You should root for all the teams in the Range of Motion Project’s Do 100/ Raise $100 Challenge during Mobility May. All the entrants are raising money for a great cause, building new connections in the limb-difference community, and raising awareness about the need to make prosthetic care accessible to everyone. So we hope everyone does well.
But let’s get real about this. There are prizes at stake—gift cards to Zappos, shoes from Merrell, daypacks, coolers, insulated water bottles, and other swag. Serious merch is on the line, so that makes it a serious competition. And that, in turn, triggers our reflex (honed over a lifetime of sports spectatorship) to choose a side and root, root, root for our team.
Our picks are emotional and subjective; we’re not laying odds and taking bets or anything like that. We simply enjoy a good contest and the drama that comes with a race for first place.
For that reason, we can’t root for Team Merrell because they already have a healthy lead on the field. With 36 members (and climbing) they’re poised to blow the rest of the competition away as the month unfolds. They’re not traditional villains, like the Yankees or Patriots; quite the contrary, Merrell is kicking in $5 for every person who participates in the Do/Raise 100 challenge. We won’t fault you if you throw your support behind them. But we never root for the frontrunner, as a matter of principle.
We also have to rule out Go Blue for Amputees!, despite our deep admiration for team captain Nicole Ver Kuilen. Based on the team name and logo, it appears Nicole belongs to the University of Michigan alumni cult, to which we became overexposed years ago while sharing an apartment with an Ann Arbor grad. These “victors valiant” are relentless; they won’t stop until they’ve achieved complete world domination. Another of our principles is steadfast opposition to the conquering Wolverine army. Sorry Nicole!
So who do we like?
One team we can get behind is Sloth Squad, on account of their slogan: “We’ll get there when we get there.” Would that it were so simple . . . . . we appreciate the sentiment and hope the team is rewarded for its unhurried approach. We’re also down with Limb-it-less Limbs by BALANCE Amputees, helmed by our friend Leslie Green and supported by Evy Heath, another ally of Amplitude. And we are rooting for the Romping Warriors, led by weekly podcaster and occasional Amplitude contributor Angie Heuser. Since May is Military Appreciation Month in addition to being Mobility Appreciation Month, there’s a good case to be made for Team Knight, led by a biomedical researcher for the VA’s innovative Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence. Finally, we’ll be pulling for the CSU PTs based purely on geography; CSU (short for Colorado State University) is just a stone’s throw from Amplitude global headquarters.
There you go; those are Amplitude‘s picks. Whichever side you decide to back, please contribute generously!