Going Out On Top

My agency has been the laughing stock of the ad industry this past week. I don't want to describe it too much because the revelation of T.M.I. is what's at the heart of this whole mess to begin with. But basically, the agency made a serious PR and business boo-boo, and then got butt raped in the press for it, as our peers around the world watched and grimaced.

So when the agency softball team stepped out on the field Monday night for a potential double-header against much more clean-cut, thriving agencies' softball teams, we felt like the Iraqi soccer team of the 2004 Olympics, representing a war-torn embarrassment of an establishment, but liking the sport enough and playing together well enough to compete with the best on the field.

Our first challenge was the semifinal. It was against an agency who we all had friends at, so it was a bit personal as we faced many former co-workers. This team was good. They held first place through most of the season, and they beat us in the regular season finale. It was a grueling match, but we played as well as we needed to and came out on top.

When would our championship game be?

About 15 minutes after the semifinal. We were battered and tired. The opposing team had received a bye in their semifinal and showed up zestfully clean and energized. Our league combines our division and the division above us for the playoffs, and this team came from the higher division and had lost only one game all year.

The opposing team was so confident, they even had a cameraman on hand to document what they expected to be another softball championship. While they trotted onto the field on fresh legs and years of experience, we laid out on the bleachers sucking down water, amazed that we got this far in our agency's first (and definitely last) year with a softball team.

The collective sentiment of our team at this point was "Let's just not get blown out."

And so we battled. I was lucky enough to get a hit on the first pitch of the game. But then I got caught off base like an idiot after a pop-fly out, thrown out on a very rare double-play. Their defense was solid, and they were fast. And their bats were even better.

But we hung around. We went punch for punch with them and somehow ended up with a lead going into the bottom of the last inning. With one more out to go, their batter grounded to 3rd and my co-worker scooped it up.

Time froze.

At this point, I didn't even know the score, only that it was the bottom of the last inning, and it wasn't over yet. So we were either tied or still in the lead.

The ball left my co-workers hands and I watched it float and float and float to 1st base. The batter was now flying down the baseline trying to beat the throw to 1st.

"Out!"

And there it was, my first sports championship ever. I was running towards the infield half un-sure if we were just tied. But I saw my buddies' arms raised, and so I did that non-hetero looking run baseball players do when they win a World Series with their arms out to their sides looking at their teammates in disbelief. We all crashed into the mound chest-bumping and hugging. There were people who I have passed in the hallways of the office and not said a word to, now with their arms around me in ecstasy and shock.

It's just a dumb industry recreation league, but a lot of agencies play a lot of years and play them seriously, wanting to one-up their competitors in something other than client revenues. And we, the team from the hopeless agency bleeding clients and sinking in business reputation, and with some of our players--yours truly included--receiving pink slips this week, came out on top. Now that's a story worth leaking to the industry press.

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Epilogue:
Winning my first championship in a sport was fun, but it still does not ease the pain from Sunday's loss to the Panthers. I have my priorities and I won't be satisfied until a new Sunday arrives and ends the way it should. Let's go Bolts!

And oh yeah, I need a job again.