The Sport Report – Sept. 23, 2014
Tyler Burroughs, Intramural Sports Graduate Assistant
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT
Name: Nathan O’Rielly
Year in school: Senior
Major: Finance
Hometown: Roswell, GA
One interesting fact: Nathan played football in high school
Favorite intramural sport: Ultimate Frisbee or Flag Football
How long have you been playing intramurals: This is Nathan’s fourth year playing
Favorite intramural sport moment: “Winning doubles table tennis”
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TEAM HIGHLIGHT
Team name: Cleats N Cleavage
How did you come up with that name: “We’ve been here for two years and we have had the same name for all of the sports that we’ve played”
How did you form your intramural team: Friends from back home in Sandersville and Henry County
Favorite intramural sport moment: “When we won back-to-back softball championships”
EMPLOYEE LIMELIGHT
Name: Hutton Sellers
Year in School: Sophomore
Major: Sport Management
Hometown: Dalton, GA
One interesting fact: Hutton is a certified skydiver
Employee roll in intramural sports: He is a first year scorekeeper. We caught him on his first solo shift working flag football
Why do you work for intramural sports: “I thought it would be a good way to get involved on campus and make a little money”
Favorite part about working for intramurals: “The all CRI training, it was fun to meet a bunch of new people”
The Sport Report
The day has finally come when we have crowned our first true intramural champions of the year! Typically we are also able to gear up for the Fall Softball champions around this time as well, but Mother Nature has had other plans for that particular area. Luckily, our indoor sports dodged a bullet by not having to deal with the elements (terrible pun intended).
The dodgeball season began in earnest with 26 mens teams and six Co – Recreational teams charging towards the center line with hopes of winning their respective championships. On the Co-Recreational side, there were only two teams that made enough of an impression to make it to the playoffs. Sitting Ducks and the Centennial Place Pink Panthers squared off, with the Sitting Ducks winning in dramatic fashion three games to two. The Mens division sent eighteen teams to the playoffs but only one would win the last game. The championship pitted 5-1 Blessed Life against the undefeated Passholes. On paper, the championship looked like it would turn out to be quite the intense contest. After it was all said and done, the game was intense but not for the competitive reasons that we had hoped for. The Passholes ran away with the championship, winning 3-0.
During this championship game, a terrible truth finally dawned on me: Intramural Dodgeball is unnecessarily intense in the worst possible fashion. I understand, there is something invigorating about heaving objects at other people in an attempt to hit them with as much force as possible. Its likely just an instinctual lust for dominance. All this set aside, dodgeball is a playground game. This game is a staple in elementary school P.E. classes, so why does it cause such an issue? Because we have a scapegoat for players: officials. I have never seen a game in any sport where the unjustified scrutiny of officials was so rampant. I will say this, dodgeball is a difficult sport to officiate. I have officiated three different sports at varying levels of competition and I personally do not want to officiate dodgeball because of the difficulty. There are only two sets of eyes watching up to 16 players and six balls flying around. Add in the necessity to watch the boundary lines and you have a recipe for a tough assignment.
But hey, what do I know? The losing team could have been right. It could have been absolutely been the stripes fault that they got swept 3-0 in the championship game. Was it though? Not a chance.
Posted in Sport Reports
