What is this Blog?

This Blog is the online home for members of the WAKA Kickball leagues in Tampa, Florida. Players can come here to view the latest information on the division, make comments and talk trash to their competitors.


Thursday, October 28, 2010

Week 7 Theme - Patriotism

Since Week 7 falls on election day, we decided to make the theme Patriotism. Come out wearing your stars and stripes. We won't be getting into any actual politics but if you want to come out as your favorite a donkey or an elephant that's your business. It doesn't matter how you vote as much as it does whether you vote. Of course you can also show your apathy to the whole process by wearing your pajamas.

Warning, if you come out in your PJ's be on the lookout for anyone dressed as Bill Clinton. Also, be on the lookout for anyone with a Richard Nixon mask, they may be cheating.

Upcoming Dates

We've got a couple of important dates coming up soon so be sure to mark your calendar and get ready for a good time.

Our big season party will be held on Friday, Nov 5th at 7pm at Wings Gone Wild on Bay to Bay. There will be free beer and some appetizers as well and of course some fun karaoke and flip cup. Get there early to get the most out of the night. This is free for all registered players and $10 for guests.

On Saturday, Nov 13th we have our big playoff tournament. This tends to be a huge amount of fun. Everyone is encouraged to bring tents for shade and grills too cookout and tailgate. Erik will even be bringing a tv and satellite dish to catch up on some college football during the day. The gates will open at 9:30am to allow you plenty of time to set up. The first games will start promptly at 10:30am and the championship game slated to begin at about 1:45. Each team will be responsible for picking up all of their own trash. Be mindful that there is a kids soccer game that has to be played at 5pm on the PAL fields that night so be respectful. The winning team will receive a trophy and each winning player will receive a little gift from WAKA.

Vote


Just a reminder that our next game falls on an election day so be sure to get out there and vote. Early voting ends tomorrow (Friday 10/29). Go to the Hillsborough County Elections Supervisors website (or of course the one for your county if you don't live in Hillsborough) to figure out where to go to exercise your rights. Don't know who to vote for? Try reading a newspaper (yes those things still exist).

Rule Time

So there were a few calls that came up this week that its worth noting what the rules state.

First of all, it seems like strikes are called pretty inconsistently throughout the division. The inconsistency is that some refs seem to think that either the entire ball or half the ball has to enter the strike zone. That is incorrect. If any part of the ball enters the strike zone (1 foot from home plate), the pitch is a strike.
1.02 The strike zone is a three-dimensional irregular pentagon based on the shape of home plate and is one (1) foot in height. The front of the zone aligns with the front of home plate. The sides of the zone extend one (1) foot to either side of the plate. The back edges of the zone are one (1) foot from the back sides of the plate (see Diagram 4). The strike zone may not be marked by cones or other raised objects.

11.02 A strike is: a. a pitch that is not kicked and is not called a ball per Rule 12.02, that enters any part of the strike zone (see Rule 1.02);




In the Balls and Dolls game, Gordon almost over ran his own player, Jess. Luckily she started moving but had she not it could have cause a problem. If he over ran her, he would have been out, had he pushed her to get her running she would have been out.
10.08 Running past another runner is not allowed. The passing runner is out (see Rule 14.02j).

and
14.02 An out is: ...
h. a runner physically assisted by a team member during play (see Rule 6.02);
...
j. a runner that passes another runner (see Rule 10.08);


Last but not least we had a decisive call in the 99 Problems vs Booze on First game. There was an overthrow at home plate that went pretty far and it looked like 2 Booze on first players scored but the ref ruled that the second baserunner had not crossed second base when the ball went out of play.
10.07 Base Running on Overthrows;
a. an overthrow is a ball thrown, kicked, or deflected into foul territory while making a defensive play toward a player or base;
b. a runner may advance only one base beyond the base the runner is on or running toward when the ball travels into foul territory;
c. one base on an overthrow is a restriction on the runner – not an automatic right for the runner to advance;
d. if any fielder attempts to make an out prior to returning the ball to the pitcher, runners may commence base running.


As always, you can read up on all of the WAKA Kickball rules by going to the rules page.

MacDinton's Fun

If you have either not been coming out to MacDinton's after games or only coming out for a little bit, you are missing out on a lot of late night fun. As the night goes on and more and more $1 beers keep flowing the karaoke gets quite interesting. Shawn was in rare form this week with a little bromance trio session.

Warning! You may want to turn the speakers down a bit for this one.


There was also another guy who has nothing to do with kickball at all who was way into his 80's songs that were quite entertaining. We've got some video of him singing Careless Whisper.


If you are still in the bar around 11:30, be on the look out for the old timer. I have no idea what his name is so he will henceforth simply be known as "The Old Timer" or TOT. TOT is definitely old but he does not let that stop him. He likes to come in and smoke a cigar and he's definitely on the lookout for fine young ladies to impress. He loves to tell the young girls that he's looking to go dancing and he's Latin so he's got great moves. A couple of weeks ago he even tried to pick up some 21 year old girl right from under from my teammate's nose. His reaction: "I would have been totally cool if he sniped that girl away from me. That is the coolest granpa ever". So ladies, if you are single and looking (I hear some of the Seminoles are) and you are cool with a little viagra induced romance, be sure to stick around the bar a little later on a Tuesday night.

In any event, be sure to keep supporting MacDinton's as our sponsor bar.

What was the best thing at MacDinton's this week?


Week 6 Recap

Week 6 wasn't quite as spooky as one might expect, being that it was the last week of games before Halloween but there was a bit of strange happenings going on. Only one team did the same thing this week as they did last week. Lets dive a little deeper.

Our first game on field 1 had Baller I Hardly Know Her locking horns with the Seminoles. Locking Horns is a rather arbitrary term as this one was really no contest. I asked the purple people eaters to comment on their loss after the game and their reply was, "We Sucked!". Josh said, "I didn't have anything bad to say, they beat us handily". Things are looking up for the Seminoles. They were able to crush an opponent with the opponent not having anything bad to say. That's what I call progress. Seminoles put a shellacking the purple team, 11-0.

Field 2 had Asstastic Balls taking on Multiple Scorgasm. Highly billed games rarely live up to the hype and this game between two of the best teams in the division seemed to live up to that pattern. Asstastic Balls must have forgotten that there was even a game this week because they were scrambling to get enough players there by the start of the game. I was told by one member of the pink team that this was due to complications with INS. Usually, Asstastic Balls has one good inning in the first and that was no different here as the Beast had a huge 2 run home run in the early frame. The scoring didn't stop there though as Asstastic Balls were able to put up lots of crooked numbers on the board. The Beast led the way the whole time on offense and defense. He made a great mutant like jump over a throw at home plate to score and at one point "don't kick it to the beast" was overheard on the Multiple Scorgasm sideline. Asstastic Balls won 9-4.

Balls and Dolls and Quit Yer Pitchin took to field 3 at 7pm for one of the best matchups this week. Gordon from Balls and Dolls got things rocking early when he kicked a 3 run home run but Jess wasn't paying much attention because she had stopped at second base and almost got run over before Gordon was able to yell at her enough that she started running. Good thing he didn't have to touch her to get her going but more on that later. Balls and Dolls took a 1 run lead into the bottom of the 5th until Adam from Quit Yer Pitchin (and apparently the Village People) scored the tying run. The 6th inning was filled with action. With runners on 1st and second and 2 outs, little devil Dorothy made a valiant diving effort to get to first safely but QYP's defense held strong. In the bottom half of the inning Courtney made her signature trip over first base and tumble move but to no avail. This one was finished at 7:48 so they had time for an extra inning but no excitement happened there. Tie 4-4.

It was appropriate that on Halloween theme night 99 Problems (orange) and Booze on First (black) faced off against each other. Let me tell you something about this Dexter led Booze on First team; they are the only team that hasn't won a game yet and are last in the standings but their defense is solid. Obviously, that means that their offense is a bit lacking. Note to QYP and Baller I Hardly Know Her; don't expect to score a lot of runs in your remaining game against the black team. This game took a 1-1 tie into an extra inning. 99 Problems scored in the top half but Booze on first mounted their own rally in the bottom half. On an overthrow play at home plate Booze on First had appeared to scored 2 runs to win the game, however the first base ref ruled that the second run that scored should have ended up at 3rd base due to the overthow because at the time the ball went out of play she had not yet crossed 2nd base. 99 Problems had their asses saved there by the Booze on First runner not hustling and a heads up referee. This one ended in a 2-2 tie.

Last but certainly not least was Masterbatters vs We've Got The Runs. I'm told there wasn't a lot of excitement in this game. We've Got The Runs once again had no runs. There was a green fairy in right field, making people hallucinate and a pink fairy prevented anyone from having breast cancer on the field. MacGruber was also on hand to make sure that no one exploded until the very end. I don't know what any of that really has to do with anything. Masterbatters won 2-0.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Who reads the blog?

So I was taking a look at the blog stats today and found that we've had a bit of a spike this month. Of course a lot of that has to do with more people in the division who are learning about the blog but that's only part of the story. Where people are viewing is interesting as well.

In addition to all the hits we have had in the US, just this week we have had a number of visitors from other countries. We've had 50 friends from Canada, 5 from New Zealand, 4 in Argentina, and 2 each from China, Columbia, Germany, Spain and Puerto Rico. So welcome to all of our foreign friends.

Why is all of this traffic coming to our blog? Are they such kickball enthusiasts that they just have to find out what's going on in WAKA in Tampa? Actually, No. Try New Jersey. While the WAKA FL Breaker webpage is the number one source for viewers of the blog, there is a certain image that is drawing people to our site. This one. Being that it is October and that means Halloween is coming up soon, a lot of people are doing google searches for "Jersey shore costumes", "Jersey shore outfits", and "Jersey shore themed party". All of that searching is directing people to this post from the summer FL Big Guava season when we had a Jersey Shore theme week. Just today that page has has 102 hits at the time I write this.

All I have to say to that is WOW. I slave away at the keyboard each week to give you an update on what's going on in the world of WAKA and provide you some entertainment during your down time at work and I get out done by Snookie and the Situation. Who knew that people in China had Jersey Shore theme parties?

What is your favorite part of the blog?


Thursday, October 21, 2010

Seminole Lovin'

So there is this one team that everyone loves to hate. They've been around for a long time and they have won a lot. They are certainly one of the more competitive teams in the division which may fuel the hatred directed towards them but I tend to see a lot of the anger comes from some of the girls in the division directed towards the "skinny bitches" on the gold team. Trying to keep drama aside, I decided that this week the Seminoles deserved a little lovin'.

By a show of hands, how many out there associate the Seminoles with "sliding into bitches and wrecking them until the other team is fucking down to one girl"? The Seminoles certainly like to win and are fierce competitors on the field of play. Historically they have not done a good job of socializing with the other teams. Last season we even created an award named the Seminole Award that went to the least liked team in the season. They were so disliked that they didn't even earn their own award. That honor was bestowed on the now defunct Suck My Kick.

It seems like a bit has changed this season. We are starting to see more of them at the bar and while they haven't displayed much interest in participating in themes yet, they have been socializing with other teams more.

I sat down with a couple of Seminoles at MacDinton's this week to see what I could learn about them and you might actually be impressed. First of all, guys you might like this, they have a lot of single ladies on the team. For the girls out there, there is at least one single guy (there are probably more) and he's from Jersey. So ladies, if you are looking for a guido gorilla juice head to smoosh you may be in luck, or not. Its a Jersey thing.

One impressive tidbit about the Seminole ladies is that they are actually quite involved in charity. Quite a few of them are members of the Junior League and spend a lot of time, effort and money to help other people. Leslie, who is single and looking, likes to donate time each month to read to less fortunate children. Her love for children doesn't just stop there. She also works to connect children in foster care with permanent homes and was even able to help her sister give a permanent home to a child. I an also told that Lindsay, who is also single*, is probably the most involved person you can ever meet and she is constantly donating her time to the Junior League.

They want the division to know that the Seminoles have a good heart and do good for kids. In fact, next week some of the Seminole ladies will be out at the fields taking donations for the Junior League and selling tickets for their Holiday Gift Market. Proceeds will help support the League’s volunteer training efforts, leadership development programs, and community projects in the areas of foster care, literacy and education, and basic needs for disadvantaged children. I am told that one of the beneficiaries of fundraising will be Mary Lee's House which helps children who are victims of abuse and neglect.

So before you go hating on the Seminoles any more, keep in mind the good that they do in the community and maybe say hi to them at the bar. Next week, lets show a little love to the Seminoles. Guys, you might even score some extra points with the single ladies if you show your support for the kids.

What are your thoughts on the Seminoles?




* single may mean not currently engaged or married. This blog and its affiliates assume no responsibility or liability for any injuries that may incur, including but not limited to drinks in the face, slaps in the face or knees to the groin, as a result of any sexual advances you make.

Dry Fit

So in the WAKA Rule book is rule 2.01

2.01 While participating in WAKA kickball, players must properly wear and fully display the official WAKA athletic
clothing designated for their use. Teams with players who fail to abide by this rule forfeit that game.


So that means, if you have received your t-shirt, you have to wear it to play. But guess what, it doesn't have to exactly be the one you got at the beginning of the season. Don't feel like doing laundry? You are in luck, you can purchase additional t-shirts online in the WAKA store on www.kickball.com.

In the WAKA store you can order the cotton t-shirts like we are given at the beginning of the season (except it just says play kickball on the back) or you can be really cool and order the new dry fit t-shirts. These shirts are pretty slick and great in Florida. In just a few weeks we will be having our playoffs that will all be played in one long day. The dry fit t-shirts definitely make a difference so be sure to order one in time for the tournament.

What t-shirt will you wear at the playoffs?



Week 6 Theme - Halloween

We've got one more week of play before Halloween so next week the theme will be just that. We should see plenty of ghosts and goblins and random sexiness. Teenage angst ridden vampires are not allowed but bayou vampires are.

Week 5 (but really week 6) Recap

Yesterday morning I woke up in Boston and it was 38 degrees. I was quite excited to hop on a plane and head back to Tampa for some exciting FL Breaker Division kickball action. Some teams looked a bit rusty after taking last week off. We even had a special guest this week. Some of you may have been asking, who was that guy with the cool WAKA kickball polo at the fields? Well that was MLoop. He is the manager for WAKA Kickball in Florida. He had heard that FL Breaker was the coolest bunch of people that WAKA had and he wanted to see it for himself. I think he was pretty impressed with what he saw.

Field 1, Game 1. This field and time slot for whatever reason has become 99 Problems home field and they took it once again in their matchup against Multiple Scorgasm. Both of these teams have championship potential and we may very well see a rematch in the playoffs. Multiple Scorgasm had the opening salvo with a run in the top of the first, countered by 2 runs by 99 Problems in the bottom half. The team in orange seemed to have 99 problems on defense in the top half of the second as they gave up a 5 spot. 99 Problems battled back hard thanks in part to some aggressive baserunning by Kacie aka Yellow Shoe but Ashley showed off her stunning defensive skills. Any ball up the middle was quickly gobbled up by Ashley, throwing a big "boo ya bitches" exclamation point 99 Problems way. The same defensive prowess could not be said of MS left fielder Kyle. In the bottom of the 6th "Miss Nevada" had 2 balls right in her face but spit them right to the ground. The come back just wasn't enough to overcome earlier defeceit. Multiple Scorgasm won 6-5.

Field 2 saw Booze on First take on the Seminoles. On paper, this should have been a blowout. The Seminoles came in with 3 wins 0 losses and a tie on the season, while Booze on First had 0 wins, 3 losses and a tie. Should be a no brainer, right? Wrong! This game ended in a tie and the Seminoles were not pleased but more on them later. Tie Game 1-1.

Asstastic Balls and Balls N Dolls matched up on field 3. Statistically speaking these 2 teams were pretty evenly matched. You have to consider though that Asstastic balls usually only has one really good inning, usually the first. Balls N Dolls were pretty motivated, considering that they were celebrating teammate Mike's birthday. Mattie B (the little Asian) may have had the play of the day. He was running the bases and charging towards third and decided to dive into third from about 10 feet away and somehow had enough momentum to make it to the base. Unfortunately, he was wearing a belt and all the sliding may have caused some damage. Rumor has it that there might have been some swelling later on that night which may or may not be related. Katie aka "Cliff Lee" looked pretty dominant on the mound. After the game was over, Balls N Dolls was pretty disappointed that their team cheer sucked compared to Asstastic Balls so Katie, Megan and Jessica channeled their inner cheerleaders and put Jess into a half (but no one could remember what it was a half of). Jess almost fell but Katie was able to save her. Balls N Dolls won 4-1.

The game between Masterbatters and Baller I Hardly Know Her had a guest ref. MLoop the Florida WAKA Manager took home plate ref. I didn't get a chance to see much of this game but I'm told that Josh pretty much sucked and couldn't do anything right, sorry Josh. After the game, Jessica from Masterbatters refused to give me a quote, I can't imagine why. Luckily another Masterbatter had some input to the game. "I like purple." Um... yeah, that's for that brilliant input. This game ended in a 3-3 tie.

Last but not least was We've Got The Runs vs Quit Yer Pitching. I don't know what to say about Quit Yer Pitchin this season. QYP has always sort of been a second tier team and they consistently go deep into the playoff but they tend to be terribly inconsistent in the regular season. We've Got the Runs tends to be consistently bad, especially in the getting runs department. Not this week. Heard from the light blue sidelines, "We've got the runs, someone call a doctor" Gross!. We've Got the Runs won 2-1.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Wait for It....

Ok so the blog is a little later than usual in getting up and running this week so rather than keep you all waiting, I'm going to give you a repost from last year(its new for all of you newbies) that should keep you entertained for a little while until I can get last nights recaps up.

History of Kickball

So we all know (or at least I know) that WAKA was founded in Washington, DC in 1998 and started its first season of play in Tampa in 2003 but what about the game of kickball itself? Most of us know of kickball from playing as a kid but what about kickball's origins? Historical records are hard to come by. Luckily, recent archaeological discoveries have helped solve the mystery of the origins of kickball.

A recent re-examination of the cave drawings at the Cave of the Trois-Freres in France by archaeologist Sir Douglas Graves have shed new light on the origins of kickball. These cave drawings show that a primitive form of kickball was played as early as 13,000 BC. It is believed that the game was of a spiritual nature to help prepare the men's mind and body before large hunts.

Kickball continued to be played in different forms throughout Europe and was easily the most popular past time activity of ancient people. Though many debate on the true reasons for the existence of Stone Henge, it has recently been proven that it was in fact the world's first kickball stadium. The Druids did not need a whole lot of room for the playing field because at the time the kickball itself was made of stone so bunting was quite prevalent.

In the first century AD an event changed the growth of kickball forever. Jesus of Nazareth had putting together a team of players for the spring season in the Jerusalem league. While Jesus himself did not play, he assembled the best 11 man team he could. Unfortunately he had 12 apostles and Judas Iscariot was the odd man out. Angry about being cut from the team, Judas promptly betrayed Jesus, leading to his crucifixion. Early Christians blamed the sport of kickball for the betrayal and as the church grew, they did their best to stamp out any evidence of the sport's existence. For that reason, most all historic records of kickball's existence were destroyed. Knowledge of the sport was close to being lost forever. The lack of a fun, social activity led to the dark ages.

In the 13th century, the Templar Knights were busy excavating the Temple Mount when they discovered a scroll with an explanation of the kickball rules. Kickball quickly became a favorite game of the knights. Because of the church's official position on the game at the time, the knights were labeled as heretics, eventually leading Pope Clement to issue the order to arrest all Templar Knights on Friday October 13, 1307 for their offenses of immorality. Many knights were tortured and killed for their love of kickball but some escaped and headed north to Scandinavia where they taught the game to the Vikings.

The Vikings were originally quite friendly and great ambassadors for the game. They loved introducing kickball to new people in the lands they discovered. Unfortunately, the Vikings soon got frustrated by the other teams' excessive bunting. Enraged by the difficulty in defending against the strategy, the Vikings would soon conquer any land who's kickball team dared allow a man to bunt. During this time it was not uncommon for the severed head of a bunter from a previous game to be used as the ball.

It was on a Viking expedition to North America that kickball was first introduced to the Native Americans. The Native American game took a slightly different form and much like their other favorite sport of the time, lacrosse, there was no limit to the number of players on the field at one time. As a result, the games were quite wild and fatalities were a common occurrence.

When Squanto introduced corn and kickball to the pilgrims, the new settlers were very excited to play the sport but due to their dwindling numbers from disease and starvation, they were concerned about the possibility of more fatalities from kickball. It was decided right there in Plymouth, in November 1621 that the game would again be limited to 11 players on the field at a time, greatly reducing the risk of death. It is believed that the great feast that followed the game was the inspiration to have a social gathering somewhere after the games, eventually leading to sponsor bars.

Kickball continued to find popularity among the colonists. Sam Adams, famed statesman, brewer and rabble-rouser, was the first to connect flip cup to the game of kickball, though at the time it was a much more difficult game as the cups were often made of pewter. On Mar 4, 1770 a group of Colonials, led by Crispus Attucks defeated a group of British soldiers, captained by Thomas Preston, in a tight kickball game. The next day the troops, who were still upset about the loss, fired upon the team and Crispus Attucks and some of his teammates were killed in the Boston Massacre and the seeds of the revolution were sewn.

On April 12, 1861 a game took place between the A-Ball-itionists and the ReBalls at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. There was a disputed call when one of the refs called a player out and players started arguing. Hostilities broke out and after years of fighting and more than 200,000 dead the kickball rules would forever change so that from then on, only captains could argue calls with a ref.

For most of history and up until WWII kickball was a sport that was played only by men. With so many men shipping off to war a new all female league was formed to help satisfy the public's desire to watch kickball. In 1943 the All-American Girls Kickball League was formed, only to be disbanded after 1954. The aftermath of the league disbanding left a void for women in kickball. The 1960's saw the rise of the Women's Rights Movement, leading women to fight for reproductive rights, equality in the workplace and equality in kickball. This movement resulted in the rule that a team is fielded by at least 4 men and 4 women for a game to be official.

Kickball continued to rise in popularity but the energy crisis of 1979 caused the game to lose popularity among adults. The shortage of gasoline kept many adults from wanting to drive any more than they had to, making it difficult to get enough people to a field after work for a game. As the game's popularity declined among adult players, it found a rebirth in American schoolyards in the 1980's and 90's.

In 1998 a group of friends were in a bar talking about ideas of how to organize people to bring them together for a fun time and to meet new people, and thus WAKA was born.

So now you know the complete and totally truthful history of kickball.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Save the Date

What: Season Party
When: November 5th, 7pm
Who: All Players are invited for free. Guests are $10
Where: Wings Gone Wild on Bay to Bay
Why: Lets party and have fun. Its your chance for some free drinks and maybe hook up with that hottie you've been eying all season you creep.

Tampa Takes Vegas

Over the weekend WAKA hosted its annual Founders Cup in Las Vegas to crown the worlds best kickball team. Panik Attack from the VA Recess division in Norfolk, VA defeated The Other Shot Callers from the DC Capital Division in Washington, DC. The final game was an intense one with both teams tied at 2 after regulation. In tournaments we go into "Kansas City Rules". What that means is that you can only take the field with 4 guys and 4 girls in the field and a baserunner starts the inning on second base. You can check out the division tournament guidelines for a full description but be warned that its not actually called Kansas City rules in the guidelines.

Panik Attack was able to score 4 runs with Kansas City Rules. The Other Shot Callers were certainly not out of it since there can be a lot of scoring in KC rules but they were called out in a huge play that put a significant wrench in their rally plans. Their baserunner was running towards third and didn't realize how close the play was. He looked like he was going to turn 3rd to start on his way home but his base coach physically held him up to keep him on the base. That's a violation of rule 6.02.
6.02 Base coaches may not physically assist runners while the ball is in play
and 14.02h
14.02 An out is: h. a runner physically assisted by a team member during play.

It was a pretty heated moment but in the end the ref made a tough but correct call, killing the Other Shot Callers rally. Its always good to know the rules. The final score had Panik Attack on top 6-2 and they took home the $10,000 prize.

All in all the teams that played in Founders Cup were pretty intense. Most of the teams had curfews for their players and rather than drink or gamble on Friday in Vegas, they chose to do drills and wind sprints at the fields.

Then there were the fun games, The Kickball Games. The Alcoballics from the Thursday night Bayshore division represented themselves well in that tournament. They got all dressed up in a bizarre Miss America pageant and played the whole day in their costumes. Not only did they win all 4 of their games played but they won the award for best team performance ($1000 prize) and probably could have taken more prizes (definitely best costumes) but they were only allowed to win one. You might recognize "Miss Nevada" as your own Kyle from Multiple Scorgasm. If you tip him nicely next week he might invite you into the champagne room. "Miss New Jersey" apparently got checked out from a few guys before realizing that he was a dude. To prove his masculinity he got married to his girlfriend the next day.

The Alcoballics did a great job of representing Tampa at the Kickball games and hopefully next year we can see more teams go and party it up in Sin City. Be sure to check out the winning performance below. NSFW

No Kickball?


That's right folks. We had no kickball this week. I guess we got quite a few emails from some people that they would rather watch the Rays lose than play kickball. Funny thing is that if we played kickball people would have only missed the first couple of innings of the ballgame. Unfortunately, enough people complained about it that we had to cancel the games. This week will now be made up on Nov 9th and if we encounter rain, the season will have to be shortened. I'm sure a lot of you are quite upset about this and luckily there is someone you can direct your frustration towards. Be sure to "thank" anyone with a Rays hat on at our next game. The good news is that the Rays lost so we can now play kickball.

Should we have played kickball?


Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Rule Time

So the Billy Madison clip brought up a couple of interesting things. Though Billy certainly doesn't necessarily follow the rules there is a nice little collision at first base that bring up a couple of rules that are worth mentioning.

Billy wasn't using a safety base in his game like we do but there is good reason why we use it. I remember when we didn't have it and we had a few injuries at first with bodies colliding.

The rule states:
1.06 - Optional Extra Base – The option of using this field setup must be made by the division board of directors
each season via formal vote and approval at a scheduled meeting prior to the third week of games played. Once
use is approved, this extra base must be used for all games of that division season and division tournament
games. If the extra base is used:
a. The Extra Base is only available for runners traveling from home plate (see Rule 10.06);
b. Fielders trying to make an out on first base must touch the base in fair territory (the First Base). Runners
hindered by a fielder touching the base in foul territory (the Extra Base), will be safe;
c. When a play is attempted at first base, a runner who touches the First Base prior to being called safe at the
Extra Base shall be called out, except under the exception in Rules 1.06f and 1.06g;
d. Once a runner has reached first base safely the runner must start the next play on the First Base. Any runner
standing on or touching the Extra Base at the beginning of the next play will be out;
e. No additional base may be used at any other base;
f. The runner is permitted to use the First Base if avoiding collision with a fielder in foul territory. In this event, the
fielder in foul territory is permitted to tag the Extra Base (see Rule 14.02o);
g. The runner may use First Base if attempting to advance to Second Base, or if there is no fielder on First Base.
A runner (see Rule 1.06a) using or touching First Base in any other circumstance is out.


So basically speaking, when you are the kicker running down to first base, unless you are trying to turn towards second, you should always hit the safety base (in foul territory). By rule, if you hit the first base (in fair territory) you are supposed to be out. And no ladies, you do not have to touch both bases. I have seen some interesting footwork by people slowing down so they can hopscotch at the last moment and tag both bases.

Here is another one.
10.02 Obstruction. Fielders must stay out of the baseline. Fielders trying to make an out on base may have their
foot on base, but must lean out of the baseline. Runners hindered by any fielder within the baseline, not making
an active play for the ball, shall be safe at the base to which they were running. Runners may choose to advance
beyond this base while the ball is still in play.


If you are a fielder and you are not actively making a play on the ball, get out of the way of the runner. If you would rather stand on the base, its a good way to get yourself run over. Also, unlike in baseball, you may not intentionally block home plate from runners scoring, even if you are making a play on the ball.

These rules are in place for safety and we don't want to see anyone get hurt. You can view all of the WAKA rules by going to the rulebook online at www.kickball.com/rules and checking out the Rules FAQ.

Kickball in the Media

Kickball is kind of a big deal. You may have noticed. Well other people have noticed as well. I will soon be on a plane, heading to Las Vegas where about 80 of the best and most fun teams will be converging for the Founders Cup and Kickball Games. But kickball is not just cool to us and other grownups who lust for a return to our grade school glory days.

Last year's Founders Cup saw a little coverage on ESPN.com and had a nice little video piece along with an article.




A couple of years ago Bill Clinton autographed a WAKA Kickball to help raise some money for charity. Can you blame the ex-Prez for being a fan? There are always lots of good looking women at a WAKA game.


It has also made a little bit of an impression on Hollywood. Earlier this season I shared with you an excellent episode of The Boondocks which I am sure you all took the time to watch the full episode.

Kickball has also showed up in a couple of other places in Hollywood. The Jonas brothers did a charity kickball game last year but we won't get into that and please don't hold that against the sport.

Perhaps because the movie was ahead of its time but there is a deleted kickball scene from the movie Billy Madison. The movie came out before WAKA ever came around so maybe that was part of the reason why the scene was deleted. The world just wasn't ready for it.

Billy Madison Kickball Game
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.


Kickball was also referenced in the movie Mr Woodcock. I couldn't find a clip of it in English but I did find a clip dubbed in Spanish which kinda makes it a bit funnier. Kickball is one of the few words I can actually pick out in the clip.


For those of you who have as broad of a knowledge of Spanish as I do (none), here is the partial transcript in English:
"According to my syllabus we should be well into wrestling by now. But because of your lack of focus we've yet to get past the fundamentals of kickball. Kreamer, first rule of Bunting.

Um, do--don't--

There is no Bunting in kickball, Kreamer. Set of ten. Henderson, is there a reason why your shoe is untied?

- Um--

- You see on the kickball field, a screw-up like that can put you in a wheelchair. You'll end up writing your name with a pencil taped to your head the rest of your life. Set of ten. Until you learn the basics of any sport you cannot participate in it let alone excel in it."


So, what did we learn class? There is no bunting in kickball and always make sure your shoes are tied.

There are even be a few celebrity WAKA players in our Hollywood divisions but if I told you who they were, I would have to kill you.

So be sure to tell all of your friends how much fun WAKA Kickball is and how much of a big deal you are for being a part of such a big deal. They might get jealous and sign up next season too.

Week 5 Theme - Golf Pros and Tennis Hoes


Week 4's theme had a lot of participation and we are hoping that Week 5 will see the same. We've proven that Pirates are way more popular than Dungeons and Dragons (no thanks to Pablo for coming up with the lame theme idea for that week). Golf Pros and Tennis Hoes is a theme that has been getting popular and it can be pretty fun too. Tiger Woods is definitely our mascot for next week. Not only is he a Golf Pro but with all of his girlfriends he had, one of them is bound to have been a tennis player. So lets see some awesome argyle socks, tiny skirts and lots of headbands next week.



What are you?


Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Pirate theme Recap

I have to say, Week 4's theme was a lot of fun. We saw a lot of people out in those pirate costumes and we even learned something very valuable (no not just that the Pirate's favorite letter is Arrrrrrrr). So Caitlin from Booze on First was telling me that if you go into your account settings on Facebook there are a few options for changing your language. There are a few English options, including English (US), English (UK), English (upside down) which is incredibly annoying and even English (Pirate) which is sort of hidden halfway down the list.

That's right, if you want to get ready for Gasparilla way early this year you can just go into facebook and change your default language to Pirate. It puts Cap'n in front of all of your friends' names and asked "What be troublin' ye?" instead of "What's on your mind?".

Good luck getting back to the right place in setting to set it back. Here is a hint: Yarr Vessel > Ye Ships Rigging > Tongue. So not only is Caitlin quite lovely but she's also quite talented as well. She does speak fluent Pirate afterall.

Here are some fun pics from this week's Pirate Theme:



Week 4 Recap

What an awesome week. We had some real excitement up and down the PAL Fields and I had a ton of people say interesting things that just have to make it to the blog this week. So here it is for your enjoyment.

At 7pm 99 Problems but a Pitch Ain't One took the field against Quit Yer Pitchin. This could maybe possibly be considered a rivalry game since whenever Quit Yer Pitchin plays whichever team Ty is on that season usually tends to be a good game but there isn't much continuity there. The big question for the night was whether Heide was going to be able to stay in her Pirate Wench costume. Heide suddenly realized during warmups that she may not have the support she needed to keep her boys in place. Luckily for her, they did. Perhaps unluckily for the rest of us. 99 Problems didn't have much problem scoring although they thought they should have had more. They thought they had identified a weakness in left field but were sorely mistaken as every ball kicked out there was easily hauled in. Down by 7 Runs in the last inning, QYP tried its best to mount a rally and Adam had a great play where he tagged up and scored from second base but it just wasn't enough. 99 Problems won 7-1.

Game 2 had Asstastic Balls vs We've Got The Runs. Despite the bright t-shirt colors which may be remeniscent of a Hawaiian shirt seen on Hawaii Five-0, I'm told this was actually a boring game. We've Got the Runs again had difficulty getting any. It was partially because of the outstanding defensive play of the beautiful Asstastic Balls girls. Keara made 3 catches of her own but the most impressive play came at the thighs of Angela. The ball was kicked to her and she bobbled it off of her fingertips to Kelly, who bobbled it off of her fingertips back to Angela who had ended up on the ground and she caught the ball between her legs in the fetal position. With all of the bobbling, Keara described the play as "a little bit of a handjob". Asstastic Balls won 3-0

The hot ticket game of the week had to be the showdown on field 3 between the Seminoles and Multiple Scorgasm. The Seminoles put up a quick 2 runs in the first inning but the Multiple Scorgasm defense was able to clamp down from there and eventually score 2 of their own. This game required an extra frame to settle and still ended up in a tie. The Seminoles did not look pleased as they walked off the field and there were no Seminole sightings at MacDinton's. The Seminoles' motto is win or go home so I guess they went home. What was the key to Multiple Scorgasms tough play? They claim is was Snuggie man who attending this game in his Zebra striped snuggie. He has been seen many times at the field in several different snuggies. Who knows how many he has or if it really helped but either way: Tie game 2-2.

Back to field 1, our late game had Baller I Hardly Know Her take on Balls and Dolls. This was a close contest. I jokingly said to Balls and Dolls team Captain, Jess that it looked like she had something on her ass (remember week 2?) and she replied, "If I do, I'm waiting until I get home to rub it off." That's what she said! Defense was mostly pretty solid in this one. I say mostly because there was one possible exception. The lovely Randi on Baller I Hardly Know Her had a pop fly kicked to her and had a rather unusual way of calling for the ball. "SHIIIIIIIT!". She clearly displayed great confidence in the field. With scoring coming at a premium in this game Angela showed some great baserunning aggression and was able to score from first base to bring home the game winning run. I asked Jessica how she felt about her team's loss this week. She claimed that she was proud of her team and that the little Asian had redeemed himself. She was clearly lying as I saw said little Asian make a couple of really bad plays so she's probably lying about being proud of her team too. Baller I Hardly Know Her player, Rabi Joel, had some interesting things to say about his triumphant return to kickball this season after a 2 season hiatus. He says that he returned to kickball because he found Yuengling in a can, making it possible to drink his favorite beer on the fields without bringing glass bottles which are definitely not allowed. Baller I Hardly Know her won 2-1.

Last but not least was an extremely exciting game between Masterbatters and Booze on First. This game had lots of great blog material. In the middle of the game, Booze on First Superstar, Rob had a great kick and was wheeling around the bases as fast as he could. So fast in fact that he missed second base and made it all the way to third before hearing people yell that he missed second. He ran back to second base then made it back to third before the Masterbatters could get him. He scored on the next play.

I had asked this beautiful young lady to the right, Jessica, if I could take a picture of her in her Pirate Hooker costume for the blog. Her reply was that I could but only if that meant that guys would masturbate to it. So... well... guys... have at it I guess. Make sure to tell Jessica what you did while looking at her photo next week at kickball. I'm sure that won't be awkward at all. She told me that she has been playing for 2 seasons and has never made it to first base. The next time she was up she got to first base safely, though it was short lived as her teammate was later thrown out at home plate on the play, trying to sneak in an extra base. Jessica immediately ran to her phone to text all of her friends that she had made it to first base safely. In the bottom of the 6th inning Booze on First had a 1 run lead but Masterbatters were able to get some runners on. On the last play of the game the Masterbatters scored 2 runs to clinch it. Justin scored the winning run of the game and immediately started mauling his teammates in an extremely enthusiastic celebratory display that possibly could have put the lives of his teammates in jeopardy. The team chant at the end of the game summed it all up, "Masterbatters come from behind!". Masterbatters won 2-1.