At our last league night, we finished the first two banks, “Woundwort” and “Hyzenthlay.” Alas, writing this recap is forcing me to relive one of my all-time very worst league sessions. I think last time I had a league night this bad Obama was president. I’m inclined to make excuses for it – I’d had little sleep the previous night and then in the afternoon I had a rhizotomy in my back, which is a procedure to try to burn some nerves off to alleviate pain. It was pretty painful and my back hadn’t entirely recovered from it yet. Devon asked me if I had forgotten it was league night when I scheduled the appointment. I hadn’t, but I also wanted to get it done as soon as possible and that’s when they could do it. So, perhaps this accounts for my playing like a chump. Or a chimp. A chimp who’s a chump.
On the other hand, that excuse doesn’t seem to quite work since before league started I put a really big game on Getaway, which was our Tuesday Night Smackdown game. I managed to do a decent enough game in the finals, too, and won the Smackdown. How the heck did I manage to do that in a group that also included Tim? (Getaway is Tim’s BFF.)
But enough about me, let’s talk about Joseph. He wants me to point out that he felt betrayed by James Bond, which didn’t go too well for him. Now for the parts of the league that aren’t the Nebus-Kendrick household rivalry: Since this was an even numbered night, that means that we now have the final results for both banks. Danny triumphed over Woundwort, in large part thanks to a massive 423M on Metallica. Hyzenthlay’s champion was Peter, who had a great Star Wars and a massive (917M) James Bond. Since everyone drops their two worst banks, everyone is still officially tied for first in the league rankings. I sure hope Hyzenthlay is going to be one of my drops all season. Starting tonight at our third session, the drops will actually start to mean something.
The least fun thing about our last league night wasn’t my terrible play. It was that I had to make the easiest but worst TD call and give New Mark (Mark L., as opposed to Mark Classic, AKA Mark C.) a disqualification for playing out of turn. I always feel bad when someone makes that mistake. Remember, everyone, it pays to be a paranoid plunger. Every time you are about to launch the ball, remind yourself what player number you are, check the sheet if you need to, and then check the display. This league has no official rule about player order, but whatever your group decides on, make sure you know what it is. Since I usually favor rotating in my groups, I usually write a tiny number in the corner of the boxes on the score sheet to remind me who is what player each game. It also helps to have a consistent rotation so that the each person will always follow the same person.
This was a rather long league night. We had 22 players attend (including another new joiner, Dale), so in each bank there were two groups of four and one of three, and there were frequent backups. It was after 10 pm when we started playing off the Smackdown matches. As previously mentioned, I won the championship on Getaway. Joseph won in the B division “undercard” match, on Indiana Jones.
That’s the wrap-up for league night #2. Our next league night is happening tonight, and we’ll be playing banks “Hazel” and “Bigwig.” Actually, I just like a chance to say the bank names again. See you all soon, I hope! It’s not too late to join for the season.