In the pantheon of great rivalries: the Romans and Greeks, Coke and Pepsi, Stern’s and Klein’s, one stands alone in its ferocity and divisiveness. Passions have been stirring for years among those laying-in-wait behind exam room and kitchen doors. One claims experience and agility, the other brute force and strategy. Today Simcha Special saw the culmination of this epic in a day of spirited competition both on and off the field. Fans got a preview of the action inside, as waiters tried for new heights in goalpost jumping and both camper and counselor got liberal with face paint.
Casting calls were held all around camp to extol the virtues of Tylenol PM, Budweiser ( via some colorful explorations of facial anatomy) and the new Shidduchim mega site, BNB.com ( which got its first four million hits after it served as proof that even a frog and a woman with a bad hair day, crazy as it may seem, can find their basheret.). This was only part of the spectacle that encircled game night. After an open-air feast that made small of even the most legendary of tailgate parties, all in camp, their hands still caked with barbecue sauce and helping to gulp vitamin waters by the case load, marched with pride and determination to the social hall where the air hung thick with breathless anticipation and the medical staff got the upper hand as the crowd favorite.
Led by the always-theatrical “Nurse Pewee,” the staff brought back the seventies and the tears with a rendition of YMCA, and the camp anthem, that had the floor creaking with the weight of hundreds losing their voices. NBC, the sports news leader, had all the details: we went inside the training grounds, on the field and into the announcer’s booth, as Rav Wiggles set up a match for the ages. The “million-a-minute” TV spots added to the glitz and laughs. In the end, the crowd’s encouragement (or, more directly, love of food) was not enough to win the kitchen staff the title of Sunday night champs. However deep in their hearts, they knew that oftentimes rivalry and brotherhood go hand in hand, and all left the arena alive with the spirit of competition and Simcha Sports glory.
T.B.