Dodgeball

Everyone's favorite sport in junior high was dodgeball, unless you were the awkward, un-athetlic type that cowered in the corner that was forced to absorb the psychological torment that apparently was so intolerable that our cowardly public schools felt the need to abolish this sport.

This long-lost relic of P.E. classes is apparently going strongly for the 20-30 year old crowd that may or may not work hard during the day but still has a desire to live like they are young. I gave the Los Angeles Dodgeball Society Stay Puft League shot and I'm sold.

Social sports can be a tricky thing, some of us want formally arranged teams and matches, but we're otherwise informal and non-competitive and simply want to socialize. With that attitude, one can find themselves either stuck in an overly Fisher Price environment with a little too much of an everyone-can-win mentality, or you end up on the other end of the pendulum amongst the serious douche bags that want to WIN WIN WIN. I've been in both environments and they equally suck.

Michael Costanza must have felt the same way when he organized the Stay Puft league. There is a mixture of the athletes and newbies that simply want to go and socialize, but while athleticism certainly helps, it simply makes the difference of dodging a few more shots or hitting a few more people and the lack of that trait does not undermine the game. Also, for the most part, people appeared not take the sport seriously enough to become all competitive. Michael has stated many times that he hates "Dodgeball dicks".

All of this is played under the backdrop of a alternative universe where today's 20-30 year olds are trapped somewhere between the 70's, 80's, as evidenced by the apparel, hair styles, choice of sport, and soundtrack blared over the soundsystem.

I would have stayed later for the obligatory post-game trip to the Happy Ending bar on Sunset Blvd if it weren't for the fact I need to save my energy for the REM concert today. I think I stumbled on to a really good thing here and I can't wait for future games. I'll always be on the lookout for more recurring fun events like this that force to to not take life so seriously.