Phud-tastic

A few weeks ago, I told you about the Phuds, the softball team for UT’s College of Communication and Information in the 1990s.

As I wrote last month, we won a number of UT Rec Sports - Intramurals championships with both our men’s and mixed gender teams. I remember, for example, that we won a title in the men’s division in the fall of ’93.

Our last championship was in ’96 with our last mixed gender team – right before the Atlanta Olympics.

Here are some other interesting facts about our teams: 

Rivals -
We had some fun and interesting rivalries with a number of teams from around the UT campus. We faced off a number of times against a team from UT Medical Center (they called themselves, the Lifesavers). We also had a great series with the IT Team (the UT Bytes).

By far, however, our most interesting relationship was with a combined team of history and English faculty members and grad students.  Their team name was the ‘Unified Team’ and we were both great friends and rivals with ‘the Unies.’ We shared practice times and a frequent post-game beverage.

Make no mistake about it, when we both took the field we were very competitive with each other. My friend John McManus played for ‘the Unies’ and we enjoyed our many match-ups. 
 

Interesting Games -
Our team had a number of interesting games throughout the decade. One that comes to mind was a match-up against a very heavily funded team that was sponsored by a business located on the UT Strip. This fact, alone, should have disqualified them from being able to compete in a ‘non-competitive’ university faculty-staff league. 

Still, they entered the league and we took them on for a chance to win yet another title.  It was clear they had quite a bankroll as a throng of supporters showed up on game night in a heavily outfitted company van. Their adoring fans toted a cache of Gatorade and snacks and sported matching shirts bearing the company name.

Despite the odds, we were rolling along toward another championship when we encountered a long (and muddy) rain delay. The business team used the delay to regroup; meanwhile we went flat. We lost our edge.

When the delay ended and both teams re-took the field, they rallied and won the game. I’m not sure if anyone dumped a Gatorade bucket on the winning coach but the Phuds were surely doused by Mother Nature. 

Frank Thomas -
In addition to collecting championships, we also had a collection of characters on the Phuds. No one was more colorful than our teammate dubbed ‘Frank Thomas’ (not his given name, obviously).

Make no mistake about it, our version of ‘The Big Hurt’ didn’t hurt many teams with the bat but he destined to hurt himself by running his mouth. He alienated friend and foe alike – including the Unies – with his constant chatter.

Frank didn’t understand the meaning of ‘flying under the radar.’ And one night, he got his moniker by showing up fully decked out in a Chicago White Sox uniform. Ol’ Frankie was a big fan of the South Siders and that night, he gifted us all a fairly lengthy sociology lesson comparing Cubs fans to Chisox faithful.

As we took the field for our game against a fraternity team, he was flapping his gums as usual. After a couple innings, a member of opposition sidled over to me and a couple of the other guys and quipped, “What’s the deal with Frank Thomas over there?” We looked at each other and started laughing out loud.

From that moment on, a nickname was born!

Ah, some great stories. Big Hurt. Gatorade. Unies. Lifesavers. Bytes. Lots of great fun, friends and wonderful memories. And maybe, just maybe, there’s enough material for a threequel?

You just never know.

JG

Originally posted 9/25