TRx Volleyball Game 5 Recap: Return of the New Guy

On Tuesday, 7/28 Target R finally played their third game of the season, after postponements the previous two weeks.  Mean Joe must have been going insane with anticipation, as he lives for these games.  However, all that waiting made it that much better when he realized KB would be making an appearance at the game.  As these two star-crossed former colleagues saw each other across the sand, time stood still.  Finally, the began running towards each other in slow motion and embraced, and all was right in the world.

Knowing that five of the six players were coming straight from a thrilling softball game (Aaron, GLG, Gabriela, KB, and Terry), Mean Joe knew he'd be outnumbered and would have to be at his meanest to keep the team interested.  During the warm-up, he began spiking on his own teammates while screaming "YOU AIN'T GONNA GET THAT ONE!"  If only he was wearing socks, it would have been a fitting homage to Uncle NayNay, whose cousin was at the courts (volleyball, not judicial) for some reason.

Given only one female on the team, TRx played with five active players, and one rotated out.  This lucky person was able to amuse themselves by sitting on the Bench of Nice, aptly named after the TRx volleyball team of old, where Play A was routinely run, the Book of Text came out whenever Blin would serve, and everyone would say "NICE" after each point, or for any reason at all.  Those were also the days when the captain of the team realized having two TRx teams would result in a logistical nightmare, and shouldn't to be attempted under any circumstances (or GLG was just lazy).  However, this bench should not be confused with the Bench of Vice in the Czech Republic, despite what illicit accounts may have appeared in previous volleyball write-ups...

As the new guy, KB sat out first.  With GLG serving, T-R quickly jumped out to a 7-1 lead, as the other team was barely able to return Greg's wicked serves.  They were likely in awe of the size of Greg's bulbous dome in the background and were unable to see the ball.  The similarities to a solar eclipse were further reinforced as GLG began to break out into his remix of Total Eclipse of the Heart (GLG's title- Total Eclipse of the Head).

GLG always gets the worst job... although he seems happy about it

Which eclipse is more impressive?

On the next rotation, Mean Joe had to come out, despite barely getting any action.  It was KB's turn to serve, and he proved he hasn't lost his talents, implementing the kick serve to perfection, as well as all of his other hand/ball tricks (he's had a lot of practice...).  T-R quickly jumped out to a 12-1 lead, as Joe was hopping around in anticipation of returning to the game.

Mean Joe was hopping mad about not playing

Eventually, the opposing team's sixth player showed up- a spitting image of Ben Lin, except this guy was actually athletic, instead of just wearing tight white t-shirts to pretend.  However, he apparently read the same Book of Text that Ben did, as his first few attempts at the jump-serve only resulted in a outright laughter from Mean Joe (he doesn't have that nickname for nothing). T-R eventually closed out the first set 15-7.

In the second set, TRx began to bring all the tricks out of their arsenal.  KB used GLG's patented lefty hook multiple times, as well as gave a science lesson on economies of motion.  Mean Joe began to spike directly on the head of each member of the other team while unleashed screams of rage.  GLG briefly forgot what sport he was playing as he nearly executed his softball signature play of the over the shoulder catch before realizing he was playing volleyball.  All told, T-R jumped out to another 12-1 lead.

Holding such an advantage, T-R began to take their foot off the gas just a bit, and thank (Dear) God they did.  On one play, the ball was heading straight towards the empty spot between Joe and GLG, and they both appeared to be preparing to dive for it.  The resulting dude-on-dude dome would not have been pretty, and could have been this years equivalent of the AT incident from year's past.  And in addition, with the size of Greg's bulbous head, someone could have gotten hurt, which would have been hard to swallow.  T-R eventually closed out the second set 15-7 as well to seal the victory.

The victory pushes Target R to 2-1.  Next week the inter-office battle of the year is on, between Target R and Target X (3-0).  Target R is currently contemplating a one week name change to Target Arrrgggghhhh, with appropriate pirate costumes for the game, and is promising to make Target X walk the plank (although that would require dismantling the Bench of Nice).  Meanwhile, Target X plans on tripling up and going as Target XXX (something Kevin has been thinking about for a looong time).  And quite frankly, if that's the case, the Bench of Nice may actually become the Bench of Vice... 

The Bench of Vice is not a myth...  I've seen it.