Hot Box Tournament #1
April 11, 1994
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Seven teams (four coed) from as far away as Worcester Polytech competed in a modified round robin event featuring timed games. After 25 minutes, play continued until each team turned it over one more time. Because of the make it-take it nature of hot box, this allowed a team the possibility of winning at the cap by flawless offense even if they were behind. Although no comebacks like this happened, it made for exciting finishes in many of the games including the final and one of the semis. Perhaps this format could be used for Cuervo-type tournaments (a modified Schmidt rule).

After four rounds of pool play, the two pre-tournament favorites, the Tea Party and Craw, were undefeated, while Truax and Indifferent had lost only to the Tea Party. One of the teams had to leave at this point (something about parental and professional responsibilities), so the tournament skipped right to the semis pitting teams which hadn't played each other yet. Field 3 had Truax, composed of three players from BBN's corporate team plus a King Tut player picked up at the tournament, versus Indifferent, mostly players with UMass ties. Truax rocked Indifferent 10-2, showing tremendous improvement over their disorganization in their opening game, a 4-1 loss to the Tea Party. Meanwhile, Field 2 featured the triumphant returns to organized disc of two players, Bob Harding (of Craw) and Dennis McCarthy (of the Tea Party). Craw, showcasing the Tufts representatives of Big Brother, and the Tea Party, featuring the civilized members of Big Brother, battled for a full 45 minutes for that 4' x 4' parcel of ground. The Tea Party, with their sophisticated timing plays, overcame the wide-body tactics of Craw to win 5-4 in a game that came down to the final possession.

The finals then was a rematch of a Round 1 Game, when the Tea Party had scored twice in the opening 45 seconds. Truax gained strength and technique throughout the day, increasing their margin of victory each game. Due to physical limitations, the finals was scheduled for 20 minutes. The Tea Party scored early, but Truax answered quickly on a back-in play. The Tea Party again took the lead, but with under 5 minutes left, Truax scored the same way to tie it. With about 2 minutes left, Truax scored yet again and withstood several furious attempts to tie it. The horn sounded, and after one final Tea Party turnover (we won't say who), Truax celebrated the title in the first ever Hot Box tournament.

The games were mostly pretty clean, with the standard amount of fouling and pushing in the box. No major injuries were sustained, and most of the players fraternized at the tournament party at George's on Washington Street afterwards. In the event of a dispute, there was a provision for a Gun-Off, featuring warm Carling Black Labels, but the good-spirited nature of the games resolved all arguments on the field. Plans are in the works for another such tournament later this spring.

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