Gus Pope–KURE Sports Reporter
The temperature has begun to drop, which means that the time spent outside playing sports is only for try-hards. Us intramural sport connoisseurs already froze our behinds off during flag football and played in wet sand for volleyball–it’s time to move our has-been competitor selves indoors. BUT, until then, I shall tell you how the first of three seasons for intramurals went at Iowa State.
This Fall featured 15 different competitions that took place either in one day or over a few weeks. There are some that have just started and will still be going on that are not included in those numbers. Headlining these sports are the aforementioned flag football and sand volleyball, with the second fiddle being played by slow pitch softball and a 5k.
Flag Football
No tackling, no blocking, no diving, and no fumbles. How do you succeed? Easy: run fast, throw bombs, and occasionally grab the other team’s flags so they don’t do the same thing. Sadly, “Tua’s CTE” did not do this, and we lost every game we played. Although there was a battle in OT that we came out on the wrong side of, it was obvious that the other teams in the C division hit the transfer portal harder and paid their players more.
In all actuality though, this was the first year for Iowa State to offer Co-Ed intramural flag football, which was definitely an experiment. There had been women’s flag football before, and there are other sports that have Co-Ed divisions, but never before had this been tried. The number of Co-Ed division teams did not compare to any of the 4 divisions of men’s teams, but the strictly women’s division did have less, so maybe that is an answer going forward. Having the most involvement is the goal, and a Co-Ed division seems to bring that.
The best name I saw for a team all year was Caucasian Invasion, who sadly lost on Wednesday night in the championship of the Men’s C Division Dolphin’s Bracket. It was a good run, and although they lost on the field, they won the title of best team name which I can only imagine is just as good.
Sand Volleyball
Come rain or shine (or mostly dark and cold), “One Hit Wonders” came to play. And we actually won a few games! Even the one we lost was in the tournament and was played very closely. Of course, it wasn’t our fault though because it had just rained, it was cold, and we couldn’t feel our feet. Could we have played with socks on? Maybe. But we’re not psychopaths and we have integrity.
There were two divisions this year: recreational and competitive; both being Co-Ed. Per usual, the recreational division had a lot more teams than the competitive, which led to more fun-filled and light-hearted games. Unless you happened to be on the opposite side of the net as me, in which case you got an ear full of chirps the entire game.
There were lots of borderline inappropriate team names that I personally would pick as the winner of the unofficial KURE best team name competition, so in order to keep my job, I will keep my mouth shut and let your minds run wild with all of the puns that can be made with volleyball vernacular.
Softball, 5k, and the rest of the Peanut Gallery
3 men’s divisions, 2 Co-Ed divisions, and 1 women’s division made up slow-pitch softball this year. Although arguments happen in every intramural sport, it seems like I see them more frequently in slow-pitch softball, which is insane to me. But I guess for the love of the game!
While the Cyclone football team was prepping for their game against Cincinnati, some of us braved the cold and ran the intramural 5k. Teaming up with the run club to do a donation drive for the homeless shelter, the run was a success. About 90 men and 40 women signed up, although not all of them braved the weather.
The rest of the Fall featured Top Rope, Texas Hold-Em, Table-Tennis, Spikeball, Pickleball, Mini-Golf, Super Smash Bros., Bag Toss, Golf, Disc Golf, Bouldering, and Broomball. Still going on is the NFL Eliminator challenge (which I think should be thrown out, especially since the Jags decided to lose to the Texans in week 3…WEEK 3!) and the Weekly Pick-Ems game.
Still to come is Battleship H20, Dodgeball, 3-Point Shooting, Football Bowl Pick-em, and TRIVIA.
