Once again, the annual Stritch talent show (fundraising for their HIV/AIDS Awareness Week) left me wondering how certain people can have so much academic and musical talent. Caroline and Ian hosted the event with wit and charm. There were several hilarious song parodies, including Brian's "Shots" music video which you can view on YouTube here. The last act, a superb cover of Cee Lo Green's "Forget You," had everyone up and dancing in front of the stage. Epic.

Major props to Mike for setting up and running the sound for dozens of performers/instruments by himself! And kudos to all the performers -- you were great! I hope to be able to make it to next year's show! :]

There are about 50 additional images in this Facebook album, if you're interested.

After last year's painful travesty, Stritch '13 (then M1s, now M2s) vowed to clean up the Powderpuff game the next year...and they actually did! Three unbiased, paid referees officiated this year's game, and although they made some controversial calls on both sides (okay...some might say they were fairly incompetent), their presence alone was an indication of the intent to play clean and fair this year for the first time in the game's history. Ultimately, the M2s found that it is much more difficult to win when you decide not to cheat. ;]

The first half was scoreless, but the entire second half was a nail-biter. The Gladiators (M2s) scored an early touchdown, but missed their extra point -- then the Young Bloods (M1s) returned the next kickoff for a touchdown...with their extra point! The Young Bloods remained up one point for the majority of the half until the Gladiators scored a late touchdown. Young Bloods answered with a second touchdown of their own...or so they thought. Amidst their excitement and celebration, they failed to notice that the ref had thrown a penalty flag for a false start just before the play began, and it was called back.

It was clear that the two teams were very evenly matched, but the pressure was on the M2s to win, and they pulled it off.

Final score -- Gladiators: 12 -- Young Bloods: 7

Despite the disappointing refereeing, a good time was had by all, and no one was seriously injured. Thanks to both teams for playing a spirited and entertaining game -- I had a blast photographing it (and I'm sure many others did as well judging by the number of SLRs on the sidelines). Hopefully Stritch '14 will carry on the clean Powderpuff tradition next year!

Each year it is a Powderpuff tradition for the M2s to engage in some gentle intimidation tactics against the M1s, and part of that tradition is decorating the atrium and anatomy lab the night before the game. Unfortunately, a couple of M1 party poopers discovered the lab decorations early in the morning and tore them all down before anyone else got a chance to see them. So, if you missed out, here's what it looked like.

Click here for more images if you don't object to pictures of an anatomy lab (with completely covered cadavers) being decorated with balloons and streamers

I was able to attend one of the M2 team practices earlier this week and took a few pictures that were used in this excellent video (at 1:35 and 5:43) that M2 Caroline Ball put together. I was keeping them under wraps until after they played the video at school today, but now I can share them with you. :]

Images from yesterday's game will be coming soon!

Stritch's Powderpuff football game is an annual M1 vs. M2 event (first-year vs. second-year medical students) where the girls play flag football and the guys are the cheerleaders. With this year's game just around the corner, it seems like an appropriate time for me to post a few images from last year's game -- a brutal event that almost ended the tradition forever.

Alicia was on the M1 team last year (wearing light-blue shirts), and the odds were stacked against them. They knew that no M1 team had ever won a Powderpuff game, but they didn't know that that was because it was "tradition" that the M2s would turn "flag" football into a knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred, full-contact, bone-crunching blood sport. (Conveniently, the "referees" were students from the M2 class.) Clothing was torn, hair was pulled (instead of flags), ribs were bruised, teeth were knocked out, enemies were made, and the administration nearly put the kibosh on the event for good.

This year, Alicia's class is in charge as the new M2s, and they've decided to clean up the game. Budget funds have been diverted from the purchase of beer kegs to the hiring of legitimate refs for the game, and no hanky-panky will be tolerated.

Last year's combination of the excessively muddy field and the M2s' wanton violence provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to capture these overly-competitive young women beating the pulp out of each other. With sunny weather and referees in the forecast this year, I don't expect my images from this year's game to be anywhere near as compelling as these. ;]

Enjoy!

Kudos to the Stritch '13 women for putting up with that "flag" football! I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been smiling after playing in this game. (I probably would have been in the hospital.) ;]