Mashers Mashed At MRG Bowling Tournament
There were a few bloodshot eyes and thumping heads in the Mediatel office (and doubtless elsewhere around Golden Square) this morning after last night’s MRG bowling tournament. This, of course, had nothing to do with the copious amounts of alcohol that were consumed from the free bar, but comes with the exhaustion experienced only by a group of finely tuned athletes performing at their physical peak.
The atmosphere was tense as MediaTel prepared its tactics, first thing to do was get in to our starting position, which meant elbowing our way into a place where the bar could be reached with the minimum of effort. Then we limbered up with a few swiftly downed pints before the food was brought out and the real competition started. The “Mashers” were the first out of the blocks managing to consume a record amount of complimentary tucka before the competition could get a look in. One-nil Mashers!
Well fed and well lubricated, there was a nagging sense that we were forgetting something! After half an hour in the arcade, which included several games of air hockey and a race on some plastic horses (Sales and Marketing’s JP Kemp’s suggestion), we remembered the bowling.
The Mediatel Mashers were slow to start but after a few slapstick attempts, which included developer Andy Tuffill almost scoring a strike in the next lane, the rigorous training programme of beer and nachos started to pay off.
Project Manager Doug Robertson put in a good early performance in the first game, aided we think by his special bowling boots in which he bared a suspicious resemblance to Peter Pan, while Systems Analyst Bruce Inman, with his Fred Flintstone approach, faired a little less well. JP and Media Developer Neil Guppy kept a close eye on the competition, and on one team in particular which included several girls in tight t-shirts.
At half time Bruce made sure we didn’t dehydrate with regular trips to the bar and after a carefully planned, high energy snack of chicken McNuggets and fries, we unleashed our secret weapon, in the form of Client Services Director and MRG board member Jeannette Middleton, who struck fear into the hearts of the competition with her slow and steady, no nonsense attack.
From then on it was plain sailing, thanks to Neil’s shot gun tactics, JP’s elegance and Bruce’s regained form the pins kept on falling. By the end of the second game MediaTel were convinced of victory and adjourned to the bar to gloat.
Controversy was rife this morning, however, as the results came in. They seemed to suggest that that the Mediatel Mashers were not quite the well oiled bowling machine they thought they had been, coming 12th out of the 21 teams that took part.
With a score of 797 the Mashers were just marginally behind the tournament winners, Billets, who scored 1231 and Carlton TV’s ‘Murphy’s Magic,’ who came second scoring 1047, but that could all change if we call for a recount!
The Masher’s would like to say a big thank you to Christina Hartley who organised the event and to the competition, who’d better watch out next time!
Report by Gareth Jones