Congressional Softball League
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The Congressional Softball League is a softball league organized by the non-profit Congressional Athletic Association consisting of teams of Congressional staffers as well as employees of other federal agencies and private Washington D.C. companies and organizations.
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[edit] History
The league was founded in 1969. Teams generally consisted of members of the same Congressional committee or federal agency. Mark Warner's Forward Together PAC (managed by Chris Coffman) is one of three teams in the league not officially affiliated with a government office.
[edit] Republican Secession
In the offseason before the 2006 season beginning in April, several Republican teams seceded from the league in protest of the year end playoff system instituted by league Commissioner Gary Caruso, a Democrat, which they argued gave below-average teams an unfair advantage. Whereas most playoff tournaments pit the highest seed against the lowest seed in the first round and so on to avoid high seeds knocking each other out early on, Caruso's system seeded teams against opponents with similar records in the first round. Incidentally, under Caruso's system, his team has traditionally drawn an easy first round game.
Emails received by Caruso from Republicans referred to the play-off system as "Softball Welfare Bracketology". Another email from Gary Mahmoud, the coach of Boehnerland, a team consisting primarily of aides from Republican Majority Leader John Boehner's office, stated "The commissioner has a long-standing policy of punishing success and rewarding failure. He's a Democrat. Waddya' expect?".[1]
The new league, consisting of 110 of the 190 teams from the old league (some of which are not Republican), is commissioned by Anthony Reed, an aide to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL).
Dan Bakkedahl lampooned the split on The Daily Show, saying that the move reflected a "dickishness among Republicans which is probably responsible for the fact that New Orleans is still under water."[2] According to an article in Roll Call, "e-mails were sent instructing team captains not to do interviews [with the Daily Show]."
[edit] Rules
Unlike many softball leagues, strikes are not called unless the batter swings and misses or hits a foul ball.[3]
Fields are public and thus cannot be reserved, forcing Congressional aides to wait at the fields—often for hours—to hold them.[4]
[edit] Games
Games are played on the National Mall between the Washington Monument and the US Capitol.
[edit] References
- Mulins, Brody. April 24, 2006. "Softball on the Mall was Bipartisan Fun until Politics Intruded". The Wall Street Journal. A1.
- ^ Mulins, 2006, A1.
- ^ Dann Bakkedahl. Aired June 19, 2006. Designated Bitter. Produced by Glenn Clements. Edited by Daric Schlesselman.
- ^ CONGRESSIONAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION INVITATIONAL SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT RULES. Rule 4.3.
- ^ Mulins, 2006, A1.
