From One End of the Spectrum to the Other

I've yet to return to Stanford for pickup. Not because I don't want to, but because I decided I'd check out several other games in the area to see what's out there.

So, on Monday, I went out to Foster City, right on the Bay, and was surprised to find a group of 40-somethings and their pre/early-teen sons. Their ringleader was ecstatic to see me. "Wow, we'll have 12 people today! On good days, we just have 8." Apparently, on extra good days like this past Monday, they also decide to distort their playing field to look a little more like a dog run.

While I found the game at Stanford relatively laid back, I should say that the level of play was also pretty strong. Mistakes were not chastised or derided, but you definitely had to run your tail off. And I'm fairly certain that many of them had played on competitive teams before. At this Foster City game, though, well... not so much. It was sort of a walking game. Of turnovers.

On Tuesday, I attended a third game within a 10 mile radius of here. And after those three games within reasonable distance of each other, I had not seen a single player twice. In any case, this game took me out past the salt flats in Redwood City to a business park where a handful of players take 1-1.5 hours off for lunch to get exhausted and have an excuse not to be quite as productive in the afternoon. Between these folks and the Stanford game, I think I've found a nice mix of fun, lightly competitive games that operate at the upper and lower bounds of my skill range.

So, at the very least, I've got 3-4 games a week to keep me in shape while I look for a job.