Battle Royale II

 I’m lucky to have several fantastic traditions in my life.  Turkey Bowl, Music Club Awards, BDE (Best Day Ever), Reunion Trips.  But BR (Battle Royale) may just be my favorite.  It’s one of those ridiculous competitions that people find humorous but are always envious when they hear about it.   Setup like the Olympics (every four years), I think we’re onto something special / magical with this one.  And truly original.

After my loss in BR1 in LA in 2008, it was time for me to travel to Denver in 2012 where Dan had home court advantage.  And boy was it an advantage.  We always hear about the mile-high air in Denver, but you don’t realize how big of an impact it can have on athletics until you attempt to play 10 sports in 48 hours.

Hintze was getting married on Saturday, July 14, so I came into town early for BR2.  When I arrived on Wednesday, Dan and I went straight to a local pool hall for billiards (one of Dan's sports).  BR2 was underway.

We played first to win five games.  Dan took the first game, I took the second game.  1-1.  Dan then took the third game, and I took the fourth game.  2-2.  Dan took the fifth game, and I scratched on the 8-ball to lose the sixth game.  Suddenly it was 4-2 Dan.  He finished me off in the seventh game.  Big win for Dan.  

I find that pool can be a bit like chess.  Strategy.  Positioning.  What a great sport.  And the venue was perfect.  Professional size tables, plenty of space.  But I was already down 1-0.  Not good.

We woke up the next morning and found a football field to play ultimate frisbee (one of my sports and the sport I was most confident in).  You might ask - how can you play ultimate frisbee one-on-one?  Skills competition, of course! We played best of three - long toss, catching & accuracy.

We started with a long toss (we each get 5 throws) and I threw a couple good ones to begin.  But on Dan's third throw, he launched his toss close to 80 yards.  I had no idea Dan knew how to throw a frisbee that far.  I couldn't match it and Dan won long toss.  I started to get nervous, as this is my best sport.

Next up was catching.  We both got 5 throws as we sprinted between the 35 - 50 yard marker.  Dan dropped his first attempt, and we both caught the rest of our throws, so I fortunately won the catch event, though it was very close.

The final event was accuracy.  We started on the 35 yard line and tried to throw directly to the other person without forcing them to move.  We both completed a 35 yard toss and Dan completed his 40 yard toss, but I could not.

Dan wins frisbee.  Panic is beginning to set in.  How did I just lose my best sport?  The BR competition was starting to not be that much fun.  What the fuck am I doing here in Denver anyway?

 The third event was squash.  This was Dan's strongest event, and sadly I had never played (could not find anyone in LA to play squash with).  It's a great sport and I enjoyed playing, but Dan smoked me in a best of three games.  Dan is now up in the competition 3-0.

 At this point I'm doing my best to hide my inner rage and utter disappointment with myself.  After losing BR1 and now being down 3-0 in BR2, I'm wondering if this might be the end of BR competitions forever.  I'm not even putting up a fight.  Dan is in total control and is dominating.

The next sport is 1x1 football (one of Dan's sports), arguably the most desired sport in this year's tournament.  Dan recruites a friend to play all-time quarterback.  The guy is an absolute ball machine (he played in college) and over the course of our game, he threw approximately 70 passes, 66 of them which were perfectly placed and on the mark.  It made for a really fun, really intense and surprisingly fair game.

Luckily, I got the win in football. I know Dan wanted this one, and I was happy to take it from him.  But I really maxed myself out in football and would find later that I had nothing left in the tank.  But for the time-being, I felt ok.  It was now 3-1, Dan in the lead.

 The fifth sport is soccer (penalty kicks, one of my choices).  This was an event I was really looking forward to.  Penalty kicks can get intense and are really fun.  We kicked from standard distance and  from outside the box (and actually had some nice success scoring on each other).  This one was close, but I pulled it out.  Narrowing the gap to 3-2, Dan still in the lead.

I was feeling a lot more confident after winning football and soccer - two big sports.  I was starting to feel like I could win this thing, as some of my strongest sports were ahead.  At least I saved face and could make the argument that there should be a third BR in 2016.

That evening we played 2x2 volleyball (one of my sports) with Bart and Red.  It was our fifth sport of the day.  I got paired up with Bart for game 1 and Dan got paired up with Red.  Bart was solid.  Red played out of his mind.  The guy was a spike monster. Dan and Bart took game 1.  We then switched partners.  Red and I were not as dynamic as Dan and Red.  I was sucking wind pretty hard and so was Red.  Dan took advantage and began placing balls in areas where we couldn't get to.  I was completely gassed.  After being very confident in volleyball, I lost.  Dan was now up 4-2 and had regained control of BR2.  

 Later that night we played horseshoes (Dan's sport).  I searched all over LA for a bar with horseshoes to practice, but I was fighting an uphill battle.  I did realize that horseshoes is a fantastic game, and playing for my first time, I gave Dan a serious run in game 1, though he prevailed.  He smoked me in game 2, in front of a large crowd (the largest crowd to ever attend a BR event).

Now Dan is up 5-2 overall.  The best I can do is tie, and even that would be a stretch.  I realize that for a second time, I won't win Battle Royale.

 But the games go on.  Our eight sport is a 100 meter swim.  I wasn't really that confident in swimming even though I had done a little training and have a bit of experience.  I shouldn't have been worried however, because Dan is still a beginner in the pool and I won easily.  The score is now 5-3 Dan.  Beginning to look a little more respectable, but not there yet.

 Our ninth sport was tennis (one of my choices).  I was very confident I could get the win here, and perhaps tie things up if I won our tenth sport.  After taking a 4-2 game lead (up to 8), I ran out of gas entirely.  The thin air, Denver sun and Dan's resilience took over.  I couldn't get to any balls.  Slowly I watched the tables turn and Dan took home the victory.  Tennis was a tough event to lose.  Dan 6-3 overall.

 Sadly, this is where BR2 comes to an end (or a temporary end).  We did not complete our tenth event (hockey - Dan's choice).  We had to drive to Breckenridge for the wedding, and physically, I could not have played another sport that day (Dan was tired, but I think he could have kept going).  So the competition ended 6-3, and we're aiming to play hockey the next time we see each other.

So I lost.  It's tough.  I hate losing, especially at such a great mix of sports to my ultimate rival.  But it's ok.  I'm ok with it.  Looking back at BR1, there was no scenario in which I could have won.  But I can see how things might have gone differently in BR2.  I can see it.  Now I just need to turn it into reality. BR3 in 2016.  I'll be ready.

The most important thing, however, is QT (quality time) with a great friend.  I don't get to spend much time with Danimal these days, but when we do, we can dive back in effortlessly and we're always on the same page for a great time, just like Iowa City.  I'm a lucky guy to have a great competition like this with a great pal.  Until the next one.....I'm coming for you Danimal.