Los Angeles Marathon
Yesterday, marked the 26th Los Angeles Marathon. Looking out my window there was a torrential downpour. This was BIG rain for So Cal. The runners had to muscle it out. I was thinking back on how many WIFFLE Ball Tournaments get played rain or shine. The first year we hosted the Connecticut State Nutmeg Games we had showers off and on. During the middle of the tournament we took an intermission for Lightning, so Jared and I had the teams go hangout in their cars… we figured the rubber tires could keep them safe. The Blue Razrs could be found sliding in the mud.
I found the following statement made by Tim Ferriss, in his most recent Blog Post:
Running is the most democratic of all sports. Because it seems so unthreatening—“anyone can do it”—every local race is packed, and your chances of placing are slim to none.
In contrast, sports like powerlifting, grip sport, or arm wrestling have a remarkably small number of competitors. Showing up already means that you have defeated 99% of the contenders. They were too intimidated to even try.
Tim makes a great point. I think back to the teams that were there that day, Blue Razrs, Doom, Absolute Gunners, Krusty’s Kids and Lou’s Diamonds. They braved the shitty weather and went on to win that day and win many more tournaments.
Wiffle Ball aligns well with the baseball community, but has far fewer numbers playing the game competitively. Is competitive wiffle ball too obscure? Does fear of not being able to hit or pitch factor into the attrition of scaling the game? Medium pitch leagues and tournaments have small attendance but there’s even smaller numbers on the fast pitch level. My advice to new comers to the game is to… just show up. Adam Trotta did.
