Yes, it is a rivalry. No, it is not bitter.
About as bad as it gets when the staff members of Cal State Long Beach's two student newspapers get together is exchanged insults regarding bad headlines, bad writing and lack of spell check usage.
Well, and a three hour drunken stupor.
Once every semester or so, Daily Forty-Niner and Long Beach Union staffers hook up for a friendly, but heated, game of softball with a twist.
The twist being a strange object smothered with ice with a tube and a pump protruding from it sitting inside a trash can where second base should be, surrounded by empty plastic cups which are also scattered throughout both dugouts, the entire infield and the entire outfield.
The game is "sloshball," and the staff of CSULBŐs only daily news source -- the DFN -- won the latest installment with a nail-biting 5-4 victory in nine innings.
Of course, it was a shock that the game even lasted that long. However, with the beer flowing like wine, the DFN proved that you need not A.S.I. funding nor an all-male team to whip the financially-endowed Union.
"Endowed" is an interesting two-way word here, since the sexist Union only chose to field one woman (and numerous ringers), while the DFN's triumphant victory was spearheaded by the women which made up half of its squad. With a scattered but consistent boy/girl lineup, the DFN got a key RBI hit from Photo Editor Amy Beth Bennett and then broke a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the eighth inning when the queen of all Forty Niners came up with the game winner.
Stumbling up to the plate with one out, the go-ahead run on third and a nasty grin on her face, DFN Editor in chief Jodi Banks swatted the ball to second base, scoring roving newsman Rodd "The Wind" Cayton from third.
This was the gameŐs deciding moment, and probably the worst play in what was, all things considered, a defensively well-played game. The Union second baseman foolishly threw to first for the second out, instead of trying to nail the streaking Cayton at home.
Awaiting a play at the plate, Cayton was pumped up at third. His head spinning, nostrils flared and snorting like a bull, he proclaimed that he was more than prepared to take out the catcher at the plate.
Not only would Cayton have demolished the catcher, but the Union would have lost its only female player to injury.
Union third baseman and self-proclaimed team captain David Weiner said the lack of women on their side of the lines was due to "constant turmoil in the newsroom." He then said, "We make up for it because we all throw like girls."
Along with numerous runners falling en route to first base, it wasnŐt unusual to see a player dive after a ball with a hand that had no glove on it, or run down a fly ball without spilling a single drop of Bud in his hand. A move the loudmouth DFNer in left field mastered by the sixth inning.
Defense won the game for the DFN, which got solid play from Managing Editor John Kennedy (sometimes); Julie Sharp, whose husband sure looks a lot like John Kennedy; first baseman Bill Martinez, who doesn't play as bad as he looks; 2-foot-8 inch City Editor Linda Prendez, who should never drink another sip for the rest of her life; and outfielders Jeff McAlpine and swaggering drunk Sports Editor Jay Seidel, when Unionites managed to actually hit the ball that far.
When the third out was made in the bottom of the ninth, DFNers staggered to the keg area, first to pound, then to hug, kiss, figure out where to go for more beer and try to find someone to hoist onto their shoulders.
Physically unable to hoist even Prendez, they just reveled in triumph knowing that all in all, they had proved that sandbox softball, like sandbox journalism, resides solely at the Union.