Pocono News Section

Polar Bear Softball Tournament

Polar Bear Softball Tournament - Friday, January 1, 2010 at 3:31PM EST

Friday, Jan 1, 2010 @ 03:31pm EST

A tournament in Wilkes-Barre has ball players breaking out the bat and gloves.

The polar bear tournament plays in the polar opposite weather from when softball is normally played.

The tournament has been played for 28 years.

Brian McNew of Luzerne played for one team in the tournament and admits the game is light-hearted.

McNew said, “Who cares you know? We're just out here to look like idiots and have a good time."

Four teams battle it out every new years day at the polar bear tournament, no matter the weather.

Training for the event is humorous.

Dana Sutliff of Shickshinny said, "We all went out last night and had a couple of cold ones."

The tournament starts at 9am sharp and like every tradition the polar bear has long list of memories.

Umpire Len Brussock said, “We had 16 inches of snow one time so it's been going on it's a tradition that's been going on for quite a while. It's a fun time out."

Apparently this tournament started from a friendly argument back in a Kirby Park parking lot.

Two men said they could beat each other in softball, so they picked the teams and they picked a date, January 1st, with no weather cancellations.

Umpire Tom Gavis of Wilkes-Barre said, "It's nice for the boys to come out after a hangover and loosen up for the new year and enjoy themselves, you know?"

There's no prize for winning the polar bear tournament.

Players tell us winning bragging rights for a year is good enough.