The Men of the Jittany slowly trickled in on Thursday afternoon and evening and began drinking some of the freshest Natural Light in all of Southern New Jersey. After the usual banter and pleasantries, a cash game broke out much to the disappointment of Scuz, the group's resident tournament specialist. Hota was in typical form picking up right where he left off the previous 9 years by immediately busting out. Was this an omen for another year of tremendous failure and embarrassment for Hota? Or would he turn around his Jittany misfortunes with the strong All-Decade Team as the wind beneath his wings? Unfortunately, Hota's losing streak continued when he practically forced the group at knife-point to go to the 24-hour Rod-N-Reel bar. Disaster. Disgusting smells and awful people quickly torpedoed Jittany Thursday Night but we hung tough, put some Katy Perry on the jukebox and had some blouny Loaded Coronas. This was the type of night that would have made Thunda Dan extremely fussy. Some went to bed for the night while a few others started a very late-night game of Scattegories.
It was an early wake up on Friday morning with most of the group playing a 9-hole scramble at the Links at Brigantine in soaking wet conditions. On the strength of an eagle on the par-5 9th, Team Haverford overcame a 1-stroke deficit for victory over Hota, Scuz and Hayes. Again, things were looking bleak for Hota and the official events hadn't even started yet. After a late breakfast and some lounging the teams made their way over to the 26th Street Park for the inaugural Wiffle Ball HR Derby. A small setback was suffered when we were chased away from both fenced Little League fields as they were being prepped for some big-time Friday evening baseball. Not to worry, we pressed on and made a blouny field with a bizarre set of foul polls and fences. The HR totals were relatively low despite the monster red bat and relatively short fence as most players struggled not to over-pull would-be dingers. Remeter, considered as one of the best without an MTP heading into Jittany X, made his intentions known early that he was a legit MTP candidate blasting 10 round-trippers and leading The All-Decade Team to a decided victory in the first event. Hota managed only two dingers himself but ended up aiding his team by feeding gopher balls to the top-three sluggers.
The extreme heat required several hours of laying around the house after HR Derby but the gang finally mustered up the strength to make the 20 second walk to the beach for Team Bags. After Remeter finished building his tent (no idea...) a dazzling game of Bags came down to the wire with The All-Decade Team coming out on top by a slim margin. Then the shirts popped off and a mad dash to the ocean ensued for a relaxing early evening dip. Despite the awkwardness it was very refreshing.
Back to the house and Bearclaw ensued, this year moving to a double elimination tournament to help speed up the event. Roughly an hour later Remeter knocked off Don in the Bearclaw final for his second dominate individual performance, but Bump-N-Rind kept the event fairly close by having a number of top finishers, although with three straight event victories it appeared that Jittany 10 was going to be a blowout. As the first ever Family Feud event got under way, the All-Decade Team again jumped out to an early lead taking the first two rounds and a 100-0 lead. With the Jittany all but over with, the boys in yellow mounted a furious comeback and swept the remaining Feud rounds to pick up their first event win, with Don capping off the lightning round bonus, giving Bump-N-Rind a blowout win and a massive boost on the leaderboard. Heading into Jittany Saturday, the All-Decade Team led 22-17.
Saturday's events started off with another first-timer, the Gambling Challenge. After a nerve-racking hour in the Casino, The All-Decade Team again got the better of Bump-N-Rind and their un-tenacious gambling strategy with Remeter taking home the top spot in earnings and all but guaranteeing his first MTP. Bump-N-Rind captured the 2nd and 3rd spots to minimize the damage in the event. GSil and Hayes then methodically plotted their way around Atlantic City's finest boardwalk golf course to share the Mini Golf event title, but Hayes got more help from his squad as The All-Decade Team again just edged out Bump-N-Rind for the event victory.
The All-Decade Team, winners of 5 of 6 events, had a comfortable, but not insurmountable, 7 point lead heading into the Flip Cup finale. With 15 points on the line, The All-Decade Team needed to win just 5 of 15 games to win the Cup. There was no quit in Team Yellow though as Bump-N-Rind fought like rabid dogs and quickly closed the gap. As the lead started to slip, the blue team felt the pressure as Remeter was yelling motivational non-sense to his teammates. Eventually Bump-N-Rind tied the Jittany at 41 with four Flip Cup games remaining, having won 9 of the first 11 Flip Cup games. Keeping that momentum was simply too much to handle though and The All-Decade Team responded like true Champions by taking home the next three rounds and locking up the 2011 Title, 44-42. Hota, a notoriously hideous Flip Cupper, had held his own and put together a respectable Jittany to claim his first ever title. Ten years of frustration was washed away in a joyous Champagne dousing on the back deck overlooking the Atlantic. It was the fourth title for JBon and Scuz and the fifth title for Hayes and Remeter who are the career leaders in Jittany Championships after 10 years.
The Champions Breakfast went to The Laguna Grill where Remeter's first MTP was made official. Gill, once a tenacious little bugger, officially hit rock bottom and picked up his second You Suck! award. JBon also picked up some hardware, earning his second Horse's Ass award with an over-the-top celebration for winning an early Flip Cup round...unfortunately he forgot that he was the anchor and hadn't played his turn, costing his team what could have been an extremely valuable point. All in all, another great Jittany! Look forward to the return of baby-related absentees Thunda, DF, and Kins in 2012!
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