2006 P&C Season Preview, Part 2
The trash talking has already begun, so it’s time for part two of my IM softball season preview.
You’ve already heard about the tradition that is P&C softball. Here is the rest of the story:
Key Teams:
The Swinging Bunts
Captained by FlyingV and also starring Maverick, BuckeyeBoy, Kimmmmmy, this team began play in the IM softball league in 2005. Although their first season was quite a success given the general lack of experience of many of the players on the team, they aptly met the expectations as P&C’s JV squad.
The Swinging Bunts scared a lot of quality teams in 2005. In one of their two meetings with the varsity squad (P&C) last year, they took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. However, their downfall in 2005 was the big inning where they made several defensive errors. That same game ended in a 9-3 P&C victory. If The Swinging Bunts can avoid the trap inning, they might just join the elite teams in the league this year, while still retaining their title as the most fun team in the league.
The Swarm
The Swarm are looking to regain their 2003 championship form this year. The Swarm and P&C have had many memorable showdowns over the past three years. Each team has won 3 times against the other over the past three seasons, and only the most recent meeting did not involve a lead change prior to the sixth inning (P&C’s 9-3 playoff win). The Swarm was not the same team at the end of 2005 after losing their power hitter to another company, but I am sure they will regroup and reload in 2006. They bring outstanding team defense with very few holes, so they can still win a lot of games even if they struggle to score runs this year.
Sacrifice Flies
The actuarial interns have formed a team this year. Although they will miss the first month of the season and will be gone by the time the playoffs start, they bring an added dimension to the office trash talk this summer. No one has any idea if this team will be any good, or if they will even be able to have enough girls to play each week (since FlyingV signed up some interns that didn’t actually say that they would play this summer). Regardless, they will be another sacrificial lamb on P&C’s quest for a league title.
The Assholes
The Assholes, aka Son of a Pitch, are searching for their third consecutive league championship and probably their 6th or 7th title in the past 7 or 8 years. They may win the title every year, but I can’t imagine that it is any fun to play on that team. They return their star player who was sidelined with an injury in 2005 (former minor league baseball player that played ‘AA’ and possibly ‘AAA’ ball for the Red Sox). Their captain rarely plays in big games. He prefers to sit out since he is not as good as the other guys and doesn’t want to cost his team the game. However, the SOP captain loves to berate the umpire and question every call while he is riding the pine. Rumor has it some players are told not to even show up for big games since they only play their best players in the big games. This blatantly violates P&C rule #1 (every P&C player that shows up to a game plays at least 3 innings, and we don’t tell people to stay home). I’m shocked that one of the more senior players on The Assholes does not try to pull a Montgomery Burns move and try to hire Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith, etc, to jobs in the company and sign them up for their softball team.
It’s possible that a player from The Assholes might crack a smile this year during a game, but I’d place the odds at 10 to 1.
Schedule
The 2006 schedule was recently released. With a ten team league and a fourteen game season, P&C will play every other team at least once and five teams twice. Opening Day for P&C will be on May 4th. There will be no easing into the season, however, since P&C opens up with a game against The Swarm. Surely they will be seeking revenge from their 2005 playoff loss, so P&C will need to be sharp early.
After a couple games against league bottom feeders, the schedule picks up in early June. A three game stretch in early June against the Beerbuddies, The Swinging Bunts, and The Swarm could prove difficult because of potential absences involving a wedding of two players on the team.
The stretch run of the regular season also provides for some interesting matchups. P&C ends their July schedule with a rematch against The Swinging Bunts. P&C takes on their sister financial program at work for the first time in 2006 when Going Going Gone appears on the schedule in early August. The regular season comes to an end with P&C’s only regular season game against The Assholes on August 17th. Thankfully we only have to play them once before the playoffs!
Look for P&C to go 11-3 this season and earn the #3 seed for the playoffs. That’s my prediction.
So there you have it. The 2006 company co-ed softball season preview. It’s time to play ball!
You’ve already heard about the tradition that is P&C softball. Here is the rest of the story:
Key Teams:
The Swinging Bunts
Captained by FlyingV and also starring Maverick, BuckeyeBoy, Kimmmmmy, this team began play in the IM softball league in 2005. Although their first season was quite a success given the general lack of experience of many of the players on the team, they aptly met the expectations as P&C’s JV squad.
The Swinging Bunts scared a lot of quality teams in 2005. In one of their two meetings with the varsity squad (P&C) last year, they took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. However, their downfall in 2005 was the big inning where they made several defensive errors. That same game ended in a 9-3 P&C victory. If The Swinging Bunts can avoid the trap inning, they might just join the elite teams in the league this year, while still retaining their title as the most fun team in the league.
The Swarm
The Swarm are looking to regain their 2003 championship form this year. The Swarm and P&C have had many memorable showdowns over the past three years. Each team has won 3 times against the other over the past three seasons, and only the most recent meeting did not involve a lead change prior to the sixth inning (P&C’s 9-3 playoff win). The Swarm was not the same team at the end of 2005 after losing their power hitter to another company, but I am sure they will regroup and reload in 2006. They bring outstanding team defense with very few holes, so they can still win a lot of games even if they struggle to score runs this year.
Sacrifice Flies
The actuarial interns have formed a team this year. Although they will miss the first month of the season and will be gone by the time the playoffs start, they bring an added dimension to the office trash talk this summer. No one has any idea if this team will be any good, or if they will even be able to have enough girls to play each week (since FlyingV signed up some interns that didn’t actually say that they would play this summer). Regardless, they will be another sacrificial lamb on P&C’s quest for a league title.
The Assholes
The Assholes, aka Son of a Pitch, are searching for their third consecutive league championship and probably their 6th or 7th title in the past 7 or 8 years. They may win the title every year, but I can’t imagine that it is any fun to play on that team. They return their star player who was sidelined with an injury in 2005 (former minor league baseball player that played ‘AA’ and possibly ‘AAA’ ball for the Red Sox). Their captain rarely plays in big games. He prefers to sit out since he is not as good as the other guys and doesn’t want to cost his team the game. However, the SOP captain loves to berate the umpire and question every call while he is riding the pine. Rumor has it some players are told not to even show up for big games since they only play their best players in the big games. This blatantly violates P&C rule #1 (every P&C player that shows up to a game plays at least 3 innings, and we don’t tell people to stay home). I’m shocked that one of the more senior players on The Assholes does not try to pull a Montgomery Burns move and try to hire Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith, etc, to jobs in the company and sign them up for their softball team.
It’s possible that a player from The Assholes might crack a smile this year during a game, but I’d place the odds at 10 to 1.
Schedule
The 2006 schedule was recently released. With a ten team league and a fourteen game season, P&C will play every other team at least once and five teams twice. Opening Day for P&C will be on May 4th. There will be no easing into the season, however, since P&C opens up with a game against The Swarm. Surely they will be seeking revenge from their 2005 playoff loss, so P&C will need to be sharp early.
After a couple games against league bottom feeders, the schedule picks up in early June. A three game stretch in early June against the Beerbuddies, The Swinging Bunts, and The Swarm could prove difficult because of potential absences involving a wedding of two players on the team.
The stretch run of the regular season also provides for some interesting matchups. P&C ends their July schedule with a rematch against The Swinging Bunts. P&C takes on their sister financial program at work for the first time in 2006 when Going Going Gone appears on the schedule in early August. The regular season comes to an end with P&C’s only regular season game against The Assholes on August 17th. Thankfully we only have to play them once before the playoffs!
Look for P&C to go 11-3 this season and earn the #3 seed for the playoffs. That’s my prediction.
So there you have it. The 2006 company co-ed softball season preview. It’s time to play ball!
posted by GaryGinew at 10:28 PM
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