There are nearly 800 student athletes here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Eight hundred. That leaves 40,788 students who do not have the type of everyday access to competitive sports that they may have had in high school. So, like the other 40,787 of my fellow students, I too must turn elsewhere for my fix.
Unfortunately for the 98 percent of students who don't compete in the cardinal and red, the best way to relive our glory days is through UW Intramural Sports.
Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm the only one who's had a bad experience with intramurals here. Maybe I'm the only one who can't stand the refs, the egos and the treatment ... but I don't think so.
The first problem in all intramurals is that nearly everyone who laces up their Nikes, steps into the batter's box or goes all in on a 7-2 off-suit thinks they are the best thing since sliced bread. The egos of the guys out there are tremendous. Taller than Yao Ming, wider than the Fridge, faster than Michael Johnson (with or without steroids, your pick).
I'm probably one of the worst egos out there. Out on the diamond, I'm a combination of the bat of Albert Pujols, the speed of Ichiiro and the supple leather of Torii Hunter-it's simply fact.
Every sport is competitive as well. Hell, some kid leaned into an arching slow-pitch softball just to get on base.
I played intramural volleyball and softball this year since my many extracurriculars limited me from competing in sports like football, basketball or team Texas Hold'em (yeah, look into it... it's an intramural here). But after two years of playing in the system, I think I've come up with a list of problems the Intramural powers-that-be need to spend some time fixing.
It comes down to one thing. UW Intramurals just don't really care.
The way the softball tournament is rigged is similar to the NCAA bracket. The teams are picked blindly and seeded without any knowledge of how good or bad a team might be. This presents a small problem in the fact that the two best teams out there might play each other in the first round. Imagine if North Carolina had played Illinois in the first round-it doesn't make sense!
Nevermind the idea of running a season, it feels like they'd rather get it done, pay their refs and move on to their Hold'em.
Softball games are limited to 50 minutes or seven innings, whichever comes first, or whatever makes life easier for the Intramural Sports division here. Games are cancelled in the event of lightning or in the case of unsafe playing conditions. In my game on Thursday last week, the field was so waterlogged that one step any direction was throwing players to the ground. That's not only unsafe, it's not fun.
Maybe I'm just angry about my second consecutive first-round exit in this ridiculous tourney, but I don't think so. People at this university want to play baseball, let them play. Don't process us like cattle.
