Mark your calendars for the zaniest, wackiest, softball tournament in the State - no strike that - in the country!  August 29th and 30th is the 27th time the Duck Soup Softball Fiasco will be held at the Aquila Park in St. Louis Park.  In addition to having fun, this group of softball loving characters has raised over $100,000 for scholarships that have been awarded to graduates of St. Louis Park High School and to support youngsters participating in the St. Louis Park Recreation Department's athletic programs.

 

This year's tournament will replay the standard fare of crazy, mixed-up rules, hot-dog eating contests, teams dressed in costumes, and trophies awarded for nearly everything including the "Gentlemen, Start your Engines" award for the first person arriving at the fields and the "10:15 Game Saturday, 1st Hit on Aquila 4" trophy where the game is stopped to award the trophy to the lucky hitter who then carries the giant trophy with her on her way around the bases. 

 

Now under new management from Steve Berg and other players who have long appreciated the antics of this tournament, the new Board of Directors continue to salute the origins of the tournament.  Founders Stu ("Alexx") Alexander (Big Duck) and Steve ("The Human Stomach") Alpert have gathered friends and family for the past 27 years to support their wild idea of a tournament they dreamed up in a bar in Oklahoma one night after a softball game.  They were tired of players taking themselves so seriously and thought "what if we had a tournament where NO ONE was ALLOWED to take themselves seriously?"  And thus the Duck Soup Softball Fiasco was born.  Duck Soup was named in honor of the legendary 1933 Marx Brothers movie, favorite of the founders.  Groucho Marx, whose image is everywhere at the Fiasco, looks remarkably a lot like Steve Alpert.  If you don't believe it, check out some of the historical (hysterical?)photos on the website. (Steve that is, not Groucho - or is it Groucho, not Steve?)  You decide.