I haven’t seen it first hand, but in the last year or so, some highly competitive league has formed on the other side of my small town… the side with affluent professionals / young gentrifiers and all their local political clout, and they’ve taken over the parks system on that side.
so I’ve taken it upon myself and recruited a few others to invent a fictitious shadow league/association from the part of town where the real people live. we play on “pop up courts” with chalk marks like behind dying strip malls on loose gravel. we can’t play consistently in any one place and have to be secretive, because the cops will shut us down/rough us up/make examples. classic underdogs, raw talent, limited resources (can’t afford association fees), and the only true appreciation of the game in town.
and a key feature of the rumor is that they are afraid to even acknowledge our existence. also that [made up person] is the best player in town, except they were secretly banned from association play because they don’t look like what the rich people want their champions to look like.
I have never once played this game. I used to play in a “social league” of mixed gender softball. this town has social & competitive leagues for everything. and the problem is, once the hierarchy is set in the competitive league (which is always vicious), some group of competitive assholes forms a team and joins the social league to absolutely crush everyone and talk mad shit during games about how incredible they are. like in front of families. swearing, spitting, heckling. I’ve seen it across multiple sports, even goofy shit like kickball. the sports association never gives a shit, because they got their fees up front. and the fees are big.
I used to play team sports as a kid competitively, and to me it’s a sign of immaturity to take it seriously. team sports are a way to get to know each other and be active while literally engaging in play. so I’m injecting some play into this shit… because people who take any game, but especially this game seriously deserve to be mocked.
I haven’t seen it first hand, but in the last year or so, some highly competitive league has formed on the other side of my small town… the side with affluent professionals / young gentrifiers and all their local political clout, and they’ve taken over the parks system on that side.
so I’ve taken it upon myself and recruited a few others to invent a fictitious shadow league/association from the part of town where the real people live. we play on “pop up courts” with chalk marks like behind dying strip malls on loose gravel. we can’t play consistently in any one place and have to be secretive, because the cops will shut us down/rough us up/make examples. classic underdogs, raw talent, limited resources (can’t afford association fees), and the only true appreciation of the game in town.
and a key feature of the rumor is that they are afraid to even acknowledge our existence. also that [made up person] is the best player in town, except they were secretly banned from association play because they don’t look like what the rich people want their champions to look like.
I have never once played this game. I used to play in a “social league” of mixed gender softball. this town has social & competitive leagues for everything. and the problem is, once the hierarchy is set in the competitive league (which is always vicious), some group of competitive assholes forms a team and joins the social league to absolutely crush everyone and talk mad shit during games about how incredible they are. like in front of families. swearing, spitting, heckling. I’ve seen it across multiple sports, even goofy shit like kickball. the sports association never gives a shit, because they got their fees up front. and the fees are big.
I used to play team sports as a kid competitively, and to me it’s a sign of immaturity to take it seriously. team sports are a way to get to know each other and be active while literally engaging in play. so I’m injecting some play into this shit… because people who take any game, but especially this game seriously deserve to be mocked.