Trav's Travels: Antarctic Softball Champions!

12/25/19

Because we have 2 cargo ships and a fuel tanker coming into port this year and because the softball tournament is played at the wharf, the softball tournament was moved up to be played on Christmas Day. Elisha and I were part of the Solar-Helos-Enviro-Supply team. Our team name was the Leftovers (aka Grab-n-Go as that is what the McMurdo leftover food station is called) because we were made up of people from small departments. Our first game was against the Galley, which we won 20 something to 0. Then we beat Waste pretty handily. In the championship we beat the Carpenters (a perennial favorite to win) something along the lines of 8-2. SO WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS and got to host the tournament trophy above home plate.

I had a really great tournament! I had 4 or 5 home runs (can’t quite remember with all the adrenaline), had a double, and a single. Although they don’t officially give one out, I was probably the tournament MVP. I had some good catches in left field including the crowd favorite, which was a catch at my shoestrings after a full run into foul territory. During the game, the PA announcer/heckler booth who was a player from the waste team kept saying “see that’s why the waste team is made we didn’t get Travis Guy” or “Eric you were so lucky to get Travis on your team, he should be on our team”. Enviro and Wasties are considered to be “cousins” so they had thought I might play on their team. After the tournament, everyone was super stoked about my playing, and it felt pretty good! Elisha unfortunately couldn’t play b/c of her injured knee. I was worried it might affect our team’s chance to win since she’s really good (Last year she was the only girl to hit a home run and we had the famous Guyser back to back homeruns. But she cheered valiantly from the dugout and gave us moral support.

Since there aren't true over-the-fence home runs since we have no fence, the way to hit a home run is to hit it over the outfields' head. This means that no home run is just a trot around the bases, it's a sprint to get home before outfielders get the ball to home plate. Something that the crowd seemed to like is that if someone on my team was on 1st or 2nd base when I hit a deep ball, I would catch them and be urging them faster to get to home and cross home instantly after they crossed home

We had great weather for softball. 37F as the high, with little wind and bright sunshine. The softball game had its fun quirks that it always has. There are the hecklers that are very creative. This year the hecklers also had signs with things such as "nice ass". They grill burgers and hot dogs. And this year they had 2 story high bleachers with the score board in a better position. The best addition this year was the pamplemousse press made out of La Croix cans (pamplemousse is a flavor of la croix. A couple people sat in the pamplemousee press box and called the game and teased and heckled. There are also some special rules. No one walks, so if you get "walked" you instead have to hit off the tee. No one likes to hit off the tea b/c it can be difficult since we're not used to it.

To advertise for the softball tournament, a flyer was hung around the station in advance of the games. I thought it was cool, so I am writing it out here

McM SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
(on the wharf, Wednesday, December 25th, Noon til 7pm-ish)

To play softball is not just to run, catch, hit, and throw.
It is to live in the softball world.

To play softball, you must care about softball, to have a stake in it, to think about it.
The serious softball spectator would do well to follow suite...to CARE..to THINK

To some, softball seems boring, but it is boring in the way physics or classical music is boring.
If you do not know what is going on, it is indeed mind-numbingly, excruciatingly boring

We live in a time when, at the first hint of boredom, we instinctively reach for our phones.
But, you should sit with that boredom, give your mind a chance to fill the void with thought.

The leisurely pace of softball invites and allows the spectator to ponder each individual play.
These thoughts are not just part of the game, but are actually integral to it.
Take away this reflection and you are left with mere activity, with something robots could do.
This is not softball.

And, once you have been brought into it, once you have been given the eyes to see, it is actually a game of immense tactical complexity
In fact, you may find that it is hard to keep up with how much is happening at a given moment

The strike zone is an area of responsibility...for the pitcher AND the batter.
Every at-bat is an epic opportunity for self-actualization... for every player on the field.
As for softball itself, it is a domain of play; it is a field of thought; it is an exercise...a DANCE

I say, save us from today's ramped-up, multi-interrupted, selfie-consumed, fast-paced world!
We need to slow down. We need to turn off. We need to UNPLUG.
We need to start things and not know when they are going to end.
We need time spent at the ballpark, time spent outside of real time.

In the end, our 1-day tournament...like a good conversation, or a friendship...has no fixed end.
It will take however long it takes to become whatever it is going to be.

Play ball.