I did mention in my last week’s entry that our team (in Church as well as Grad leagues) needed to work lot harder (and play lot smarter) to perform better. Being a double-elimination scheme, we lost our second game in the Church league play-offs after a tough fight. Score was 6-7 and it was pretty close all through the game but our offense just didn’t fire. Less than two days later, we had Grad league play-offs (this is single elimination and both semis & finals are held the same day). After the amount of rain we had in the area, it was looking very unlikely that the games would be on. As I knew that requesting field maintenance officials wasn’t gonna work, I requested couple other very passionate (about sports) athletes and they did an unbelievable job. I tried to have their gas (and some other minor) expenses re-imbursed but without them (Ryan Camps and Iman Blyther) almost everybody had to wait 7 more sleepless nights.

Game #1 of play-offs was not a smooth ride by any means and went down to the wire, though the final score (7-4) doesn’t tell the whole story. This meant that Team Fiziks was making its fourth straight finals appearance. But this is where things got ugly. Our opponent (I am trying to be polite and wouldn’t call their name out) had broken enough rules through the regular season (not using league issued balls, getting few ringers for every game, letting members playing for multiple teams, and so on) but decided to bring in ringers (who, to my knowledge, neither had no affiliation to Tech nor played with them through the regular season. I have, by the way, no problem with few other non-Tech people who played through out the regular season) just for play-offs. It was a defensive game which we ended up *loosing* in the last inning. More than lack of offense, it was my lack of enough assertiveness, motivated by the wrong assumption that every team follows all rules - especially this one, that led to our defeat. Needless to mention, pretty much everyone on our team (and many other teams) are disgusted about one team breaking most of the rules while rest are trying their best to keep it fair.

Were there any positive/negative outcomes from the last game of play-offs? Definitely yeah. As far as I know, it was my last game (and so for few others) and would have wished to end our grad league playing days on a winning note. The fact that other team brought in ringers (from city/church league) made many of us feel that our twice a week practice sessions pointless. But the same fact also made many of senior players very proud of our team’s talent & strength, for the other team had to resort to unfair rules to beat us. It also made sure that couple guys on the other team, whom I looked up for their passion for the game and athletic capabilities at their respective ages, no longer have my respect. Beyond all these, I was reminded of a certain four lines from DVG’s Mankuthimmana Kagga (poem by/for the dumbhead):

jaTTi kALagadi gelladoDe garaDiya sAmu
paTTuvarasegaLella viphalvennuveyEm? |
muTTi nODavana maikaTTu kabbiNa gaTTi
gaTTithana garaDiphala - mankuthimma ||

(Meaning: Just because a wrestler looses his/her fight, does it mean that frequent visits to the gym and countless squats/bench-presses were a waste of time? Bodily strength and mental toughness gained during the process is also a, often much better, fruit of working out than just winning the fight).

Such is life - there are always people (or groups of it) who think winning by any means (with no dignity and/or honor) is more important than playing fair. I was planning on stripping the *winning* team off their championship but that’s when Bob Gilreath, as he has always done, filled in some sense to my young-stupid-dumb head and explained the consequences of such an act. I feel sorry for every other team, as many things didn’t work the way they should have, though some steps were taken to make the league more fun/recreational and a bit more well known than it was before. Opportunity to serve this league as its co-ordinator has taught me lot of things - mostly harsh realities about a variety of things and wouldn’t have possible but for many nice people

Anyways, there are way too many good memories I have of playing in this league for the past four years - have come to know (and play with) some of the finest athletes, teachers of the game and die-hard fans/supporters. It has happened on numerous occasions that people who come to support the other team end up rooting for our team. Why so, you ask? Because of the passion with which most of us played the game; Sports Center-like plays we made without even calling them (well, that was the direct result of twice a week religious practice sessions). When that happens, you know that you have done your part. Loosing the finals in 2003 binded us together into a very strong unit, winning two straight championships (in 2004 & 2005) were reflection of our efforts and hopefully, bitter loss this season will make us much stronger, and hopefully, there is more to life than winning three straight championships.

Yesterday being my first relatively free Saturday of this summer and motivated in part by all that happened during the week, I decided to get lost in some remote place. Wish I could leave my mind (and all the memories it carries) behind when I travel More often than not, watching the gigantic Lake Superior cools me down, brings some sense into my stupid mind and injects into me a fresh does of humility. Any place that shores Superior would have been fine but if a place has sandy shores & mountains alongside, I wouldn’t / couldn’t resist. I browsed through my memory to see which of such places I hadn’t seen (and could be seen within a day’s time) and Porcupine Mountains (in Ontonagon County, Western Upper Michigan) was an easier choice. Realized half-way through the ride that directions in Yahoo! Maps didn’t make any sense. If I followed them, there was no way I would reach Silver City by driving only about 70 miles. Seeing cattle grazing near Tapiola/Pelkie, fog raising over the forest cover along M38 were some hints of an enjoyable day ahead… Getting into Copper Country Cafe (in Mass City) not only got me one of the finest breakfasts (next only to Vicky’s Kitchen in Downtown Houghton) but information about some not-so-commonly visited places along the country road (thanks to a lady who also had come there to have some breakfast).

The route I took was about 50 miles longer but it was one of my best in this part of Michigan. Drive to and the Victoria Dam near Rockland (has a hydroelectric power project - how many of you have heard about/seen it?) was pretty cool - curvy roads going up and down through the hills, historic (related to mining) landmarks alongside….

Drive from Ontonagon to Silver City (M64) was punctuated by at least few 10s of streams joining the Superior. Driving along M107 from Silver City to Lake of Clouds presents Superior just above the eye level, describing which is beyond my capacity. Short drive up the hill and about 25 steps later, I was standing at the edge of a cliff - seeing something that I had only heard and seen in some pictures. Again, I am feeling short of words to explain what I saw, but it wasn’t too hard to know why Lake of Clouds was called so.

Hiking the Escarpement Trail and North Mirror Lake Trail, to the Lake of Clouds and back, was pretty tiring (only about 2 miles, but it’s a steep desent and ascent of about 500+ feet). While hiking back to the car, I did see something very harsh phenomenon - predator turning into a prey. I kneeled down to shoot some parasitic growth on a certain tree trunk with my Sigma 105mm Macro Lens and what did I see? An ant carrying a much heavier dead fly up the same tree trunk in a seemingly effortless manner.

After taking its food about 8 feet from the ground in about 45 seconds, the ant (at this particular part on the tree, where its skin color did not match the color of tree trunk) decided to adopt camouflage. Little did it know (and so did yours truly) that there was a buttlerfly-like insect waiting, in camouflage again, for its turn. All I saw at first was the dead-fly falling down to the ground and ant disappearing from the scene. It was only after getting close enough that I saw this creature - a predator that turned another predator into its prey. Still gives me goosebumps…

Return journey was about 75 miles, as I didn’t follow Yahoo! Maps directions and spent sometime in Twin Lakes Java, stopped for a few minutes near Tommy’s cabin on the shores of Lake Eva. Pretty eventful day in all (pictures are here) but my mind is still lingering on what happened last Thursday. Friends (and many others) have been trying to convince me that it was only a game — guess it will be a while before I actually forget it. Or, will I ever forget it?