SEC Dominates Battle of Regulators
By Patrick Curran
Posted at 10:41 p.m. on July 25, 2012
(Patrick Curran/CQ Roll Call)
Let’s hope the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. protects our finances better than it does the outfield.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Naked Shorts (8-1) posted a 31-13 win over the FDIC’s Too Big to Fail (2-9) in a Wednesday night Congressional Softball League battle of banking regulators.
The two teams are among very few in the D.C. softball scene that have received media coverage outside the Washington metro area. A piece appearing a year ago today in Dealbook, the New York Times’ finance blog, prominently featured both squads.
Apparently, not much has changed since then. The Naked Shorts are sitting pretty with eight wins, while Too Big to Fail trailing has only two — just as they were last season.
“We typically like to schedule different financial regulators, and I think we play them almost every year.” Shorts captain Brian Fitzsimons said.
The win discrepancy wasn’t immediately obvious in Wednesday’s showdown at the Washington Monument, however. The teams traded volleys of big hits in the first few innings, and the Naked Shorts entered the fourth hanging on to an 10-8 lead.
Then things got ugly.
The SEC attacked the ball like it should have attacked Bernie Madoff, peppering the outfield with long bombs in an inning that seemed to last for hours. After giving up nine runs, the FDIC managed five runs in its own rally, but the comeback wasn’t in the cards: The Shorts spent the sixth bombarding the outfield to the tune of 11 more runs.
“We usually hit pretty well,” Fitzsimons said. “It takes a couple of innings to warm up, then things fall into place.”
The 18-run gap in a game that had already dragged on longer than expected prompted both sides to agree to end things after the sixth, at about 8:20 p.m. Fitzsimons declined to highlight individual performances in the win, emphasizing a team effort, but he did commend catcher Christine Morford for playing through a calf injury.
“We’ve got gamers here,” Fitzsimons said.
