"OMG we made the playoffs! Three cheers for the Downtown Dirty Birds...hip, hip, hooray...hip, hip, hooray...HIP, HIP, HOORAY!"
I think my team’s excitement would be explained better if we rewind a few months to April 2011. The setting is Humber College (North Campus), and the year is about to wrap up for my students and staff in residence. It is here that I was hit with the pre-emptive summer giddiness that everyone in Canada goes through after they have experienced 4 months of slush and snow. Thoughts were beginning to turn from academics and studying - to summer jobs, BBQ's, LCBO trips and summer fun! I definitely was ready for summer to be here, and I wanted to be doing something "summerish" even though it was raining and 6 degrees outside. Having just come from the Blue Jays home opener at the Rogers Centre (Jays won 13-3!), I had the incredible urge to jack some dingers and shag some flies! It was then that I decided that I needed a softball team.
The team was composed of primarily "Resident Assistants"; student-staff who life in residence during the year and are there to build and maintain floor communities. These staff were eager to play softball, and so, we set out determined to create an identity for our newly formed team. 16 creative team names were suggested, including honourable mentions "Sex Kitten Express", "Teach Me How to Doug-out" and "Ove-RA-Ted". Ultimately, "The Phil Legate Experience" was selected by a lengthy poll on survey monkey (I admit that I voted for PLE to win). Custom jerseys were ordered for everyone on the team, and I was then made into a mascot for a recreational softball team in Toronto, Ontario.
The team began practice in the middle of April, in order to fill the urge to connect with "summer" two months before it arrived. The team managed to get together the most baseball equipment I have ever seen; enough gloves for everyone, a duffle bag full of softballs and another bag full of bats. We even had four legit bases to use, not requiring a glove or hoody to represent home plate. We spread out in Humber's soccer field, and jacked dingers at each other for two hours each day. That was practice. It was fun, and we felt we were ready for the season because of it. We were so wrong.
The Phil Legate Experience opened its season against "The Softballs" with a 46-16 loss. Yep, we were scored against 46 times. It looked more like a football game at the end if you ask me. The team learned quickly that you have to stop on second base if you get there, and that you're not allowed to run past it like you are when you run to first base. Our second game was much better however, with the team only losing by 2 in a 7-5 game against "McGlovin". The unfortunate thing about this game was that it was close, and actually didn't "technically finish". After about 4 innings, the sky opened up and hurled enough rain on us to create a small lake on the field.
Unfortunately, I was unable to make the third game played by the Phil Legate Experience, as I was at a housing conference at York University called OACUHO. That night, the team was successful against the "Jays", winning the game 9-4. I was immediately stripped of my duty as "Coach", and placed in left field for the remainder of the season. Go figure - thanks guys.
Eager to experience my first win against our fourth and second last team of the season, we headed out to play "The Sons of Pitches" in a park near Lawrence Avenue and Weston Road. We were rocked 19-17. Darn.
Our final game of the regular season took place this past June 13th against the Downtown Dirty Birds. I guess you know what happened by now, so I'll just share with you how the game ended. It was the middle of the fifth, and we were up 17-4. All of a sudden, the lights went out in the park. Some joker had pulled the switch for the lights in the park. Game over. Although the game wasn't "technically over", we were happy to call it at that point. The Phil Legate Experience was victorious!
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| The Phil Legate Experience Softball Team Front Row (Left to Right) - Phil Legate, Dan Birch, Lauren Keller, Matt Waghorn Middle Row (Left to Right) - Amber O'Connor, Victor Gravili, Kylie Waghorn, Ashlee Lacasse Back Row (Left to Right) - Alena Boczek, Malcolm Vincent, Brock Morgan, Brandon O'Bannon, Dion Fawcett-Ciuffini |
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