Blues Dazzle at Mardi Gras Tournament By Victoria Brayer, 02/17/17
Despite Kevin’s insistence of a 12:31 departure time, he was solely responsible for the delay in picking up five anxiously awaiting Zebras, though the paparazzi at Enterprise could’ve slowed him down.
The six hour drive was fairly uneventful: heads were turned as the group waltzed through Chik-fil-a, Maddy rediscovered her rubix cube solving ability, Dobby and Chris vetoed Victoria’s roadtrip music, Kevin struggled to charge his phone, and Ben got a zebra print sleeve tattoo.
The dazzle from Bluff City thought the water polo gods were looking out for them when they learned of their 11am game time, but alas it was wasted due to a 7am wake-up call courtesy of Eliz and Maddy. Ignoring Kevin’s request, Dan did not breakfast him Saturday morning. The groggy bunch boarded the van and made their way to the pool.
Game 1 against the Seattle Otters (unofficial winner of the cutest caps award) started relatively strong with the Blues down 3-4 after the first quarter. Unfortunately, the Zebras couldn’t out-swim the Otters and fell to Seattle 5-16.
The Zebras were faced with a difficult choice between games: food or sleep? The smartest of the bunch chose both as they napped with a box of Cheez-Its.
Our second opponent was Sunset, a team out of San Diego, California. Tough competition was anticipated, but both teams were prepared to use the game as a learning opportunity. Bluff City fell to Sunset with a score of a lot to a little.
Saturday night was spent on the hotel balcony watching the Krewe du Vieux parade. The team found inspiration for the 2018 team theme--to be revealed to those who attend next year! The dazzle braved the crowds and crossed the parade route on the way to dinner, somehow losing Dan and Eddie (the two tallest Zebras) in the process. Once reunited, the entire zeal feasted on cajun food, which Dobby would later come to regret.
Sunday morning’s 9 am game versus Tulane was a tight battle. Though the Blues were feeling well rested, they couldn’t hold onto their lead and ended up drowning in the Green Wave 7-8.
Between games, the dazzle of Zebras grabbed brunch then spent some quality time grazing on the turf field.
The final game against Auburn proved to be a tough loss. Eddie started off the game with a pair of goals for Bluff City en route to opening up a 4-0 lead, but that wouldn’t be enough to take down the Tigers as the Blues fell 6-7. The Memphis group is looking forward to redeeming themselves in a possible rematch at the Chris Young tournament.
Chris was the MVP of the drive home, driving all 6 hours without a single speeding ticket. Eddie earned the title of honorary MVP for his unbeatable co-piloting skills. Last but not least, Gus deserves recognition for not only holding down our hole set, but also bringing along his family aka Bluff City’s only fans.
Items on the agenda for practice include:
How to not hit the crossbar every single time (Kevin)
How to make a 5 meter (Ben)
How to contribute and not just get in the way (Victoria)
How to avoid getting a black eye (Kelsey)
In addition to the above lessons, Maddy will teach the group how to shoot her killer lob shots, Stucks will hold a video conference covering how to be a human garbage disposal and eat everything in sight, Dan will give a lesson on perfecting the art of one-liners, and Dobby will present a research paper detailing the best and worst gas station bathrooms between Memphis and New Orleans.
Until next time,
Lorem Venetae