represents the mood of the party. No, not because it was all a drunken blur of lights and air-guitar, mozzarella sticks and mop-dancing, flip-cup and armless drumming. NO! I say. It is ( and this is some f*ckin deep-Oprah's-couch- sh*t so get your handkerchiefs) because for once, the DEYP was a coming together of a league!
Oh yeah I said it. This party was smaller, shorter, probably less disorderly than previous get-togethers...but you know what? I had a damn good night. The teams did more than mingle this time out -- everyone seemed to really mesh and it became a party among friends, rather than just a collection of segregated teams, already established in their drunken camaraderie.
This is not to say that other parties were confrontational or even tentative, but it just really felt like on Sunday everybody got along and had fun. The words "intimate" and "charming" have been thrown around to describe the party...mayhaps. But the bottom line is that is was another successful party!
As I said before, ITV is still sorting through all the wonderful pictures so the longest post, the recap, is still to come later in the week. This post is really just a shout-out to those of you in attendance. The witnesses, I suppose...like Lebron James' tshirts or whatever.
Meanwhile, congratulations to the Perfect Strangers and to the Bayside Tigers for having such impressive days. An extra Congrats to the Strangers for capturing the title, bookending the inaugural 5 seasons of DcCityBall by winning our first and latest championship.
Also, thanks to the one PourHowzers member who showed up. Good times, I won't out you.
Anyway, next post will have more of the recap details, picture awards, and zany anecdotes to which you've grown so accustomed.
Let me leave you today, with a little insight to the events of the party:
As you all know, DcCityBall Umpire Henry Thayer has recently relocated to New York City, New York and is no longer with the DC offices, but I thought it important for the people of DcCityBall to know the reasons why.
Back in June, Commissioner David Sack attended the National Boy-and-Girl Softball Convention (or BAGS-CON), in Butte, Montana to catch up on all 2008 softball rule and mandate reforms. Among other changes (the banning of barbecue flavored sunflower seeds, the restriction of tube sock length to under 12 inches from ankle to calf, and after years of battling, the formal recognition of the rally cap as an accepted hat style) the main topic of debate at BAGS-CON was umpire facial hair. The result was this:
The 2008 Mandate on Umpire Mustache Uniformity (MUMU). Article 3 of section 1 of said decree clearly states :
We, the governing body of Boy-Girl Semi-Competitive Softball, shall hereupon recognize the following two(2) and only two(2) facial hair styles as official, within our leagues : 1)Clean-shaven 2) Fully bearded. Any facial style not conforming to the aforementioned mandate will require immediate alteration or the host of said facial hair will face official reprimand.
Normally, such a decree would have little to no effect on DcCityBall -- Jon Macy and Ryan Hemingway are clean-shaven, Dave Sack and myself are usually fully bearded, and Erin Williams is a female, but this year we employed a young barbed rebel by the name of Henry Thayer.
News of the MUMU decree sent Thayer into an unshaven rage. Unable to fully grow a beard which covers his entire sub-nasal facial hemisphere, and unwilling to shave cleanly because his child-like appearance keeps him from purchasing cigarettes and renting cars, Thayer went on a hairy warpath. Though verbally reprimanded weekly by the Commissioner, Henry defiantly worked his way from banned stache to banned stache, creating a veritable quilt-work of American facial hair history.
First, he grew a pencil thin John Waters which quickly morphed into the equally dramatic Vincent Price.
The Price begot the Burt Reynolds, and Reynolds begot a full on Selleck.
Fu-Manchu to the fabled Burnside, Thayer spat in the face of BAGS-CON.
Aside from creating an on- and off-field distraction, Henry Thayer was disrespecting the governing body of the sport we all hold dear. Finally, as the playoffs approached, Commissioner Sack decided that Thayer, despite his prodigious potential as an official, was doing the league more harm than good. Sack transferred the young umpire to a northern affiliate.
Flash forward to earlier this September when the governing body met again to discuss the fallout from the MUMU decree : Realizing, thanks to Jason Giambi that alternative stache-styles DO have a place on the diamond, the body rescinds the former decision.
Commissioner Sack, forced to swallow his pride, welcomes Thayer back with "open arms."
But Henry, never one to forget a grudge, has something to say:
Luckily, because of the intense camaraderie of the latest DEYP, the hatchet was finally buried, and Thayer, though still working for our NYC affiliate, has officially been reinstated as a DcCityBall official, and will be welcome to officiate any time he is in town.
Now you know the whole story.
Check back later in the week, or early next week for a few new posts, including a photo-recap of the party.
Till then, watch your stubble.
-Play ball!
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