Washington Post 4, Express 3
Discovery Channel 8, Express 3
Photos to come. Sideways-World was Purgatory????
Swag, baked goods and color-coordination secured the Best Team Spirit award for 2010.
Washington, D.C. | Despite last-minute roster changes, a malfunctioning oven, U.S. Postal Service troubles and maxed-out parking lots, Express managed to win the Best Team Spirit award in the ACLI Capital Challenge 5k for the second year in a row on April 28.
The teams of “Press, Passing You” and “Safest Thing on the Metro” dragged themselves out of bed at an unreasonable hour to get to West Potomac Park on time, only to discover all three parking lots had been filled by 7:30 a.m. The passengers of one car trekked nearly a mile to get to the starting line.
“At least we got in a good warm-up,” said team member Nathan Martin later that afternoon before dozing off into a page of Weekend Pass listings.
Before the race began, team captains Katie Aberbach and Aimee Goodwin bombarded the one race judge they could find with gifts of homemade cupcakes and cookies, a pint of milk and a bag of exclusive Express swag.
“I left a Tupperware container filled with cupcakes somewhere along the road near the race — a small price to pay for the victories our team experienced,” Aberbach said.
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New pitcher Mark Giannotto channels Arnie Applebaum.
Silver Spring, Md. | Plagued by sub-par fielding, weak hitting and other self-inflicted wounds, Express fell to National Press Club, 19-4, and was blanked by Gazette, 6-0, Saturday. The sweep effectively eliminates the 20-Minutemen from MMSL playoff contention.
The day’s game conditions affected play early and often. Sarah Joestl was forced to leave the first game after swallowing airborne dirt and all morning, sunglasses were a must to block debris. “Since when do we play in Oklahoma?” Aimee Goodwin said. “Those fields were ‘Grapes of Wrath’-worthy dust bowls! White T-shirts are the best.”
The highlight of the day came from Mark Giannotto, who pitched for the first time this season and displayed solid reflexes, snagging a line-drive shot up the middle against Gazette. “Considering the hurricane force winds, I thought Mark did heck of a job in his pitching debut,” Andy Bonior said.
In Game 1, after jumping out to a 1-0 lead, things crumbled for the 20-MM. NPC coupled smart baserunning with a steady diet of hard-hit balls to jump out to a 9-1 lead. Chip Porter’s 3-run homer in the 4th cut the deficit to five, but a 10-run Big Blue inning killed any chances for a comeback by Express.
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NPC 19, Express 4 (5)
Gazette 6, Express 0
Click on the image of Capitalview/Homewood for a paltry assortment of photos.
Scott McCarthy objects to a bat that fails to conform to Express’ color scheme.
After some confusion arose about which uniforms the 20-Minutemen will be sporting this weekend, we decided to sit down with Express Art Director Scott McCarthy to talk about the origin of Timekiller, the 20-MM logo.
With a name like 20-Minutemen, what was the design process in coming up with a clock? The “minutemen” mascot/logo is relatively popular in sports, so why did you move away from that?
We definitely wanted to come up with something unique, and the typical minuteman logo is pretty tired. Plus, I have a bit of an aversion to the minuteman, since it is the logo of UMass, and back when I went to school in Boston, those students would infiltrate the Boston bars on the weekends. They were jerks. They’d start fights. They’d woo our women with their thick Boston accents. We called them Massholes. And let’s be honest: guy in a hat on a horse? Pretty weak. Also, we also wanted no association with the Tea Party movement. But all in all, it was what we came up with in the five minutes after Holly’s “I have five minutes to order T-shirts” ultimatum.
In addition to sporting a rather obvious “sun-like” appearance, Timekiller also seems to have the worst teeth of any mascot in history. What is the meaning of this?
Well, I really wanted to capture the “just rolled out of bed and didn’t floss or brush or shower” look. Along with the sun, I think it really captures the essence of rolling out of bed hungover early on a Saturday morning to stand in an outfield surrounded by bugs.
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Balletic grace is a must to become a successful 20-Minuteperson.
It’s amazing how three years of long, thankless and forgettable toiling on a team Web site beating a regional TV station’s softball team can all pay off in the end. Our Webmaster is reporting a major traffic spike since the “Semi-Thrilla in Aspen Hilla,” so we figured it’s time to give the league (and the world) a proper introduction to 20minutemen.org.
Here are a few tips and tricks for navigating this comedic tour de force, starting with the Top 10 moments in 20-MM history.
10. Our inaugural weekend. Hats were mismatched, uniforms were ragtag, but we were there dammit — we were there!
9. The sad, pathetic outing known around the halls of Express as “WTF-day.” Those that were there still tell stories of the horror.
8. Babies, babies and more babies!
7. The animatronic chimp head. Nobody really knows how or why this thing ever made it to the bench with us, but thankfully, its day is over.
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The 20-Minutemen aren’t afraid to leave some blood on the field.
I’m afraid a major fact has been lost as the 20-Minutemen have accused of being brash, nay, unsportsmanlike during Saturday’s victory over Comcast SportsNet: This is media softball.
And by definition, media softball shouldn’t be taken so seriously.
There’s no need to get bent out of shape if we lose, nor rub it in an opponent’s face if we happen to win.
If we’re not having fun, there’s really no reason to play.
One of the best traits of the Minutemen is that we have fun.
Because Express’ staff is so small, the softball roster truly represents the paper.
As a result, there is a camaraderie present that may not be possible for other teams in our league.
We express — sorry for the pun — ourselves in boisterous ways.
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The awesome bubble-maker was the day’s true victor.
Armed with their latest bills from a cable-telephone-internet service provider that has a reputation for forcing its customers to wait on hold listening to mind-numbing recordings for an eternity before speaking to live people, Express‘ benchwarmers were bursting with a desire for vengeance team spirit during Saturday’s second game against Comcast Sports Net.* Luckily, the sparse bench was kept busy cheering as the 20-Minutemen notched another win.
A bubble-maker brought by Betsy Lowther fueled nearly a full game of glee for some of the youngest benchwarmers, Auden and Endy Porter. The brothers were so exhausted from chasing after the bubbles that both were seen sneaking naps before the game’s end.
The first half of the day was equally eventful. While her brother Vance showed off his T-ball technique, chatty team story-teller Alina Bonior caught benchwarmers up to speed on her busy life. Playdates with friends and a splinter in her foot were among the topics discussed. Thankfully, that splinter is long gone and any pain was assuaged with a tasty freeze-pop, Alina said.
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USA Today 8, Express 6
Click on the epic image of the epic high-five for more epic photos of this epic day.
Sliding: Such poor sportsmanship!
Silver Spring, Md. | Steadied by slick fielding and timely hitting, Express played to another split Saturday, losing to USA Today 8-6 and handling Comcast SportsNet, 7-4. The hot day made for a feisty environment on the diamond and the first scorcher of the season provided quite a bit of high-intensity media softball drama — if there is such a thing.
In Game 1, Express jumped out to an early lead with a 4-run first against the vaunted USA Today squad. Katie “I Got Engaged So My Boyfriend Could Play On the Team” Aberbach set the tone for the 20-MM in the field with a fantastic snag in left against to rob a likely triple, but in the end it wasn’t enough. The Gannetoids proved why they are a perennial MMSL contender with a strong showing of hitting fundamentals that powered them to eight runs and the victory.
In what was easily the most entertaining matchup of the year, Game 2 featured a few 20-MM webgems and absolutely no shade at all. The nattily attired and clearly overmatched Comcast SportsNuts couldn’t manage the moxie to handle the psychological juggernaut of Express.
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