where to play racquetball

i just wanted to remind y'all where you can play racquetball around town. you don't have to belong to a club to play racquetball. i also wanted to remind you that this is a racquetball league.

St. Johns Racquet Center, 7519 N. Burlington (503) 823-3629 CLOSED UNTIL SEPTEMBER 4TH (will be open for the last 4 rounds of our tourney): Public courts. Varying price depending if you pay each time(i think it would be $12 total for a match=$6/per player), get a punch card (a little bit cheaper/match), or free if you go with a member (me and maybe julia could pass as a member). It's a good idea to call ahead to reserve a court. St John's has racquets and balls you can use at their facilities. They have two good racquets and a bunch of shitty racquets. The balls are all pretty old.

Lloyd Athletic Club, 815 NE Halsey St.: You can very easily sign up for a free trial membership at lloyd athletic club and you can play for free during your free membership (i think it usually lasts 5 to 10 days). you can usually walk-in and sign up for the trial membership but you might want to call ahead to see when is a good time. also members (me, mary ann) can refer friends for free trial membership just by giving the club the friend's name and phone number. also there are certain days of the month when members can bring friends for free or you can always go with a member for $8. also sometimes it's really easy to just walk into the lloyd and pretend like you are a member. however, courts do need to be reserved in advance. the lloyd has racquets you can use but you have to buy your own balls. the racquets at the lloyd are pretty shitty. i didn't have my own racquet with me the day i played zach and i'm pretty sure the lloyd's racquet brought on my defeat. sorry zach, you were a worthy competitor and maybe i'm just a poor sport but i think i could have schooled you!

YMCA on Barbur. You can also do a free trial membership at the Y. Annalisa is a member of the Y too and I think she gets some free passes for friends. Also, I think anyone can just pay per visit to the Y even if you are not a member or accompanied by a member. The Y has racquets and balls.

Portland State Rec Center: Hours can be found here: http://www.campusrec.pdx.edu/psc_schedule
To play at PSU you are supposed to go into the locker room and show your student ID to get a wristband. Julia and I went to the rec center several times and just walked in and played without getting the wristbands. (you might want to check the court sign up to make sure you aren't ganking someone's court). One time, somebody came and told us we needed wristbands. we said we left our IDs at home and then we bolted. but i played there many times before this ever happened to me. maybe some PSU students can get us some extra wristbands?? devin your ID still works, right? If you play at PSU without an ID you'll have to bring your own equipment (you can get racquets for super cheap at fred meyer or target, etc. and nice used rackets are really cheap at used sports stores.)

julia's brother has racquetball courts at his apartment complex in beaverton. you need a key to get in but if it's your turn to play julia this shouldn't be a problem. it's totally free.

Pay-N-Play Racquetball America in Milwaukie, 4620 SE International Way in Milwaukie, (503) 786-8807. I forget how much this costs but you just put your money in a machine and the court unlocks. You'll need your own equipment.

anyone know anywhere else?

our masthead

i've been meaning to compliment ben on his design skills. or maybe just choice of template. i'd really like to know the story behind it. a battery, 24 (the tv show?, the number of hours of blogtime the battery will provide us?), a map (kind of looks like the map of the MAX lines), grapes? or is it cannabis? ok, i guess it's not cannabis. i think the iridescent blue is just reminiscent of a black light poster, and are those railroad tracks? seriously, what is going on? can somebody please explain it to me?

knocking the wind out of yourself

Scary Ann lives up to her nickname, let me tell you. That girl has a corner pocket shot that wizzed by my ear/leg/chest/arm more times that I can count. But you know what the scariest thing on the court is? THE WALLS!!! Yeah. If claustrophobia isn't your affliction, these walls will inspire temporary fear. In an attempt to chase after one of Scary Ann's prize-winning shots, I managed to ram myself into one said wall at full speed, knocking the wind out of myself, and then following up with a few "homemade pilates" moves in an attempt to realign my spine.

Scary Ann is fun. Don't you ever ever EVER skip a week of playing with her because then you are only cheating yourself! Also, we were supposed to play last week but were too busy so we played last week. Rescheduling is the wave of the future, kids. Get on the boat.

i got smarts

looking back at my last post, it occurs to me that i think it is statistically impossible for devin's forfeits to affect ben's chances...UNLESS devin changes his mind and decides to play some of his games. so i'm not a total idiot. that's right blueballers, i'm not a total idiot. how's that for some shit talk...

my input on results

so many results have not yet been reported. what's up dudes? i believe i heard that shayna couldn't play her round 1 game against annalisa. are y'all rescheduling or is that a win for annalisa due to a forfeit? as for the matter of devin...ben, i have to disagree with you. as devin stated his intention to quit the league after the schedule was set, i believe that he is forfeiting his matches and each match that he does not play should count as a win for his opponent. further, it is my belief that ben's zeal to cross devin off of the schedule and to deny dev's opponents a win by forfeit, is a direct result of ben's fear that those wins may threaten his chances of taking the trophy. which brings me to wonder if perhaps we should get a trophy...

Theme song

Halle was good enough to write the chorus to my Racquetball theme song:

He's got the skills,
He's got the hustle,
He's got the strength,
He's got the drive!

Now I just need some verses. I'm thinking like a super funky 70s TV show theme song. With that guitar that goes, "wakka-chikka-wakka-chikka," and horns that make you shit.

Say hi to Ben Moral.
He's playing Racquetball.
If you need to get beat,
you can just give him a phone call.

Because his game is so tight
like his shorts -- outta sight
and he's got mad racquet steez
that give foes bad dreams at night

[chorus -- with gospel choir]

He's got the skills! (Skills!)
He's got the hustle! (Hustle!)
He's got the strength! (Strength!)
He's got the drive! (He'll drive you CRAZAAAAY!)


Pray you don't meet on the court;
he'll beat you at any racquet sport.
He talks such quality shit
that you will have no retort.

So take your racquet and ball
and hang 'em up in the hall
because with Ben in the league
you may as well not play at all!

[chorus]

Yeah. That'll do.

Welcome to flinch town.

First off, I'd like to say that the rumors are true. I do indeed have a cyst, oh wait, this is Raquetblog. The rumors are true, Cat and I did not actually play the game of raquetball for our first match. We actually played tennis outside at the Alberta Park. Tennis? you say. Well, we didn't get our shit together, it was hot and humid and it was down to our last possible day to make an arrangement to play. We figured out what our priorities were (spending money on going out to breakfast and then playing tennis for free, or working out a plan to get to a raquetball court and)... We decided on breakfast with Halle and a sweaty game of tennis. You will notice, leaguemates, that the game IS logged as a win for Cat, which is also true. She did win the tennis match, fair and square. However, it is important to also know that we flipped a coin to determine if we would actually claim this as a real "win". Heads meant that Cat could claim it as a raquetball win, and tales meant we would flip again to see who would claim the game as a forfeited win.

Long story short, if you feel cheated I am positive I will make it up to you when you have to play me, because as I discovered from playing my match with Annalisa, raquetball is really hard and I am really bad at it. I'm afraid of the ball, I have no hustle, I don't actually understand many of the rules, and my best move is the phantom swing.

The phantom swing, is really embarrassing and I have only played with two of my better friends. I have a hard time imagining that it won't be incredibly awkward to phantom swing in front of a stranger. It's like going on a blind date or something and tooting audibly during the conversation. I alsocan't control my yelling when I miss the ball or when it comes flying at me. I can't help but think about my high school literature teacher, who was always walking around with kleenex in her hands because she had a constant drip coming out of her nose. Her face was slightly off, not like in an asymmetrical way, but because a RAQUETBALL had smacked into her face and she needed to have reconstructive surgery.

Whatever. I am glad to be active and am looking forward to improving immensely. I just need some coaching. So, if anybody wants to double up our games sometime, maybe we could coordinate together. Alright----see you on the court.

Standings

Player	Won	Lost	Pct
ben	2	0	1.000
cat	2	0	1.000
annalisa	1	0	1.000
zach	1	0	1.000
julia	1	0	1.000
anna	1	1	.500
shayna	0	0	.000
bobby	0	0	.000
maryann	0	1	.000
ledena	0	2	.000
halle	0	2	.000