Saturday, June 1, 2013
Watertown, Massachusetts
Schedule
Participants
Dave (17th), Marc (17th), Span (), Mehr (), Brian (), Eugene (), Eric (5th), Matt ()
Videos
Anecdotes
Reviews
The planning for the 17th annual MBBB began when...
Travel
Very often, MBBB is hosted on Long Island which tends to be a centralized location for the MBBB members. However, with this year's event being held just outside of Boston, everybody but David had a lot of traveling for the weekend. Eugene surprised the rest of the Strucks by announcing last minute that he was coming with them. Originally, Eugene had advised he was running a race called the Spartan Sprint. However, he advised that he changed his mind after speaking with Span. Span had also had plans for the day (a video game conference?), but abandoned them in favor of the Bash. The Strucks headed out on Friday night with Eugene in tow in order to avoid the rush hour traffic that frequents New York until about 7:00PM every night.
As Mehr and Span had further to come from, they took some time off from work and left earlier in the afternoon and before rush hour. They arrived a few hours before everyone else.
Matt arrived on Saturday morning while the game of Telephone Pictionary was going on. He had driven in from Syracuse in the morning.
Breakfast
Telephone Pictionary
This is when Matt arrived.
Bowling
After a game in which no teams were formed (?) and everyone just got their arms warm, a competitive game was set up based on the results of the first game. This led to a teams which seems decidedly lop-sided with Marc, David, Brian, and Span facing Mehr (generally the best bowler), Matt (who took bowling classes in college?), Eric, and Eugene. While the former team held its own for the first half of the game, it was only inevitable that the latter would extend to an insurmountable lead to win the game. The final score was 523 to 403 breaking down as Mehr (), Matt (), Eric (), and Eugene () against Marc (102), David (123), Brian (93), and Span (87).
**Note: need to confirm the individual scores here.
Lunch
While most of the members waited in the bowling alley lobby and discussed where they might want to eat lunch, Eric took the occasion to go to a nearby bridge and try to find a Geocache. Once he got back, everyone had somehow agreed that they wouldn't mind eating some bowling alley food. Therefore, they ascended the stairs and sat down at a table in the lonely restaurant/bar.
The menu consisted of standard bar fare; as there wasn't much of a crowd, the food came quickly and the crew was on to the next event in no time.
Kickball
After arriving at the park and claiming a field, teams were assembled and practice began. The teams ended up being Eric, Marc, Span, and Brian vs. Eugene, Mehr, David, and Matt. Unfortunately, the game ended up being delayed a bit as Eugene had accidentally ingested some butter at lunch (on the bread?) and suffered the consequences of being lactose-intolerant. However, it wasn't too long before Eugene was able to grin and bear it and so the game began (according to the box score, it looks like Eugene missed some of the 1st inning).
In the early innings, both teams found very little offense as the kickball of choice was very floaty. When a player kicked it short, it hung up in the air and was easily caught. When a player (like Mehr) kicked it long, it hung up in the air even longer. Even when players like Marc tripped over their own feet and scraped their elbows, scoring was limited. The score was tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the 7th inning when the team led by Mehr went on a scoring spree.
The pivotal play occurred with the based loaded and 1 out. David was on 1st base and Mehr was up to bat. Mehr hit a deep single and David went to round 2nd base for 3rd. But Eric made a tremendous throw which arrived at Span on 3rd base before David could get there. Amazingly though, David stopped short of 3rd and ran back to 2nd. Span and Marc were dumbfounded and couldn't even remember that they could just hit David with the ball to get him out. After a fair amount of complaining (by Marc), the play was ruled legal and the scoring continued until Eric's team agreed to concede the contest with the score at 11-2.
Here are the play-by-play results which were graciously and laboriously kept up by Span during the game:
Team 1: Eric, Marc, Span, and Brian
Team 2: Eugene, Mehr, David, and Matt
*Run Batted In
Dinner and Hanging Out
After kickball, the gang took to David's house to cool off and relax after exerting themselves in the summer heat. A few members sat inside while the rest sat outside on the front porch to catch the cool breeze. There was talk of driving out to an excellent mini-golf course, but ultimately it was decided that it was too hot and that they should get hydrated and eat dinner. After talking over some dinner options, take-out was agreed upon so that everyone could stay relaxed and eat at David's house.
A short walk was taken over to Andrea's House of Pizza in Watertown, MA to get sandwiches and drinks. Afterwards, everyone walked back to David's house and crammed into one of the bedrooms upstairs. Thankfully, Mehr had brought a portable air conditioner with him and it was enough relief to last the night. In addition to conversation, David set up his laptop so that everyone (but Marc specifically) could watch a playoff game between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers on TNT's website. David also provided a variety of candy, with multiple bags filled with confections being passed around the room.
Post-MBBB
Brian, Eric, Eugene, and Marc stopped at a Geocache on the way home. It was called the Tri-State Marker and marks where Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts touch.