(Over)Laughter is not the best medicine

Have you guys encountered the over-laugher? You’ve seen them right? When someone makes a joke that’s mildly humorous, you know, something your uncle might say at Thanksgiving, and they laugh both (a) way too loud for something that isn’t that funny and (b) way too long…that’s an over-laugher.

Like in church, when the pastor references a funny story from his past to further illustrate his point, and after it’s delivered you always notice that one person who carries the laughter a little past the “no-laughing point.” That’s the point a joke reaches once it’s carried out its mission, usually 1 or 2 seconds, maybe 2.5 seconds…but no more than that, then it just becomes almost a pity laugh. And sometimes, the over-laugher has a partner that tries to OUT LAUGH the over-laugher!!! At that point, you kindly stand up and pretend like you’ve been paged by the Children’s ministry to retrieve your rabid child and you find another seat….far away from the over-laugher.

The funny thing (no pun intended) about an over-laugher, is that they are only classified an over-laugher because they are usually laughing, with the intensity of someone who has been at a comedy club all night, in a non-comedy-club setting, ie church. Some of the best over-laughers around can be found at business leadership conferences, or strategic business seminars….or any other conglomeration of “business” and a get-together. See, an over-laugher gets his/her encouragement from said business conference because he/she knows that it’s not a place designated for humor. So if a joke is told or an interesting quip is shared, their “comedy-club” laughter would totally dominate the rest of the laughter, thus making the over-laugher feel like his/her over-laughing is appreciated. Which in turn gives them justification to continue on in their over-laughing ways.

What they don’t know is that someone in that business conference seminar meeting is an observationalist and is going to write about thier over-laughing in a witty, yet “you-know-what-I’m-talking-about” way.

Softball Salvation

What’s the deal with Christians and their softball teams? Have you ever been around a christian softball team? It’s a crazy group of people! It’s a crazy group of PASSIONATE and DEDICATED people!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a “people-group” so willing to sacrifice everything, time, energy, money, shirts-that-fit, for something as simple as softball.

I really think they are probably more passionate and intense and serious about their sunday night softball games against the local FBC chapter, than the professional baseball players are about the World Series. I mean, they go all out, I mean, so far out as to have matching apparel, matching hats, the best quality uniforms, all the newest equipment from Target, etc….it’s amazing! I actually know of teams that have a board of directors, people dedicated to meeting once-a-week to discuss the ins and outs of the softball team, and websites, and directors, and CEO’s, and presidents…..and this is all for a game that involves throwing the ball underhand like our dads used to do when we were too young to hit anything faster or harder???

I design t-shirts for a lot of their teams, and I don’t know what it is, and I want to be careful not to sound too harsh, but the “christian softball” guys seem to always be the biggest WHIP customers I get on a day-to-day basis. If it’s not their over-analytical attention to the most detailed of details with regards to the Microsoft PowerPoint-created logo they want to plaster across a baseball jersey, then it’s their complete breakdown that occurs when one insignificant detail doesn’t come out like they meticulously planned out. I mean, if the littlest of details isn’t right, it doesn’t take much for the entire “board of directors” to come up to the office and “politely” (because they are Christians) demand to know what went wrong.

I think the Professional World of Sports could take a cue from these guys with regards to dedication and spirit…..but I think the entire “Christian Softball Society” just needs to take it easy.