dodgeball (was: [thechat] Jan 18 peace march)

[Ben Dyer]

At 03:30 PM 1/21/2003, you wrote:
> > The only thing I learned from dodgeball was how to artfully take
> > myself out of the game during the mass confusion.
>
>lay on the floor?  hit yourself?  hand the ball to your opponent and
>declare yourself out?

During the second volley, at some point when the coach was looking at the
other side, slip to the edges of the gym where those who were "out" were
supposed to be.  After a while, all us nerds just started lining up on the
far right to make it look even less conspicuous.  Then we'd all gather and
talk about Star Trek: Next Generation.

I couldn't stand dodgeball.  They used red, rubber kickballs, too.  Those
things hurt like mad.  Failing that, they'd use soccer balls, and those
hurt worse.  Thank God they never used basketballs...

> > That and how to fix my glasses on the fly...
>
>see, i loved dodgeball... to me, it was a great equalizer sport...
>the rules were simple, and there wasn't reliance on team play (at
>least not the way i played)... anyone could excel if he/she was
>insidious enough...

Blech.  I hated gym.  I hated everything about gym.  I sucked at every
sport I did (still do).  I threw like a girl and I knew it.  After a while,
the P.E. coach started using us smart kids to grade his papers from his
other classes (the coaches were all required to teach at least *one* real
class).  Then I got out of P.E. entirely.  It was the perfect arrangement:
he didn't want to grade his papers, I didn't want to be in P.E.

--Ben