2-3

Team "Balls to the Wall" (disclaimer: I didn't pick the name) is the first kickball team in the history of my company's division. I signed up to play on this historic team with some hesitation considering I hadn't played kickball in a few years and I don't exactly remember being the MVP last time I played (shout out to Team Jim-Jin!). When everyone that signed up or was recruited to play committed what had formed was a team I lovingly refer to as a team of misfits. I honestly didn't think we would win a game all season.

Generally I would say I'm a competitive person but in situations where I go into an event knowing it's highly likely that I will lose I can better prepare myself to handle the loss and take it more lightly should it happen. Such was the case for our first game, however I was pleasantly surprised and shocked when we actually WON our first two games! I really couldn't believe it but we were actually undefeated for a period of 5 weeks*! (*we won our first two games and then the next 3 games were postponed due to rain but we were still undefeated that whole time).

Unfortunately after the rain out period ended we started to perform how I originally thought we would...and are now 2-3, since we've lost our last three games. The latest loss last night was a whopping 14-1. Since we're now 5 games in, I thought I would share some observations and lessons learned thus far through my experience of playing sports with co-workers should you ever find yourself in a similar situation:

1. Your boss is still your boss on the field; it's best not to yell at him/her when he/she makes a mistake.
2. You will be ridiculed at the office for any and all mistakes made on the field for a long, long time...possibly for the rest of your career at that office. This may also result in new unwanted nicknames.
   
3. Be prepared that some of your co-workers may wear interesting athletic gear such as jeans or sweatbands in all seriousness, don't make a joke unless you know for certain they are wearing such gear as a joke in an attempt to be funny.
4. The great majority of office water cooler talk will start to consist of kickball strategies such as who should play each position, the kicking order, and which direction to bunt.
5. Try to avoid participating in the game if someone is videoing footage to be played at the company wide meeting, note that errors will likely be replayed several times in slow motion.

That's all the advice I can offer as of now. We have a double header next week and then the playoffs start (I know what you're thinking but everyone makes the playoffs so yes we'll get to play). I'll let you know how it goes and may even try to get some video on the blog. Maybe.