Sports are ubiquitous at U.Va. People are always running. We might even be the only University to have our own running celebrity: "Crazy Running Man." Our recreational facilities are consistently rated as among the best in the nation. The intramural sports department is run with German-like efficiency, providing competitive fun to first years in dorms, grad students and everyone in between. Between Frisbee toss on the Lawn brought to you by the 21 Society or pick-up basketball games at the Dell, it's hard to walk to class and not see something athletic. Oh, and every varsity sport plays at the Division I level in the best conference in the country.
Still, there's one element of the sporting culture at U.Va. that many of my fellow Wahoos (particularly the non-Greek ones) don't know a lot about: philanthropies. With the weather getting colder, I thought I would take the time to recount some of this semester's events and the charities that benefited from them. The Greek community takes a lot of heat, and while some of it is deserved, I thought it would be appropriate, with Thanksgiving around the corner, to recap the fall season of Greek philanthropic sporting tournaments.
Delta Gamma's "Anchorslam," a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, serves a great example of a typical Greek philanthropy. First of all, Delta Gamma Philanthropy Chair Janet Joyce confirmed my theory about who comes out to these things. According to Joyce, most of the teams who played were fraternity teams. About 15 participating teams had the chance to win a grand prize worth approximately $150. Per norm, T-shirts were made to commemorate the event. Nothing against IM Sports, but for roughly the same price, the payoff is way higher to play in the Delta Gamma event than a weekend IM Rec tournament. Plus, it's for charity; Delta Gamma raised over $3,000. (Although, the status symbol of those championship shorts is undeniably appealing.)
Alpha Chi Omega and Pi Kappa Phi's "Battle of the Sexes" was one of the events that yours truly made it out to. Like athletics in general, the men totally dominated the women. For every team of girls competing, there were roughly 450,000 men (apparently I wasn't the only boyfriend of an Alpha Chi Omega member charged with bringing out the troops).
The obstacle course featured what shall henceforth be called the "College Decathlon." First leg: a dizzy bat spin to replicate Friday night, followed by hurdling couches à la Marques Weeks running from the cops, then making a beer pong shot. Leg two: putting on a bra and panties as quickly as possible (I guess this is a skill if you want to get a head start on your walk of shame without awkward conversation), then fishing for something in a kiddie pool of noodles. Leg three: beer pong (with water), tire step and then a rope crawl, just like the ROTC kids. Leg four: Slip-N-Slide through baby oil, then log roll to finish. Okay, that last one has nothing to do with college, but I smelled really good after doing it.
The most important lesson to come out of the "Battle of the Sexes" was the following: prizes. A teammate of mine scored great Christmas loot for family at way below face value through the silent auction. Somehow the Alpha Chi Omega girls even got an autographed Dwight "The Washing Machine" Freeney helmet that a Colts fan in your life would have loved. So remember: Philanthropies have great prizes.
Greeks have the mainstream sports covered via "Kappa Kickoff" or "Sigma Spikefest." They have gym favorites like Delta Dodgeball (new this year, but far and away the best T-shirts) or Elmo's Kickball (a classic). They have Lawn sports (literally) for Phi Delta Theta's Big LeBocce or Kappa Delta Croquet. They even have fake ESPN sports like competitive eating and poker. Delta Zeta's "Wingfest," which is tonight at the Biltmore, features an amazing deal on wings. Theta Delta Chi and Pi Beta Phi had "High Stakes Casino Night" at O'Neill's last week. In fact, the philanthropy scene has shown to be so marvelous at alliteration and consonance that it's a matter of time before a spelling bee hits the philanthropy scene. In an interesting twist, sources tell me that next spring Mad Bowl will be out of commission to do a reconstruction project. How this affects the philanthropy season that thrives there remains to be seen.
If you missed out on the entire fall philanthropy season and want to make up for it, you've got two chances to make up for it today. This weekend, ZBT is presenting Four Square Mania at their house, and the aforementioned DZ Wingfest can hone your competitive eating skills. Have a philanthropic Thanksgiving everybody.
Read More
With last-second three-pointer, SMU silences men’s basketball
By Michael Liebermann and Thomas Baxter | 4 hours agoThe late shot crushed a bouncing arena.
With dominance and high hopes, women’s tennis opens the spring season
By Gracie Genereux | 5 hours agoA commanding opening victory set the stage for the season to come.
No. 6 women’s squash falls to No. 5 Stanford in first match of the new year
By Peter Kratz | YesterdayThe Cavaliers fall to 0-1 in conference play after their first clash with the Cardinal.
