I always love the fall season. It’s cold and wet, and I get to stay indoors and take naps.
When a girl recently asked me to take part on her intramural Ultimate Frisbee team, it wasn’t difficult to say, “No thanks.”
She pushed me further, telling me I would enjoy the 9 p.m. games in the foggy darkness of November (she doesn’t know me well) and that it would be “just for fun.” I almost laughed in her face at the latter suggestion. I’ve participated in IM sports before. And every single one of them has made me never want to play again.
It’s not “just for fun.” It’s never “just for fun.” IM sports are just as cutthroat as regular sports. Teams regularly play so they can beat the living hell out of other teams — and they do. IM sports are so competitive that students handpick their teams based on perceived skill and exclude their own friends in the process. It’s not wrong — besides the obvious jerkiness — but it’s a far cry from the casual competition many people would like to enjoy. IM sports have turned into another college sports team, in which winning is everything.
The rules of intramural sports, of course, revolve around safety. People break the rules. That’s it. There’s no sugar coating it. Students hit, foul and shove each other to victory. They get away with it because everybody else is doing it. Again, this presents a problem for those who’d like to enjoy sports without the whole “curb stomping” aspect.
IM sports referees might just be the worst refs (outside of Superbowl XL) the world has ever seen. Most students have experienced more than one instance when a referee blew a game for them because they were not paying attention, were doing their homework or just didn’t know the rules
It’s tempting to blame the job climate on campus, which has more than one desperate soul signing up for an IM job. But then you realize that these souls are given miniscule amounts of training and thrown into championship games. And those are the good ones.
We end up with a number of physical, competitive teams with no competent arbiters to speak of. Sounds fun, right? Eh, I’m sure some people enjoy it. But for the remainder, it’s actually more enjoyable to stand on the sideline and watch somebody else get repeatedly blocked in the back by an angry Greek member.
It’s time to make things more consistent. Either make it a competitive league and get rid of all those rules nobody follows or find some referees willing to enforce their games. It isn’t possible to please everyone. There will always be some competitive players and some casual ones.
By making the rules and the games consistent, at least people will know what they’ll be getting themselves into (9 p.m. foggy darkness should be on the flier, too).
By and large, IM sports often appear thrown together at the last minute. And students notice it. If IM sports were remarketed and run correctly, it could be fun for everyone. Hype up the competitive league with prizes and updated standings. Build a casual league system that works with preseason rankings and rules against running up the score. Have trained, competent referees who love to be there.
A little bit of effort and thought and IM sports could be a well-run, fun for everyone program.

Matt Olson/Columnist
Matt Olson can be reached at [email protected].