USSSA Championships

Contestant: Alex, I'll take "Things That Sound Impressive But Really Aren't" for $1000 please.

Alex Trebek: US Snowshoe Championships

Contestant: What is qualifying?!

Despite the sarcasm, I really am pleased that my lackluster ho-hum performance this weekend was good enough for me to qualify for the US Snowshoe National Championships coming to NY this March. Oh, that and a $30 membership fee to the USSSA. I must admit, it was sort of fun and a lot self-serving to announce today to anyone who'd listen that I'd qualified for the US Championships. Although the prevailing reaction I got was, "The what? The snowmobile championships? Isn't that nice". When it comes down to it, a number of my very capable teammates could have easily qualified for these championships but chose not to join the USSSA. That, or they'd rather stay home and watch the college hoop conference championships. Honestly can't say I blame them. For me, these championships are a "bucket list" sort of item. I heard a few folks say that the qualifying standards were a little more rigid this year to make the championship event "special". Really? To qualify (after you paid your $30 USSSA membership fee), all you needed to do was to finish as one of the Top 5 USSSA members in your 5-year age category OR, finish within 130% of the winner of your age categories time. For me, that would have been Eric Morse's 34:44 for a cutoff time of 45:10. I have no idea what I'm complaining about. There were a number of teammates who raced their rear ends off who didn't qualify. Looks like I'll be making the trip to Syracuse after all. Look out US...here comes aR.