8/4/97
Softball: New Time/New Rules (The Velvet Jackboot of a Tormented Secular Humanist)
Dear People,
There will be a game this Saturday at 12 NOON at kleeberger IF I get the minimum number of commits by this Thursday night. I had to move up the time since both fields were taken from 3pm onward by Cal flag-football teams.
Kudos to all on last weekend's somewhat less than stellar 19-11 blowout, in which my own team fought with desperately tender dignity.
In order to smoothly manage the growing popularity of these games, I am going to experiment with a couple new guidelines:
1) You are no longer guaranteed a place in the festivities if:
a) You fail to make the first commit deadline,
b) You show up late (i.e.....after the game has started), AND
c) There are already 22 people playing.
[i.e....if all three criteria apply to you]
2) If I still end up having to beg for players after the first deadline, and you still don't commit before I actually call a game on Friday (i.e....for all practical purposes, you never commit for that particular game), you are not guaranteed a space even if you're on time, if 22 people show up before you. I will let everyone know how many players we have when the game is definitively announced, so noncommitters can decide if they want to risk coming.
Please note that these rules apply to invited friends, so when you commit, let me also know about them, or they won't be considered as having made "the big C."
For those of you who have studied law or logic, you can no doubt bombard me with scenarios that test the ethical edges of my little game plan. And as a cuddly internationalist who believes in
open borders, I am hesitant to put into place this most gentle
of organizational iron fists (especially when you're trying to assimilate the new game time; take deep breaths and try to stay centered). Still, I've chewed on the proverbial logistical cud, and
now believe this is a reasonable modification in order to keep the games manageable and fun for those who want to play the most.
If I get enough commits in the first place, I won't have to send
out both mass and personal pleas evoking Madisonian Democracy, aerobic communal spiritualism, Sweedish umlauts, Chocalate goo, and other such garden variety gibberish. The fact is that these harangues have been effective, and that's why we've had over populated games for three weeks in a row. My hope is that the guidelines now put into place will result in magnificent matches where the 18-22 most eager souls will be able to play, knowing at last that there is plenty of room to catch, throw, roam and, of course, graze.
A couple brief asides:
1) You're welcome to make comments or let me know if you
have other suggestions, either by mail, or by bringing them up at Kleeberger. But please do not start another round of "respond to all" debates. Many people have email only at work, and probably would prefer not to get so many letters on a topic of admittedly precarious relevance to the daily travails of everyday life (Yes, I realize that given the length of this missive, this last paragraph presents a certain patina or irony).
2) Do not park in Kleeberger lot without paying the $3 fee! Recent bitter experience reveals that the tickets are $28. The victim is a cherished friend, a good man, and a sublime infielder. But the impertinent tentacles of the Berkeley city bureaucracy cares
little of such fine attributes. Life is so harsh.
C'est tout: 16+ commits gets a Friday go-ahead....Ray
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