On a Wednesday night in early April, the Chocolate Turkeys had a special plan for Brad Pitt Live and Nude.

Taking advantage of Pitt's recent public break-up with wife Jennifer Aniston, the Chocolate Turkeys came prepared with paper plates with images of Pitt, Aniston and Pitt's purported new squeeze Angelina Jolie’s pasted to them, and held them up as face masks to psych out their opponents before the dodgeball game began.

“The masks were to intimidate the other team,” said Cricket Hannan, 31, a graphic designer whose team moniker is Hot Wendy. “It’s all about building up the mental game.”

The Chocolate Turkeys held the paper-plate masks to their faces at one end of the gym and advanced in a line as Brad Pitt Live and Nude warmed up.

Trace Sheehan, a member of Brad Pitt Live and Nude, was impressed.

“It was awesome. They get the spirit award,” said Sheehan, 25, an actor. “We’re going to steal the idea and pass it off as our own.”

The strategy, however, didn’t work. Brad Pitt Live and Nude defeated the Chocolate Turkeys 5-0. Prior to the game both teams – who only started playing three weeks ago – were undefeated.

The Chocolate Turkeys went for a strategy of catching the balls to eliminate their rivals, but Brad Pitt Live and Nude proved too fast and accurate.

“At first, when we were losing I was shocked,” Hannan said. “But then, I realized we were really losing. I got comfortable with it.”

The Chocolate Turkeys are planning a grueling schedule of physical workouts to get ready for next week’s game, including wind sprints and lifting weights with their throwing arms. Hannan said that team leader Dan Jahns, known on the team as Hot Karl, sends out weekly e-mails detailing strategy for the next game. But team member Ian Morgan worries that they might have to rely on other means to win their next game.

“Questionable substances maybe be injected,” Morgan said jokingly. “If Brad Pitt Live and Nude is popping ’roids, then we are going to have to go on the juice, too.”

Brad Pitt Live and Nude, however, don’t feel threatened.

“We are clearly the team to beat right now,” said Jon Miller, 25, who works in real estate finance. “We don’t know what it feels like to lose yet. But I’d imagine that to lose a game of dodgeball is really traumatizing.”

Does it seem strange that a bunch of adults are nostalgic for a game they played as children?

Lynn Spangler, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at State University of New York at New Paltz doesn’t think so. Spangler teaches a TV criticism course, and said TV shows and movies, such as DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story frequently spark trends that influence popular culture.

“Remember 'The Rachel' [hairstyle] from Friends?” Spangler asked. “Look at what Saturday Night Fever did for disco.”

Spangler said that viewers are particularly drawn to TV shows and movies that look back at something – like dodgeball in grade school – with nostalgia.

“They forget the negative part and look back in fondness,” she said. “That’s just human nature.”

Player: Cullin Barry, 22, analyst for a real estate firm
"It's more fun than I anticipated, and I had high expectations."