Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Speaking of awesome seasons...

Our softball team, the Pirate Monkeys, went all the way this year. You're reading the words of an A-League champ right now. We lost only one game (the one I missed -- coincidence?), and beat the pants off of everyone else (including that team in the playoffs).

I tried a new position this year at John's request, trading third base for pitcher, and I was very pleased with the move. For one thing, while I can throw straight during warm-ups, I throw like a wild baboon when there is pressure (you know, when it counts), so easy outs thrown from third to first typically went 8 feet wide in any direction. Even as pitcher I botched a few 10 foot throws to first. I don't know what my deal is. But as far as pitching went, I did pretty well. Struck a few people out, could throw strikes fairly consistently, and was backed up by a great bunch of fielders.

Here are a few pictures taken after the final game:


Wearing our championship shirts:
Amy was Team Mom and Number One Fan this year. She also let me use her glove since mine was stolen.

We had a great team this year. We had so many fun people, so many great personalities. Not pictured above are my brothers and Aaron Klett, who played with us for a few games and also contributed the the richness of the experience.

Here's the logo I drew for our shirts a few years ago. John Tiffin made them all up for each player with our names on the back and everything.


The idea for Pirate Monkeys came from a brainstorming session that I sent in an email to John. Here is the original list of ideas:
  • The Pirate Monkeys!
  • The Cadavers!
  • The Federal Duck! (stolen from Dave Barry)
  • Bon Apetite!
  • The Shawshank Redemption!
  • Schindler's List!
  • The Ox-Cows!
  • The Defeaters!
  • Undefeated!
  • Duty Calls!
  • Shufflers!
Pirate Monkeys came from my idea to use the two most played out icons of popular culture I could think of at the time. Another idea would have been the Random Awkward Chuck Norris Pirate Monkey Ninjas (which would probably have been really fun to draw).

8 comments:

Cyn said...

That looks like so much fun!

Anonymous said...

Pirate Monkeys came from my idea to use the two most played out icons of popular culture I could think of at the time.

I know pirates and ninjas are played out, but where in pop culture are monkeys played out except in the recesses of your fevered brain (and its lone outpost in the real world, this blog)?

Just because you can't not think about monkeys 24/7 doesn't everybody else always has monkey on the brain.

Ryan said...

Monkeys may not be as over-used as Ninjas or Pirates or Chuck Norris, but they've been overused for much longer than those. I admit that I am self-conscious about my own use of them which makes me hyper-sensitive to others' use, but I don't think I'm reaching that far.

Andrea said...

Looks like you guys had lots of fun. Next year you will have to let us know when the games are so we can come cheer at one. :)

Ryan said...

Sure thing! The games are even more fun than average softball because my teammates often contribute Witty Banter.

It'd be fun to have you guys there.

Anonymous said...

So Awesome! I didn't know you had "the Cardenas" on your team. Excellent.

How is it the Agadoni boys tend to obliterate any sports teams in their way? First Biola Lacrosse and now this!

Ryan said...

The Cardenas is a founding member of the team!

Who are you, ohnonotmoreteeth? How do you know of Agadonis and Cardenas?

Anonymous said...

What's the only possible combo of more played out icons than Pirate Monkeys?

Vampirates!

I just discovered an ad for this series of children's novels on the back cover of Final Crisis #1.