Cardiff Softball Invitational 2008
From Tecumsehs
Contents |
[edit] Tournament Details
- Tournament: Cardiff Invitational 2008
- Date: 12-14 September 2008
- Location: Llandaff Playing Fields, Cardiff
- Facebook Group: Tecumsehs on tour - Cardiff
[edit] Essential information
[edit] The squad
Tim Emanuel | Shell Grayson | Rachel Beard | Laura Payne | Hilary Osborne | Jane Culpan | Sarah Hamnett | Jen Cruickshank | Simon Yeowart | Sam Gibb Cohen | Andrew Tiffney | Pat Wong | Sion Tammes | Shell Grayson | Jacqui Marshall
[edit] The write up
Tents, kit and assorted Tecumsehs bundled into the minibus at 7pm on the Friday night. By 8pm we were being treated to the joys of the Hanger Lane Gyratory system (on which there was a distinct lack of gyration). This did little to dampen the Tecumseh mood; after all we were in a bus, with Haribo, beer and chocolate éclairs, not to mention the soundtrack. MC Hilary having cleverly interspersed the Tecumseh requests with classics by Welsh artists. Mix tape by democracy has never sounded so good.
So after we'd got the ground rules sorted out (only the first person to shout "Wales" gets an éclair (and only if they're right)), we pulled into Reading Services for a quick pit stop. Having spared the residents of Reading from Farooq by locking him in the van, everyone refueled and we settled down for the long trek West.
At Newbury it pissed it down with rain. And again at Swindon. It was beginning to look like the camping was about to become swamping. Pat confirmed this on arrival (about an hour and a half ahead of us) but by 10.30pm we were all busily putting tents up, in the dark and in the mud.
Saturday dawned early and bright. Whatever the weather had been previously, it was shaping up to be a glorious day. Egg and bacon butties were served for breakfast and the team arrived at the playing fields an hour early to shake off the cobwebs.
After a warm up of which BMF would be proud we settled down to some Frisbee, newspaper reading and general dossing about until the opposition turned up. Imma gonna skip the next 7 hours if that's alright with you. We played a blinder in the first and ran out comfortable winners, but after that, well, let's just say it went downhill, slalom style.
A sore and thirsty band of Tecumsehs made it to the pub just after 9pm. Food was consumed, alcoholic beverages were taken. Even Pat had a couple of shandies. Crap prizes with dubious puns were awarded to the MVP, LVP and sundry others.
A word to our hosts, who on the whole were lovely, despite chanting "no time for Tecumsehs for we are the Champions of the World" on the way out. They were slightly bemused by our game playing. To which I simply say: Alicia Keyes, Ariel Levy and Peter Sellars. Genius.
Sunday morning saw more breakfasting, packing and the team head down to Cardiff Bay where we pretended to be in Torchwood and made Farooq feel sick. A weary 6 hours later, the last Tecumseh had been dropped off and Dave and Jen headed home to collapse on the sofa.
[edit] Dave J. Parott
We encountered an unlikely recruit in the pub. Dave pratically begged us to help him escape from a life of drudgery on the wrong side of the Welsh border. What else could we do? After a quick trip around Cardiff Bay to make sure he was a suitable travelling companion, Dave booked his ticket on the Tecumseh bus of dreams.
It's now officially part of the Tecumseh mission to show Dave as much of the world as possible (Around the World in 80 Daves as some Tecumseh wit put it). He's been seeing the sites of London but soon will be heading out to Marakesh and Oz. If you can help broaden Dave's horizons, let us know.
