I have had the hardest time finishing this BB, it has gotten deleted not once but twice. Think of how not fun that is. Now take the opposite of how not fun that is- Jollyball is even more fun that. It may sound like it was named after a certain former Nantan, but the truth is that Jollyball got its name from how ridiculously fun it is.
13 showed up for the inaugural game- the Pax mentioned above as well as FNG Jonathan, 2.0 Bedhead and 2.0 Stink Eye.
Jollyball is played on a soccer field with a soccer ball and soccer goals. The general concept is that you advance the ball up the field by dribbling or passing and ultimately shooting it into the goal. The difference from soccer is that you can use your hands to dribble, pass, and shoot. You can even catch a pass, but you must immediately put the ball down to dribble or pass or shoot. At no point can you posses the ball for more than a one count. On defense everyone can use their hands to deflect, block, intercept, play goalie, whatever. Out of bounds follows soccer rules and you can kick or throw the ball in. Fouls are the same as basketball and soccer, no intentional contact to the body (although this rule was broken a number of times, typically by Jolly or Ramrod, or Jolly and Ramrod).
As the name implies, Jollyball rewards a bit of illegal touching and cherry picking. No one was more excited about the illegal touching than Ramrod, who bowled Jolly over from behind a number of times. Speaking of Jolly, he had the second best goal of the day, a smooth behind the back no look shot into the corner of the net. Ramrod had the best goal, a volleyball spike off of a corner kick. It was pretty cool. Apparently Ramrodicus has volleyball skills because he was busting them out every possession. YHC had the save of the day, unfortunately it was for the other team, as I deflected a beautifully placed shot by Tuck, knocking it off target and over the goal.
Everyone was involved in the game, which was a big plus. If they weren't, you were going to get worn out pretty quickly. Lots of athletes out today, so the flow was quick. Bedhead and Stink Eye each played a solid role. Stink Eye learned the benefits of cherry picking and being on the opposite team from his dad. Bedhead was a human force field, I can't tell you how many shots clanged off the cross bar when he was in goal.
Kachow, FNG Jonathan, and Utah all had superior ball handling skills- not sure how they all ended up on the same team. Oh, that's right, it was Jolly's team.
Overall, we had a blast and got a decent workout in as well. If you were there and want to add any additional commentary on the game please do.