In the wake of a season defined by disappointment and unfulfilled championship dreams, senior James Bevan-Lee decided to leave Sigma Chi’s team to build his own team of mercenaries, providing one of the more compelling storylines in what promises to be another electrifying season of intramural football. With just a few weeks until that season gets underway for both men and women, a slew of teams in each league, in addition to Bevan-Lee’s, are ready to make waves.
Bevan-Lee said that his team remains “a work in progress.” However, the fact that its players have practiced together on at least one occasion suggests that his dream of putting together a highly competitive team that will “break down fraternal grounds” may become a reality. With a litany of noteworthy players including Bevan-Lee, senior James Franz, senior Galen Bernard and junior Chris Barton, this presently nameless team could prove a serious contender.
But challengers like two-time defending champion Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE), may impede its path to the championship. Led by senior quarterback Christopher Tobin “T.C.” Campbell, the TKE team should remain a force to be reckoned with, in spite of the fact that numerous key players from last season’s team have graduated.
In regards to his team’s chances this season, Campbell said, “I think that this year we’re going to have to win a lot of games just by brute force. We don’t have as much pure talent.”
Still, citing the potential emergence of players such as sophomore Gene Kim and seniors J.J. Ooi and Graham Brewer, he is confident that TKE, along with Bevan Lee’s team and Phi Delta Theta, will be in the running for the championship, even without the threat that Chris Faidley ’09 provided last season. With Campbell, who Phi quarterback Ben Kron believes is “the best player in the whole league” and his freakish speed at quarterback, a more run-centric offense will provide myriad problems for opposing defenses.
Among the teams that will attempt to contain Campbell and wrest intramural glory from TKE is Phi Delta Theta, which both Bevan Lee and Campbell see as a legitimate threat. Kron also subscribes to the belief that the Phi team will be dangerous. “Last year, I think we played really well to our potential,” said Kron, who then continued to assert, “Since we have guys who were abroad coming back, I feel really good about our chances.”
Those “guys” include Jonny Tat, who plays both receiver and cornerback, Bidnam Lee, who alternates between receiver and strong safety, and lineman Daniel Delp, three seniors thirsting for the blue shirts that have eluded them to this point. If sophomores Jake Schwartz and Julian Helmer can emerge as valuable contributors, as Kron suggests they will, the Phi team will be competitive.
Things will be equally competitive in the women’s league. Bevan Lee, who doubles as the coach of the team named Eat Shit, offered his view on what will transpire there. He suggested that newly acquired player junior Paige Huff will be a valuable player for Eat Shit, which will be vying for the title against defending champion Delta Gamma (DG) and runner up F YEAH!, along with a bevy of other teams.
With particular focus on senior Maggie Reid, a deadly running back, and senior Julie Davidson, who, in Bevan Lee’s eyes, “is the most underrated player in the league,” he said, “The DG’s are going to be strong.”
F YEAH!, a team composed almost entirely of seniors entering their fourth year as a competitive unit, appears to have sufficient experience and talent to provide a challenge for the ever imposing DGs. “They’re competitive,” Bevan Lee succinctly offered. With senior captains Margaux Cameron and Karina Kidd, among others, leading the way, F YEAH!’s hopes of returning to the finals and emerging victorious are not without foundation.
Although most of the teams will almost certainly be formidable contenders, any number of lesser known, unsung teams could rise from the depths of anonymity to challenge them.
