It's Volleyball Season

Let me make one thing clear: there are no bigger volleyball fans at the University of Oregon than I am. There's Really Old Guy, who is far creepier than I am, but not a bigger fan. And of course there is Dan Mahoney, who claims that he loves the team more without citing any factual evidence as to why, but I'm assuming that he believes this because he is louder at games while I am more reserved, and that he doesn't have family obligations obstructing him from watching any games... they just prevent him from attending parties with the coolest girls on the team (see last paragraph here). Alas, I digress from the original point. I do love this sport, enough to make signs declaring my emphatic enthusiasm for the team.

As a quick recap of this past year, the original sign I made had the intention of stating that Liz, #6, was my favorite player. The team appreciated the effort, and I appreciated the team's appreciation, and a mutual relationship had begun; I show my loyalty to the team and get the reward of knowing they love their fans. The very next game against UW, I made another sign for Liz, this time a little less blunt with a little more humor than the previous sign. The sign had a picture of Antoine Dodson, telling UW to "Hide yo kids, Hide yo wives, 'cause #6 is in the game." Although I never really talked to Liz... nor have I ever actually talked to Liz... I'm fairly certain that they still liked it.  We upset the then #7 team in the nation, and the signs kept rolling on in after that. After a few games, the team began to look in my direction as I was unveiling the next sign. Others included "Freshman of the Week? More like Freshman of the Century" (For Liz), and "#10 deserves a sign" For Savannah after we upset the National Champions.

However, last year is a thing of the past, and 2012 certainly has a different feel to it. I've had nearly 9 months to think of ideas on how to make signs this year better, and they have been thought out, drafted, discarded, rewritten and meticulously planned for the exact moment I reveal them. Lauren Gross (LG), a former player on the team and who Dan and I might* consider to be the coolest person at this University, has been more than influential; she provides key insights to the team's dynamic and lets us know who would appreciate what idea the most. I still don't quite understand why she thinks Dan and I are cool enough to talk to, but I won't argue.

To start this season off with a bang, I was inspired by the character Dug from the movie Up! In which he tells the protagonist of the film (Carl) "I have just met you and I love you." Even if you haven't seen the film, the quote is still funny and relevant to the 6 new players on the team.

The sign process begins with a yellow poster and a quick outline in pen, followed by a bold once-over in sharpie. Each sign takes approximately 40 minutes, and costs about $2.75 in the materials to make.

Outlining

Sharpie-ing

It got some good laughs, and I had the opportunity to talk to all the new players on the team. Of course, I didn't actually seize this opportunity, I more just approached them afterwords, got their autographs, and timidly walked away without really saying a word. I am not a confident man when it comes to girls on the volleyball team, so I figured staying quiet and not having them think I was creepy was probably the best idea. I have plenty more opportunities to screw things up in the future, why blow it on the first game? Regardless, the 2012 sign campaign had officially begun.

Only one player not on the sign signed the sign. I didn't have the heart to stop her.

To note, the first sign of the season narrowly beat out Dan's proposed idea of how we should start it.  I have only used one of Dan's ideas to date, as they are usually pretty terrible. This one, however, may have been the best idea he has ever had:

This needs no explanation, but man is it funny. Of course, we would never actually make this sign. The players would be legitimately distracted from the game, the underlying message is rather derogatory (albeit funny), and I don't think that everyone would get it. That being said, it is undoubtedly Dan's best idea to never be used.

For the 2nd game, I decided to tone back the humor a bit with much more blunt and straightforward sign. Dan and I had the honor of sitting with LG for the latter part of the game, during which we presented our newest ideas and checked in on how the team was really doing. For the 2nd sign, My idea was straightforward; state that Lauren Plum (LP) is the best at what she does. LP has been not only one of the best players in the country, but also one of the nicest and friendliest people on the team (to me at least). However, I was a little pessimistic about the sign and I was timid to hold it up during the game. Not that the message is bad, but the writing and letters are merged which makes it a bit difficult to read, the subjectivity of the statement lingers in the back of my mind (although she will most likely be an All American this year, which she more then deserves, it's hard to say that she is THE best) and the sign is just not very funny... humor is what I usually use as a crux for all of my other sign ideas. However, she (LP) did like it, which is what really matters. I approached her after the game for a photo op. Because of the serious nature of the sign, I asked Lauren "Can we be super serious in this photo?"
"Super serious?" She replied.
"Yes, super serious. No smiling."
"Alright, let's do it."

To make one thing clear, while Dan was fumbling around with his camera, I had the full intention of being super serious. It only dawned on me within the last second before the photo was taken to actually smile... because, well, it would be really funny.

Turns out is was really funny

The most amazing thing about this photo is that Lauren was actually attentive enough to catch my smile in her periphery, even though I was standing nearly perpendicular to her line of sight. She demanded that we take an actual happy picture.

Next is a sign for Liz, #6. I can't abandon her as my favorite and go-to sign player. It's not going to be very funny, but this is entirely planned. After 2 blunt and mediocre signs (including this one with LP), I plan to make what will easily be the best sign I have ever made for any sporting event ever**. It is entirely deserving of it's own explanation and blog post, and I look forward to that more than anything this volleyball season.

*(read "might" as "definitely")

**jpjpjp