Category: Sports

Our playoff opponent was a very familiar one, the Lightning Donkeys. This season we were 2-0 against them, yet when we met in last season’s playoffs they were the team that sent us home. So we were hoping to continue with our season 2 trend to continue against them.

Unfortunately we would be without the services of Brian and Katie. We did attempt to recruit one time replacement player Laura (who did an amazing job), but sadly she couldn’t play that night. So we would be down to a squad of 4 girls for the night.

As game time approached, it was looking a bit on the bad side for us. We only had 3 guys with just minutes before the game began. However, just moments in time the remaining 3 did show up and we would have a solid squad of 6 to work with on the night.

In the opening matches we played pretty poorly. I don’t know if we were too tense, not warmed up enough of being short a girl was the detriment. All I know is that we were not playing nearly as well as I’ve seen us play this season. The guys seemed a bit dejected with our poor start, which worried me. It was very early in the match still, and we could easily come back at this point.

Luckily are girls did settle in and began to win matches for us. Steph had an amazing game, the best I’d ever seen her play. The other girls all stepped up their game as well and fought valiantly as 4 against 5.

Down 8-4 and now facing elimination, our guys had finally awoken. I don’t know what took us so long. We were finally not only playing well, but playing extremely well as a team. Some of those late matches were perhaps the finest team dodgeball we had ever played.

Jared was making big catches, bringing back players for our side. Shawn, Jonathan, and myself were all throwing great. It was probably the best I had overall been throwing all season. I was able to let it rip with little inflammation in the shoulder for a rare night. Kevin as stepped it up and was playing brilliantly with us all as well too.

However, despite our late gutsy rally, the hole we found ourselves in was too deep on this night. Down 1 girl against Meghan, she made an amazing catch on a fantastic throw by Meghan to end our season.

I was really disappointed that we weren’t able to win and play next week, but was very proud of how hard everyone fought even when the odds greatly against us. I was truly honored to of played along this group. It was so much fun.

Later on I did head out with many of the Honey Badgers to the after activities at the Windjammer. What a fun buch we’ve got. I really enjoyed hanging out with everyone and coming up with ideas of future activities.

Can’t wait for kickball season.

This week we faced the unbeaten over 2 seasons Ghostbusters. They’re very good, hence the whole never losing a game thing.

Before the game Dustin approached me to let me know that he was still feeling sore and would like to take it easy tonight. I was personally hoping to do the same for the same reasons he had, so I guess my plan of rest was kinda out the window. Hard throwing Jonathan also was very sore from the previous week and we shut him down after the first match. So, not only were we playing the best team, but we would be facing them not at our finest.

While our guys were in an overall weakened state that night, our girls with free agent signing for the week Laura were the opposite. They played great, handing the Ghostbuster girls numerous defeats throughout the night.

It was great to see them play together so well. You’d of thought Laura played with us all season, she was a great teammate for the night. I’m still amazed at Caitlin’s energy she brings every game, she just doesn’t stop. Steph also made a couple of big catches for us too.

Our guys on the other hand were clearly outclassed and dominated all night. They completely destroyed us 8-0. Many of the matches lasted mere seconds it was so bad at times.

However, one match I found myself down 5 against 1. Granted the average life expectancy of 1 against 5 Ghostbusters is probably under 5 seconds, I would someone go on to put on a dodging clinic that would’ve made the great Kevin proud.

Facing a constant barrage of heat, I just ran, ducked, leaped, and plain old got lucky for several minutes. I knew that the odds of me winning were pretty slim, however I hoped that if I could survive long enough it might tire their hard throwing arms out.

Though I got them down to 4 with a decent peg myself, they did eventually get me. It was hilarious that I got so much congratulations for losing a match, but it really summed the uphill struggle our guys were facing that night.

Next week is the playoffs against the Lightning Donkeys. We’re 2-0 against them in the regular season and hopefully we can continue that winning trend against them. If we’re back to being healthy next week, I do like our chances.

Last night’s game against Vicious and Delicious was anther fun battle. We had played them back in week won and narrowly loss to them, and sadly had the same fate this time around too. Despite wearing pink, they have a very aggressive style of play and it favored them in the end.

First off, their girls are very solid. The majority of them have legit cannons for arms, especially former Honey Badger Jen. It was fun to watch them play. They really dominated our usually steady girls last night, winning practically all of their matches. Our girls did keep several matches close, and even was able to take some at the end of the night.

Our guys, down to five last night played in all the games and played in them very well. Despite losing our first match (my throw that was caught near the end really turned the momentum), we would go on to win the majority of the matches that night.

Jonathan was bringing some serious heat last night. I did my best to feed him as often as I could so he could continue to launch lasers towards the other side of the court. Dustin had several noble stands as well. All in all I was very proud of how our guys played all night.

It was nice to play against former Honey Badger Mike too. He’s a good sport and always fun to taunt. I’m still not sure how he was able to play with the amount of swelling he had on a finger  on his throwing hand. That thing was most blue and swollen.

Most other nights we’d of walked away with a win, but the Vicious and Delicious girls were just simply dominant last night. Another fun game, and looking forward to the playoffs in 2 weeks.

Wow, another dramatic victory for the Honey Badgers. This one was a epic overtime battle with the Lightning Donkeys. A true battle.

It was Valentines’s Day, so I gave all my teammates cool animal card’s with tattoos. I figured that they were the closest to being Honey Badgerish since they were animals too. The gesture was kindly received so that was really nice.

However, all kindness would be thrown out the door once our game began. It was fierce and action packed, with neither team able to distance itself from one another.

Our guys didn’t have our sharpest night, losing the majority of matches to the Donkey’s guys. We just couldn’t really get things going for some reason. The Donkeys did play very well, and do have numerous unorthodox deliveries on their side, which made for some confusion on our end.

Luckily due to a dominate performance by our girls, they were able to keep us in the game. They were dominant last night, especially the Ludgate sisters. Thank god they were assigned to our team last season, I really don’t know where we’d be without Caitlin and Meghan. After a guy loss, they would stop the bleeding with a victory.

Things were so close all night, that eventually we found ourselves going to overtime. Overtime consists of the best of 3 series, with a co-ed roster containing a minimum of 2 girls.

I immediately assigned Meghan and Caitlin for our 2 girls and then tried to pick out 3 guys who were playing well last night. For the first game that was Dustin, Shawn and Kevin.

What an exciting first game of overtime. At one point we were down to just the Ludgate’s and things seemed bleak. However, the Donkey’s guys had the fatal error of being kind and not finishing off our girls. Big mistake, they played against guys all last season and can’t be taken lightly.

A few amazing catches later and we had the numbers for a moment. Then were mowed down to just Kevin remaining. Kevin is an amazing dodger, perhaps the best in the entire league. However, with the numbers he was facing he would really need to come up with a catch at some point and get some help. A worn our Donkey’s side let loose a lighter toss and Kevin took advantage. Bringing Shawn back in. Despite some sheer craziness Shawn was able to secure the victory for us. I’m still scratching my head on how we were able to win that first game of overtime. Amazing.

The second game was almost equal in it’s insanity. A true back and forth game finding us down in numbers very early. Again our girls came up with some amazing plays to bring back our guys who were eliminated early. Upon mere seconds returning Jared made a huge catch which finally swung the game into our favor. By sheer guts Brian, now the last Honey Badger standing, was facing greater numbers. A solid throw took our the last guy Donkey.

It was just Brian and a very brave girl on the Donkeys. She did an admirable job holding her own with Brian. He was just too much, ripping some amazing throws in her direction. Despite her best efforts he was able to eventually get her, and the Honey Badgers had gotten another victory.

The biggest difference this season to last is that we’re winning the close games. We are used to being right there, but until this season wasn’t able to close it out. I was so proud of the team last night, and am not sure if my nerves can handle this much dodgeball anxiety each and every week.

Last night was truly an epic game for the ages, an Instant Classic. Grit was displayed on both sides, with the most unlikely of heroes saving the day!

The game pitted us against the Banzai Executioners. Winning the opening toss I elected to have our girls start things off. Scouting their girls I thought we matched up well with them and thought they could start us off with a win.

The girls took care of business and got us off to an great start. I knew they’d bring a solid effort and would give us a great shot throughout the night. Our guys then went out there and matched the girls performance. I personally felt pretty good (for a change), throwing some decent heat and hitting several targets throughout the night.

Before we knew it, the Honey Badgers were up 5 matches to 1. I made the mistake of thinking that we had this in the bag. Before we knew it, it was 5-3, then somehow 6-6. The Banzai Executioners really started to find a rhythm and had taken momentum.

I really didn’t want us to lose this one, and neither did any one else who calls themselves a Honey Badger on this night.

In must win games, the girls kept us alive with some huge victories. Meghan was simply dominant throughout the night. Throwing, catching, making intelligent plays. A nearly flawless game. Caitlin brought her usually spark of hustle and intelligence to the court as well.

Also of worthy note were the performances by Lauren as well. She has improved so much from last season and narrowly missed by the smallest margins on some of the best throws I’ve seen from her. Katie showed last night that you don’t have to necessarily throw people out to help the team. Her hustle and determination in making sure that players had ammo at all times as well as making sure that nothing could be caught by the enemy doesn’t show up in stats, but surely does in wins. Wow, Steph was on a mission herself last night too, every improving.

I would sum up our guys by pointing out that they were a true team last night. I had to practically force guys in to play at times, because everyone wanted to make sure that their teammates had gotten a chance to play. It was great to see such camaraderie and it ultimately led to us playing better as a team.

Back to the action, the matches were tied 7-7. After being up 5-1 at one point, we really needed the girls to win the next match. I let them know of it’s importance and sat back and watched them do their thing. They were amazing and made relatively short work of the match.

Up 8-7 now and it was getting rather late we needed to send 5 guys up there for what would hopefully be our last game. With the momentum shift, I really didn’t want this one to go to overtime.

Again our guys were selfless, and just wanted to do what was best for the team. I decided to sit out and our five went at it against their five. Early on we got their hardest thrower out and I knew then that we had hope. It was a true pleasure to watch both teams, as both rosters were being dwindled down.

Then somehow there were only 2 remaining, one on each team. Not only were both teams down to 1 player, but for each side it was an unlikely player. For us, it was Jared (aka The Shepherd, The Ninja). Wow, you could really feel the tension in the gym. I honestly just stared and nervously had my hands to my face at this point.

The lone Executioner had all 4 balls and was mounting an offensive. The first a strong throw which Jared had gotten out of it’s trajectory. The next a strike to Jared belly. However, on this fateful night that strike to Jared’s bellow was caught by the noble Jared himself!

The gymnasium erupted as we all celebrated with Jared on this most amazing catch to win the game! I was so excited for him and and the team!

As captain my dream is that every player has one shot at being a hero for just a moment. We’re adults now and frankly, their aren’t too enough “heroic” moment in my opinion. However, sometimes a silly game like dodgeball played amongst a great bunch of people, mixed with some high stakes drama can produce a heroic  moment for a very deserving guy.

Great game, lot’s of fun. I’d also like to note that Steve did an amazing job running the game. As a ref he had control all night long and kept things going smoothly.