This somewhat amusing tale comes from ESPN: The Magazine:
"To hear Gary Caruso tell it, nothing in politics is sacred. Not even softball. Caruso, a Democratic consultant, is commissioner of the 190-team Congressional Softball League, a 37-year tradition of Capitol Hill aides playing nicely with others on teams with names like Fat, Drunk, and Awesome; Committee on House Domination; and Mass's Asses. The league was all popups and attaboys until recently, when--shock of shocks--partisan bickering spoiled all the fun. This spring, a mass exodus of (mostly) Republican teams left to form their own league, citing the CSL's playoff format, which one secessionist described as 'softball welfare--aiding the weak by punishing the strong.'
And truth be told, the CSL's playoffs are not set up like, say the NCAA's. For starters, top seeds don't always play the lowest seeds. Even worse to some, everybody, even the team with the worst record during the regular season, is allowed to play in the playoffs. 'I'm just giving it a little bit of parity,' Caruso says by way of explanation.
But what he calls parity, Republicans call socialism. 'He's a Democrat. Waddya expect?' one Republican manager sniped in an e-mail. So the right-wingers formed the rival US House Softball League, poaching more than 100 teams from the CSL. 'It's like they're still in campaign mode,' Caruso says. 'I mean, you don't have to be vitriolic.'
But USHSL commish Anthony Reed, an aide to House speaker Dennis Hastert, scoffs at the idea that politics played a part in the split. 'There are Democrats who play on my team. Partisanship had nothing to do with this league forming.' Of course, this being DC, Reed can't help himself, describing the CSL as 'kind of communist.' Good ol' Beltway brotherhood."
~Adam