New players, new directions

Federica took our game to a whole new level.

Bill got every rebound possible.

Simon represented the Southern Hemisphere.

At least 4 of us played on overstuffed, over-beered stomachs.

Last night was an unequivocal success.

Wednesday afternoon

(Sing it to the tune of "Tuesday afternoon" by the Moody Blues). Wednesday after survey is a good time for me, cause I am basically otherwise useless. Maybe we can get Erik and someone else to join us?

At least we're better looking than the other team...

...but I guess if victory was based on good looks, we'd win 'em all. Good game, fellas. I think our improvement from last week is easily apparent. A couple more of our shots go down, and a couple more of theirs miss and we win that one. Also a missed free throw at the end and we have a chance to tie. Not bad for a bunch of old farts like us. Anyway, let's get together again early next week sometime to shoot around and maybe play a little 2 on 2.

My Highlight from the Game:
- Foivos saying afterwards that he loved the RPM shirt because it made him look not as sweaty.

T-shirts

Win or lose, the important thing is to represent for the real RPM, our chair, the icon of West Coast Classical Studies. In this vein, Rob, James and myself have already ordered RPM t-shirts. What are YOU waiting for???

Sorry gentlemen

I'd like to offer a formal apology, not so much for not playing to potential, but more so for not having fun and having the audacity to say so. I assure you that won't happen again.

Good effort everyone. Thanks for kicking ass.

Know Your Foe

Thanks to the lack of updates on the Stanford Intramurals website, nobody actually knows how good The Marx Brothers, our opponent this week, are going to be (sorry I didn’t know whether the verb here should be singular or plural). Digging a little further into the past however, there is quite a lot to be learned about this apparently hilarious team.

Roster
According to multiple reliable sources (Wikipedia), The Marx Brothers are a comedy team specializing in a variety of media, most notably vaudeville, but also dabbling in film, television, and the stage. It is likely that the siblings Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Gummo, and Zeppo got into basketball simply due to the number of them: 5. Five players on a basketball team, five Jewish brothers from New York…coincidence? I think not. It also seems probable that their father, mysteriously known as “Frenchy” will be coaching the team. As a last word of warning I suggest not bring your girlfriends to the game, as Chico apparently has quite a way with the ladies.

The stage names for four of the five brothers were coined by monologist Art Fisher[11] during a poker game in Galesburg, Illinois, based both on the brothers' personalities and Gus Mager's Sherlocko the Monk, a popular comic strip of the day which included a supporting character named "Groucho". The reasons behind Chico's and Harpo's are undisputed, and Gummo's is fairly well established. Groucho's and Zeppo's are far less clear. Arthur was named Harpo because he played the harp, and Leonard became Chico (pronounced, and originally spelled, "Chick-o") because of his affinity for the ladies ("chicks").

Fight Song
Not much is known of the actual contents of The Marx Brothers’ fight song, although it can be assumed that Groucho, known for his vocal talents, is probably the singer, and there is the distinct possibly that he will be accompanied by Harpo on, you guessed it, the harp.

Gameplan
Again there is a dearth of concrete evidence as to the skills and general strategy of The Marx Brothers. Their talent in flawlessly transition from live stage performances to the silver screen should suggest that they won’t be afraid to mix it up and throw different looks at us. On defense my guess is they go with a 1-3-1 so as to be able to feature a front man with back singers/power forwards. Their success in the early 1900s probably suggests they will be wearing very tight shorts. Do not let this distract you.


Alternative Identities
I think it’s safe to say that this gives a pretty good picture of the team we will be up against this Thursday, but just in case, let’s take a look at who else might be showing up. If it’s not jolly, good-hearted brothers that we play tomorrow night, it seems likely that we will be facing the Brothers of the Cruciform Sword. The quote comes after Indy rescues his father in The Last Crusade. After finding out that his son has brought the grail diary with him, he exclaims in disappointment, “I should have mailed it to the Marx Brothers!” As protectors of the grail for over a thousand years, there is n doubt that this is a defensively focused team. We are going to have to focus on ball control and smart passing to avoid a plethora of turnovers.

Thursday's Strategy

So it looks like we’ll be playing either a team whose skills could best be described as comical or a team who cares more about ancient artifacts than I do. Let’s make fools of these jokers.

Wednesday afternoon

I plan to go to the gym and shoot around after survey, I'd probably be there by 230. Please join me if you wish, not sure how busy it will be though. Let me know if I should look for you.

Website

Whoops...sorry, here's the website.

in hoc signo vinces

First of all, Al, that shirt design is outstanding.

I was trying to figure out how to get text on there but failed. Trying a different site, however, I was able to get in hoc signo vinces on the back. Everything else should be the same. Unfortunately, my skills on the internets are not quite that good so I couldn't fiugre out how to save what I did. Anyway, you should be able to recreate it by uploading Al's image and then typing the words on the back (I used Sherwood font, size 80). Also, make sure the image you use doesn't have the red in the background so that it will just print the black on the red shirt. Ok, I really need to stop messing around with this and do my presentation for Richard Saller's class. Oh, last thing though. You can do it on either a heavy or lightweight t-shirt; I did light weight and it ended up being $15.90 + shipping and handling. Ok, back to Pliny. Hopefully you'll see me representing by our 3rd game (a week from this Thursday).

Do ut des.

(from James' email)

After sacrificing some picked-out unblemished ants in my well-lit apartment, I offer this formal invocation of our patron deity for future success:

'O RPM, Professor, Chair, Harvard alumnus, author of learned articles, well-bearded, authoritative, descendant of great Nagy; whether thou art in thy particularly large office, or meeting out justice to wretched undergraduates, or displaying your powers at some divine conference; if ever we have frantically prepared for thy survey class, if ever we have translated brilliantly for thy judicious marking, if ever we have offered up our miserable literary comments for your satisfaction; be with us now as the ball flies from our hand, smile propitiously on our infrequent free-throws, and aid us in vanquishing the barbarian forces who would cast down your glorious band.'

I suggest we sing this before every game. Please memorize.

Nicely done, James, nicely done. [-Rob]

Pain

Is anyone else in a significant amount of pain? Having trouble getting out of chairs, cars, bed?

RPM Stands for Victory

To players and fans alike:

To further develop a sense of team unity and to showcase the man who, really, is behind it all, I thought an attractive, form-fitting a Victory T might be the preferred way to underscore both our commitment to the team and our department.

There may be cheaper ways to do this, but for the moment I've created a shirt design, available via CafePress.com

http://www.cafepress.com/rpmwins

In hoc signo...

-Al

The schedule

24-Jan 10:00 PM
The Swishers vs. RPM


31-Jan 11:00 (Note time)
The Marx Brothers vs. RPM


7-Feb 10:00 PM
Paloma vs. RPM


14-Feb 10:00 PM
Underground Ballers vs. RPM


21-Feb 11:00 (Note time)
FICS vs. RPM

RPM wins Game 1, 27-19

In our first intramural 5 X 5 basketball game, the Classics department team, called "RPM" after our illustrious chair was victorious, defeated "The Swishers" - some group of rowdy undergraduates who didn't know what shame was until the game was over. Final score 27-19 (haha- it's like 4th grade basketball score). We only had 6 players (exhausting), and they had like 10, including some rather fast players, and a few bulky ones too. But we put up a good fight and held in there.

Highlights:
Robs incessant threes.
Al taking a girl down.
Foivos sweaty shirt. (Friggin' Greeks)
James' fouls.
Micah and the Bruiser getting in a battle of words and almost more.
My prophesied break-away missed lay-up.

Let's get some more players, eh?