The 6th Annual Manly Cup!

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Back in 2009, the Religious Studies Student Association rekindled the flames of an old rivalry in Manly Hall: The Manly Cup. What was, in 2009, a heated competition and turf war between the RSSA and Theta Alpha Kappa, the Religious Studies Honor Society, has evolved into a competition between the REL students and faculty.

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Jaci Beadore Gresham and Keke Pounds in mid-baking action (2009)

The RSSA and TAK were able to settle their differences after a few competitions, so they joined forces to take on the faculty. In 2010, the REL students challenged the faculty to a bowling extravaganza! Needless to say, the students were victorious, despite the faculty’s homemade team shirts.

manlycup2010studentsWe thought that tensions had eased after the bowling competition. But as the story goes, the students had a great rug in the Dept. lounge that really tied the room together, but one day it was gone. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but the rug was rumored to be relocated to Ms. Betty Dickey‘s office. When questioned, the faculty had “no response”–needless to say, the students were not appeased. Unable to come to a resolution, the students said, “Let’s roll.” So the 3rd Manly Cup began.

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While we’re pretty certain that the students won this second bowling extravaganza, the faculty were pretty insistent that they had it in the bag. To settle the score, the students decided to challenge the faculty to some pretty strenuous Lawn Games, thus the 2012 Manly Cup.

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After the grueling egg toss and three-legged race, the faculty, unfortunately, suffered yet another loss to the students. So in 2013, they decided to once again be the panel of judges for the student bake-off. Every REL major for themselves! From all of the broken eggs and spilt milk emerged six delectable desserts.

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They were all SO delicious that it was hard to choose a winner, but in the end, two students’ desserts prevailed!

However, after that delectable dining experience, they decided they needed to burn off all those desserts, so the 2014 Manly Cup Kickball Megabowl was born. The faculty decide they’ll give it another go, so the students challenged them once again.

The competitors were…

For the students (all faculty family were automatically recruited for the students and a rumor has it that Mike Altman was traded from the faculty team for future considerations):

kickballstudentsFrom left: Nicole Stewart, Prof. Mike Altman, Nigel Seaman, Jared Powell, and Anna Davis

And for the faculty (Prof. Eleanor “Dead Eye” Finnegan brought in a few professional kickball ringers to help them out):

kickballfacultyFrom left: Prof. Sarah Rollens, Prof. Eleanor Finnegan, Andie Alexander, Prof. Rachel Stephens, Prof. Bart Elmore, Prof. Patrick Frantom, and their MVP Ella Frantom

The teams line up to face off before the match. Game faces everyone! (You can just feel the intensity.)

kickballfaceoffThey pitched, they kicked (sometimes successfully), they ran, they fell, they shared menacing looks, and after many a bunt, a few epic kicks, and slides to base (or just sliding and stumbling in general), the 2014 Manly Cup had been decided.

Drum roll please…

Barely coming out ahead (and thanks to that final inning), with a score of 15 to 13…

… were the faculty!

kickballwinnersCongratulations! All of that sliding around on the field paid off!

For a close up of that storied trophy (whose home in the Department lounge) — there’s little manly about this cup…

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Until next year…