"Out Tonight" (RENT)

Well, I just got in from a very long night of playing. I just popped an Aleve and waiting for it to kick in. It has been busy at work as we prepare for an event this Sunday and I've just been making sure that people need the supplies they will need and also setting up all the items the finance department will need to process all the money that will be coming in that day. Last year we just reached over $505,000 for the one day flea market and auction we have in the heart of the theatre district. Also I've been trying to plan things I need in preparation for my drive up to Cooperstown for my friends' wedding on Saturday. Zach is part of the far backcourt Brandeis crew of three years ago and over the past couple of years I've gotten to know his fiancee, Anna. I remember how smitten Zach was about her when he brought her to a birthday party for one of the girls from the Brandeis backcourt group. Then just last December, I remember Zach telling me his plans for a special date with her after she got back from a trip and just a few days later I got a message saying that they got engaged. So today when Vanessa was hitting me up on gchat asking about rotations and stuff my mind had not gotten around to the fact that we had a playoff game.

See tonight we made it to the playoffs after finishing the regular season at the top of the list of the Rock & Roll Division. So we met up against Vandalay Industries, our first opponent of the season, in the semi-finals of the night. We were happy to have two great cheerleaders, Trisha and Claire, who somehow managed to irritate her bum ankle while sitting on the sidelines and not even moving. We had a few subs as a couple of our regular players couldn't make it, so we welcomed John, Lisa, and Mary. Our first game was relatively okay and we took that one but we had a few problems with our second game. We were literally serving for the game in six rotations without closing out the game at game point, and the other team came back to take the game. I was not a happy camper since we got forced into a third deciding game. This game went a little smoother but people were more cautious with their plays, trying to play smart rather than with power. We were able to settle down and take this game to advance to the finals. Well, the other team had a good amount of time to rest while we had to start the finals game immediately because we were running behind schedule. We were trying to fix the rotation problems we had in the semi-finals and we thought we did until we realized that we had our shortest line on the front and all three of our guys on the backline. Our competitors for the finals were the Rejects and even though we played them in the regular season just a couple of weeks ago, I could not remember playing this team. They came out pretty fast in the beginning with their consistent passing and solid hits that left us a little disoriented. We were trying to adjust to the new team while trying to catch our breath from the last three-game match. They ended up taking the first game from us with a score of 15-8. It was like we were scared of this team. We needed to approach them differently than the last team but I know that fatigue played a bit of a factor. So we got into the second game and I was getting a little frustrated and my boiling point was at its highest when the score got to be 7-14. They needed just one more point to win the finals. I had pretty much written off our team as losing this match and even if we were not going to win we needed to at least play tough on the last points. I was watching from the sidelines and I somehow witnessed our team with John serving go from being down 7-14 to taking the lead at 15-14. When the other team took a time-out, the Dinkin' Do-Nots had a lot of reasons to have huge grins on their faces. No matter how the game turned out, we had put up a great fight and the large guys on the other side were all of a sudden scared. I still couldn't believe it but it was a new game. I rotated in at the next serve and it soon became 15-15. The tension was so high on that court. It didn't help that the gym was completely empty and the gym was so still in silence. Both teams fought for each point and we finally reached 16-16 with us serving for the point cap. And the unimaginable happened, we won THAT second game from sure defeat (at least to me). The Do-Nots had arrived and the emotion that had propelled us all season had returned--TO HAVE FUN. We laughed, cheered, and stayed positive for the third game and we were able to jump into the lead and never lost it. Our errors were brushed aside and some of them became hilarious moments like Dee taking a pass with her "chicken wings" and Vanessa losing her shoe when she went for a dink. We were playing in top form in our 6th game of the evening and came out victorious. This team was created to have fun, sort of a good way to spend a weeknight where we could hang out with friends. For myself there were moments when I did lose it but I was always reminded that it was ALL FOR FUN. Congratulations to the Dinkin' Do-Nots, now onto the Quads.