Week 1: Too Loud, Man...Too Loud

"The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven..." - Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap

A long time coming: King pitches to Jeff in the first game of Summer '09

Question: If Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Bratislav Smearpapsa were to argue with a game official about a particular call, would all three get the same treatment from that official? Answer: Who the hell is Bratislav Smearpapsa? Exactly. Rookies & Unknowns need to establish themselves and their reputation in the league in order to build the rapport necessary to OPEN THEIR FREAKIN' MOUTHS to any umpire. Then, if you rooks want to talk to an ump about a call, pay your dues long enough to become a captain. Until then, zip it. We play by a set of rules that have been voted on, item by item and line by line, by the captains of this league. The rules were not found under a sanniyeh of mansaf or revealed to someone in a wet dream. We all came up with them, together. I beg all of you to look here in the comments section for more. And for the love of falafel, read the damn rulebook as soon as you can spare four minutes in between downloading porn and cursing my name. The games... AF11 12 Trojans 20 AF11, which is last season's Bezzig & Lezzig renamed to reflect the team's current openness in mating habits, renewed their rivalry with their cousins, fellow Bling Bling descendants the Trojans. Inspired by the solid tandem of Tamy "Stitch" Goudian and former Nomad Tamara "Look Up" Hawatmeh - and the suddenly and inexplicably improved bat of Maher "The Choreographer" Abu Arja - captain Jawad "Spiked Coffee" Dabbas and his band of merry marauders jumped out to an 8-0 lead. Recognizing the need to inspire his team, Trojans co-cap Laith Barhoum got his Chuck Norris on. Instead of catching a relay from his outfielder, Laith wanted to catch it in his mouth to prove to his team that anything is possible. Ball 1, Chuck Norris 0. Eleven stitches later, Laith would rest easy in knowing that his brother, Saif, and 'mates like Jeff Sillin, Aaron Bouchane and that Rory dude, rallied and took the game. Special Note: AF11's 1B, Chad "The Imam" Bowen, pulled off something that nobody in ASL's history has been able to do: He got Lama Saqr to attend a morning game. I guess it helps that they're newly engaged. Congrats, kids. Just take a hint from the tenor of Friday's game and be careful how many ASLers you invite to the wedding. We like to destroy. Slackers 22 JoSox 23 Looking to avenge their loss in last season's championship game, the Slackers found themselves in a 19-7 hole after four innings. No problem when you have bats like they do. Led by cap Karim Barghouti, outfielder Nader Qushair and pitcher Omar Nimri, who combined to go a perfect 14-14 from the plate, the Slackers put up 4, 4 and 7 runs in the last three innings. And they held what looks to be a potent JoSox offense to exactly zero runs over that span. 22-19, Slackers lead, going into the bottom of the 7th and final inning. Gary Bonifas led off the inning with a single, and Justin Hiester knocked him in with a triple. Steve Mancuso sent him home with a double. 22-21, Slackers clinging to the lead with no outs. Mike O'Leary, the potential winning run, then singled to put runners on 1st and 3rd. Still no outs. The very next batter, David Lopez, calmly took one of Omar's patented cloud-scrapers and smoked it. Steve trotted home, followed by a hustling Mike. Ballgame. Special Note: The Slackers' Nader Qushair has been one of the best players in this league for six seasons now. It's my opinion that he's the most underappreciated player in ASL's history. Noobz 10 Nomads 11 The Nooobz are made up of brand new players who want to learn the game and have some fun. Instead of placing them on established teams, where they would see little or no playing time in our fiercely competitive league, we decided to spin them off and give them the attention they deserve. So every week, the Noobz will have a practice day with some of the league's players and coaches, where they will learn to hit and field and run the bases. Each Friday, they will play in a simulated game against one of the league's teams. In exchange for the "easy win" and valuable scrimmage time, the league team will also help in the development of these new players by working with and coaching the Noobz during the game. But, if the league team does not show up with enough players to field a team, then the result goes down as a forfeit. You really don't want that. Some special stuff for Noobz games: 1. League teams are capped at 5 runs per inning for all innings. Noobz have no limits in all innings. 2. League teams bat with the standard 3 outs. Noobz bat around for the first two innings, then go to 3 outs per inning. If the Noobz have less than 10 players, then outs are counted with the first league player's at bat (see #3). 3. The Noobz will be combined with players from other teams to form a full squad. Any player, regardless of his/her team, who wants some extra practice is encouraged to join the game. Players who can help coach and teach the Noobz are also needed to join up. 4. The goal here is to help the Noobz learn the game and have fun. Take it easy on them and always be in teaching mode. If you're reading this and want to learn the game of softball, please send an email to ASL (from the Contact info in the sidebar).

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Next week's game schedule will be published on Sunday, June 14. We'll have the full season schedule later in the week.

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For the week of June 14-20, reserve your team's practice time in the comments section of this post.

We're Back

"Get it on. Gotta get it on. No choice but to get it on." - Adam Carolla Like a disease in remission, we've come back with rage, killing that false sense of security you felt as you lollygagged away the last ten months of Fridays. The Summer 2009 season of Amman Softball League, our 7th overall, is most definitely on. What does this mean for you? Pain, that's what. You're about to get smacked with balls that have the best size and hardness combo this side of bowling. If you like getting smacked with balls, then you've come to the right place. Welcome. We are also rolling out the same stained red carpet to all those who enjoy smacking balls. See how fairness runs in our blood? We've got Smackers and Slackers and Spitters and Trojans... Botox and JoSox and Nomads and Mo' Nads than any camel-humpin' league in the Middle East. We are here to get some and, dammit, some will be gotten. That felt good. By the way, the Slogs are now Adult Swim. This place is as full of inside jokes as it is full of fun and informative (don't forget well written!) stuff about the league. Read up on ASL, feel free to comment, and get in on the inside jokes. The only rule for Adult Swim: Don't pee in my pool. The deal for this Friday, June 12th: 9:00 AM*: AF11 @ Trojans (Slackers umping) 10:45 AM: Slackers @ JoSox (Trojans umping) 12:30 PM: Noobz @ Nomads (JoSox umping) *That's right, Nine Ay Em. Get over it...or just stay awake from the night before. RULES CHANGES: 1. No more surgical strike. It was dumb. 2. Games are now 7 innings. 3. Infielders positioned behind the basepaths for all batters. 4. Designated Hitter option added. 5. Miss an umping assignment, your team loses a full inning of at-bats. 6. Bring booze into the park, you're ejected & suspended. 7. READ THE RULES! (Note: This is not a rule change.) Maybe I'll have more on the league on Thursday. Maybe I'll decide to do something else instead. Like count the number of hypocrites who pretend to be religious but have no problem waking up entire neighborhoods with their horn-honking, wife-beating and escaped-from-the-zoo children. Softball was a venting mechanism, for all of us. You getting that yet? One word for all the waiters in Jordan: DEODORANT. Two words for getting Jordan out of debt: TRAFFIC PARKING TICKETS. Three words for Le Freak: NEED A LIGHT? Four words for Jeff's uncle: YOUR NEPHEW LIKES BOYS. Five words for all you newcomers: WELCOME TO AMMAN SOFTBALL LEAGUE.

Has Anyone Seen Our Future?

As you may have heard, we had to postpone (then cancel) the Winter '09 season. We had no choice in the matter, as there is no available field large enough to accommodate the game of softball. (Curse the people who decided what the dimensions of a soccer field should be.) The good news is, we should have plenty of new adults joining ASL in the coming years, because there is some seriously overwhelming demand to play baseball in Jordan. This is why the Little League field is not available. There are literally hundreds of kids playing baseball there on Fridays this winter. Maybe even thousands. Or, at least a dozen kids. OK, maybe seven. Anyway, it's Little League's field, so like the Bad News Bears in the Astrodome...Let them play. Here's what we hope to do over the next few weeks: 1. Register as an independent organization. 2. Find some land. 3. Make a softball field. 4. Play ball. If anyone wants to enlist for the purpose of helping out in Steps 1-3 above, please email me using the contact info at the top of the sidebar. Don't even bother calling. That number is just for ASL (not my private number), so I will not pick up during the offseason. Email, please. In the meantime, should we keep the Slogs going or let 'em hibernate? I'm thinking of posting the entire championship game from Summer '07 via YouTube. You know, Nomads-Traitors. Great game. Epic, even. And maybe we can settle, once and for all, if Massarweh is qualified to play shortstop. (Maybe that dig will get him on the toilet and calling.) Stay warm, Sloggers.