Blog.Treo

Spikes Under the Lights v3.0

It’s REALLY hot today…I’m sure there will be dozens of people out on Columbus Dr. tonight. I’ll be making the trip around 9pm.

Oversleeping and Football Envy

That great night I had playing vBall last weekend? Yeah, turns out it cost me. I overslept terribly for my Sat. morning league. No big deal right? Wrong…I’m League Manager and I’m supposed to be there to set up the net and court.

Right after work I went to watch a bunch of my people practice for their co-ed flag football league. I’m REALLY jealous…football is my most fulfilling sport, although I’ve only ever played pick-up games. My shoulder wasn’t healed when the season started so I didn’t take the chance. I love vBall, but the first sport I can ever recall wanting to play is football. Next season I guess.

TreoBenny

voice | 773.351.6655
SMS | 847.644.4414

Another Great vBall Night Under the Lights

Last time I joined a group and played with them the duration: 5-on-5 co-ed. Tonight I started off with a small group, 3 guys 2 girls. They were playing 2-on-3 when I showed and had drawn very small boundaries in the sand. When I joined them we evened out the teams, 2 guys and 1 girl a piece. However, they never expanded the court. Try as I might to adjust, I kept feeling as though I was too close to my teammates and many of my plays went beyond the sidelines. I played 3 matches with them, rally scored to 25, before they strapped up their rollerblades and called it a night.

All this time a 6-on-6 game was going on the next court. I waited for their current game to finish and asked if I could join. These were all men from India – Chennai mostly. I played several more matches with them…maybe 5. They use techniques for setting and serving I’ve never seen in my ITZ league. It was an extremely enriching experience. The guys and I parted with hearty yet tired smiles and weak but sincere handshakes. It was after 11pm and we had all been playing for quite some time.

Here’s to another great night next week!

TreoBenny

voice | 773.351.6655
SMS | 847.644.4414

Spikes Under the Lights – Special Friday Edition

I just woke up after a LONG night on seesmic.com (check it out!) It’s pretty hot out today. I’m seriously leaning towards playing some vBall tonight on Columbus. You can reply here or email me or use the numbers below. See you there!

Benny H.

voice | 773.351.6655
SMS | 847.644.4414

Spikes Under the Lights – Week 2

After my fantabulous experience last week, I returned to the vBall court at Columbus & Balboa, but alas, this time no one showed. I’ll no doubt target Tuesdays and Thursdays to go, but I won’t go tonight. I’ll post here when I plan to go. If you read about it, be about it

Mobile Blogging at Its Finest

This is somewhat of a random thought, but one could argue that’s what mobile blogging is all about.

I play co-ed softball. I’ve only ever played on one organized team. The name of that team NOW is Diamond Dominators (3rd season.) But…the former name, (first two seasons) was Diamond Pimps. A few of us (guys) thought it was a cool name. We patterned it after the Max Julian film, “The Mack.” However, as time passed we realized that the name had much to be desired when revealed in a mainstream setting…like securing sponsorship for example. In fact, many of us became embarrassed when the associations to the word ‘pimp’ arose. Solicitation – prostitution – degradation – intoxication – smackabitchforplayinwitmymoneyation.

Tonight as I was walking from practice, I realized something. I’m wearing a Diamond Pimp (DP) jersey and a brutha waiting for the bus says to me: “y’all be pimpin dem diamonds huh?” To which I felt obliged to reply: “All the time…all the time.” It seems that, now that my team’s name ISNT Diamond Pimps, I can wear the shirt with pride. Go figure…

vBall on a Hot Chicago Night…

I could write several posts based on all that has been going on lately…school, freelance projects, my first NASCAR weekend…big, big stuff. But, I’m not going to write about any of that tonight. Tonight I’m writing about beach volleyball (vBall.)

I’ve played in a league last summer (ITZ of course) and I’m playing again this year. The difference is I’m the League Manager this year. But ITZ vBall is NOT what I’m going to write about tonight.

Tonight is a typical Chicago scorcher. Air temps in the high 80s, humidity in full force, driving the heat index way up. In short, it feels like 95. I’ve been a Chicagoan all my life and I know how eager we are to get out in the summer. On a night like tonight, there are just as many people outside at 11pm as you might expect at 6. I sent a few texts to my friends to join me for vBall downtown on Columbus drive. A pure genius decided to build a sand pit on top of a tennis court so we could not only play vBall right on Columbus drive with the skyline as the backdrop, the courts are well lit at night as well.

I wish I remembered names better, because I played with 9 really fun folks tonight. The only name I remember is Carolina…at least I hope I remember. If you’re reading, I hope those pretty toes of yours didn’t suffer severe damage. Actually, if any of you guys have made it to this page, please write me so I can edit this post and acknowledge all of you. I had such a blast! Thank you guys for letting me play and maybe we’ll play again sometime.

Thursday Night Spikes!!!

Independence Day weekend is approaching, and with it tons of fun outdoor things to do. The holiday falls on a Friday, which makes Thursday night a PRIME party night. But, before you go out and get smashed in the wee hours of Friday morning, I say you should come out Thursday evening and get your sandy-sweat ON!

There is a vBall court set up on Columbus Dr. in a man-made sand box. I really like this location because of its view of the city, (and the fact everybody driving down Columbus can see me) but the cherry on top is the fact the court has lights! I called the Park District today and they say simply show up with a ball. We can start a little before dusk and play till whenever folks are ready to go home and get ready for their late-night activities. Leave a comment if you have a suggestion or question.