Tag: dodgeball

The Honey Badgers had a pretty good victory over a depleted Vicious and Delicious squad last night, winning 9-7. Despite only having 4 guys and 3 girls playing, V& D really gave us a serious run for our money last night.

While our guys struggled through most tof the night, our girls really came through for us again. Another big week by Meghan and a ton of big catches by Julie gave us early wins.

However as the matches wore on, Honey Badger of the Week Caitlin really shined. She practically single handedly won us two and probably three matches on the night with her hustle and smart play.

John B. continues to improve to a dominant player with his strong arm. We just need to find a way to keep his elbow healthy and we should continue to play well. Jared got off to a strong start, but showed that he hasn’t gotten his dodgeball legs under him as he showed signs of fatigue. But his early throws were great.

A great victory and against a pretty great team. There was very little arguing, etc. from both sides (expect wild man Kevin), just some fun dodgeball.

I did get to throw a bit with my left arm before the game which was great. I currently throw weak and very wild, but it was still great to get some tosses in.

This week the Honey Badgers faced the dreaded double header! Two games in one night means a whole lot of throwing and wear and tear on the body. Luckily Lauren was able to play tonight which really helped our girls out and Joey joined the ranks to give us a full guys roster with Pete our with a quad injury.

Our first match was against the Banzai Executioners. The Executioners had some new additions this week and looked to be more formidable than in week 1 (they had a very depleted roster). The matches were quite fun. Our girls did an amazing job, winning nearly all of their matches, though the Executioners kept them all close

Our guys despite losing some early matches really came alive around the midway point and turned things around. John B. clearly figured the game out and was huge for the Badgers last night. Kevin also played perhaps the most intelligent dodgeball I’ve seen him play. His wise decisions saved him a lot of energy that he’d normal be using up in past seasons. Jared was also very solid on the night coming up with numerous big catches and getting a couple of pegs in there too.

We would wind up defeating the Banzai Executioners in a great game. They were tough, but we were able to edge them out in some really close matches.

The later game was against the Terror Squad who quite frankly has the Honey Badgers number. Despite great battles they always seem to come out on top. Despite our best efforts and continued great play, sadly the trend continued with a loss to the Terror Squad.

The previous game took just enough out of us that it was hard to win some of the later games. Also of note was the frequency of left buttocks injuries to our team. John B. and Caitlin both sustained left buttocks injuries in completely different ways on the night. Truly craziness, no buttocks was safe on the night!

I really liked what I saw from our team last night. All of our new players really seemed to get the game now and were great for us. I can’t wait to see how this season plays out.

Even though I’m still unable to play due to an elbow injury, the first night of dodgeball was still quite a fun event. It felt like the first day of grade school where you see all these dodgeball friends whom you haven’t seen in several months.

It was great to get caught up with old rivals and hear what they’ve been up to. It’s also amazing just how many people are kind enough to ask how my elbow is healing up. I was surprised that several of the people even recognized me as the injured elbow guy without my post-op brace on.

After showing off scars and trading old injury stories, I got to meet and introduce the new crop of Honey Badgers this fall.

We’ve got many returning players from last season: Kevin, Dustin, Jared, Caitlin and Meghan and welcomed some new comers in Julie, John B. Libby, Ginny and Pete. A solid mix of old and new.

The only real drawback to opening night was that we would be facing off against the Ghostbusters whom are yet to lose a game in 2+ seasons. So I was sure to remind our new players that the game will only get easier in upcoming weeks and not every team throws as well as they do.

They did go on to beat us pretty soundly, but our girls did win several matches for us. I think we’re going to have another solid girl squad this season lead by the Ludgates again. Once our new comers figure things out, we should be a squad to look out for.

Our guys on the other hand look like we might need to work on a bit more. I’d really like to add a few more guys so that we can rotate our older arms a bit more as the season wears on. They do play well together as a team and that should work to our advantage as the season goes on.

A pleasant surprise was that 5-time Honey Badger Lauren stopped by and played for us as well! It was great to have her on hand and her veteran presence really helped our new girls out. It will be strange not having her there every week, but we hope her the best in her new endeavors and she will always be an honorary Honey Badger.

I really look forward to Tuesday nights and watching the team improve. I’m still crossing my fingers that the doctors will clear me to play at some point this season, but I think I still have a ways to go.

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.