How will you prepare for the next season of kickball?

Random Video of the Week

This week's random video showcases a home workout program. I know you all are looking to gain a competitive advantage for next season so here is your chance. OK well maybe not. I wasn't quite sure if this thing was real or not at first but apparently its for real. While I'm sure it would help with um... some things, I'm not really sure if its an effective training aid for kickball but I may be wrong.



but it's not just for the ladies. There's a version for the guys too.



Maybe if you guys work real hard you can end up like this guy...



Crazy!

Drink Beer, its good for you

Beer is better than water. At least according to the people at the Cleveland Leader. You know, Cleveland, at least they aren't Detroit. Anyways, someone passed this article over to me and I thought I should share it with everyone.


http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/3467

According to the article, its actually better to drink beer after an athletic event than it is to drink water. I'm not sure whether to believe that or not but if its true that means that kickballers are ahead of the pack. I guess I should point out that the article says moderate consumption.

Division History

So a couple of weeks ago I unveiled the History of Kickball on the blog and I promised in the comments that I would soon publish the history of the Breaker division. I was just waiting for the end of the season to publish it and it's now up. Just go to www.kickball.com/flbreaker and click on the division history link. You can learn all about the teams that have played in the Breaker division and how they did from season to season. Maybe you will learn a little something about your team that you didn't realize before.

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What did you find most interesting from reading the Division History

Congratulations Seminoles

Congratulations to the Seminoles, who were both regular season and playoff champions. The game of the playoffs was clearly their semifinal game against Quit Yer Pitchin. Quit Yer Pitchin took a 1 run lead in the first inning and the Seminoles weren't able to answer until the top of the 4th when they tied it up. After 5 the score was tied and WAKA tournament guidelines have extra innings being played Kansas City Style.

Kansas City style means that on defense you only play with 4 guys and 4 girls in the field and on offense you start the inning with a runner on second base. Not just any runner but the last kicker from your previous inning.

Neither team was able to score in the first inning of Kansas City Rules. In the 8th inning the Seminoles lead off by scoring 3 runs and thought they were ready to roll but Quit Yer Pitchin returned the favor and scored 3 in the bottom of the 7th to tie it up again. In the top of the 8th the Seminoles were able to post another 3 spot. Quit Yer Pitchin was unable to counter and the Seminoles moved on to the championship game.

The championship game itself may have been somewhat anti-climactic after the semifinals but it was another very tightly contested game. The lone run of the game was scored in the bottom of the 2nd inning and the Seminoles defeated Don't Touch Our Balls 1-0.

End of Season Party

Our End of Season Party will be held on Nov 21st at Ricks on the River

There will be free beer and some free food.

The party will be from 7pm - 11pm and will be a combined party with the Thursday night Bayshore division. Be sure to show up and show those Bayshore players that the Tuesday night crowd can party with the best of them.

Playoffs!

Gates will open at 10am. Games will be started on time so make sure you get there early and give yourself enough time to set up your tent shade. We are allowed to grill out so plan accordingly.

View Full Bracket



For the playoffs the fields will be switched around since we won't need lights. The fields will be set up in a clover leaf like set up. Field A and B will be close to where they usually are but will be back to back, kicking in opposide directions. Field C and D will be on the football field and will have a similar back to back set up. Field C will be closest to the fence next to the concession stand.

Reffing assignments are as follows: In the first round, if your team plays at 12pm you will ref the 11am game on the same field and vice versa. Each team will be responsible for providing refs for the round of games after your team is eliminated, so each team (with the exception of the finalists) will be responsible for reffing 2 games. Example: if a team plays at 11am and loses they will have to provide refs for the 12pm game on the same field AND for a 1pm game.

WAKA Division Tournament Guidelines

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Which of these top teams will win the playoffs?

Week 9 Recap

Week 9 was the last week of the season and some teams definitely looked poised for the playoffs. On the other hand, some other teams looked more poised for the bar (actually it looked like maybe they had been at the bar for hours before the games started). Lets get to the action.

Raging Balls took the field, determined to solidify their spot as the worst kickball team ever and they did nothing to disappoint. Vicious and Delicious tried to stall the beginning of the game so they could wait for their best players to show up until Raging Balls reminded them of who they were playing. V&D had only scored 14 runs all this season coming into the night but were able to put up a 9 spot against the environmentally conscious Raging Balls. Why environmentally conscious? Because Raging Balls did their best to get in touch with Mother Nature by tripping and hugging the ground on every play they could. This game was an absolute comedy of errors. How many errors? No one was able to count that high but at least 15. Vicious and Delicious won 9-0.

Speaking of blowouts, Field B's game wasn't much closer. Your Mom Makes a Dry Roast had some struggles at the beginning of the season but then all of a sudden one day remembered what it was like to play kickball as a kid and they just kept running, and running and running all over New Kicks On The Block. The Evil Empire lost 6-0.

Tech USA - Where My Pitches At and Anything But Blue Balls was a pretty interesting matchup. There was probably no other matchup this season that pitted two teams that were so evenly matched. The game didn't disappoint. This was a close one that went slightly in the favor of Tech USA - Where My Pitches At. Tech USA won 1-0.

Don't Touch Our Balls looked pretty confident coming into the night. They were faced off against the struggling We've Got The Runs. Unfortunately for DTOB, they were maybe a bit too confident. Rumor has it that a few key players were absent because they would rather play softball. Bad decision. Don't Touch Our Balls suffered a big upset at the hands of the blue team. We've Got The Runs won 10-0.

The Bull Gators continue to ready themselves for the playoffs and seem to be growing stronger each week. That's about all I've got on this one. Bull Gators beat the Balled and the Beautiful 5-1.

We learned something on Field B last night in the game between Kick In A Box and I Already Hit That. Costumes are cool but if you have a long, flowing costume, whatever you are wearing is an extension of your body. In one key play in the game, Erik was running the bases when Kick In A Box threw the ball at him to try to get him out. The ball missed him but clearly hit his bathrobe. That's an out folks. Kick In A Box put a whooping on I Already Hit That 7-1.

I didn't see the game between Quit Yer Pitchin and Ball Kickers but I sure as hell heard it. There was a whole lot of yelling and cheering going on over there. Apparently, all of that cheering was coming from the Quit Yer Pitchin sideline. They are clearly sharpening their teeth for the playoffs. Quit Yer Pitchin won 9-0.

In the game of the week, the Seminoles took on Suck My Kick. It was a close one but the Seminoles took it to clinch the regular season championship. Seminole player, Salty, said, "I knew after our first scrimmage that this team had something special, pure raw awesomeness". Wait what? First scrimmage? How often do they practice anyways? No wonder why they won so many games. Most teams just practice flip cup. Seminoles won 1-0.

End of Season Player Profile

Hopefully, this man needs no introduction. Well, maybe he does, because he doesn’t normally look like this. This is Ty. This is actually Ty sick. He usually looks happier than this. Unless he’s cleaning up someone else’s trash that’s been left on the field. Or penalizing a team for having glass bottles. So if you’re not one for following the field rules, this unhappy Ty might look familiar.

Ty’s the WAKA division head for both the Breaker and Bayshore divisions, which means when he’s not cheering on the Red Sox – or cursing the Yankees – he’s handling registration, drawing up the schedule, mapping out the fields, scheduling the off-field get-togethers, writing for this awesome blog, all that jazz.

Ty’s passionate about his dog, Bosco, cooking and – above all – kickball. The only thing that can keep him from playing is a minor case of Hamthrax (also known as Swine Flu). But Ty was always on hand to support his Raging Balls, even if we weren't that raging.

And for those of you wondering – yes, Ty’s single. So if you like talking about all things Boston-sports related while being cooked for, Ty’s your guy. He’s also pretty knowledgeable about music and could most likely whoop your ass in candlepin bowling. And his lap was made for bouncing on.

So next time you see Ty, thank him for all the hard work he puts into ensuring that we all have a great time both during and after games. And give the man a beer. Just make sure it’s not in a glass bottle.

Week 9

History of Kickball Followup Poll

Besides being in Ty's poll about which historic figure would you want to play kickball against, what do Napoleon Bonaparte, Abraham Lincoln, Socrates and Joan of Arc have in common?(select all that apply)

End of Season Party on Nov 21

The End of Season Party is on Saturday Nov 21st. The details are being worked out right now and you will be informed as soon as things are finalized. Be sure to keep the evening of Nov 21st available on your calendar for a fun time.

Don't forget that the playoffs are on Nov 7th.

Theme for Last Week

Well we were going to do a Halloween theme for week 9 but since we got rained out and there is no point in doing a Halloween theme after Halloween, Next week the theme will be Pajama party. Come dressed in your favorite pajamas for the kickball game. I know you all of course wear your WAKA t-shirts with your pajamas to bed so make sure you are wearing those as well. Extra cool points will be given to anyone wearing footie pajamas.

Week 9(ish) Player Profile - "I'm kind of a big deal"

You might’ve thought, “Hey, this week’s games were rained out, certainly there won’t be a Player Profile.” Think again, kids. I’m riding a high from waking up on a Wednesday morning without another “L” for the Raging Balls. Sure, we didn’t get a win, either, but any day we don’t get our hats handed to us is a good day. So let’s meet this week’s subject…

Here’s Natalie. Natalie plays for Kick in a Box (the purple team). Natalie may not look familiar – especially if you play on her team. Despite being the team captain, she’s attended “maybe two games” all season.

(This bit of information was supplied by Chad, Natalie’s teammate, who apparently serves as the secretary for the team, providing stats and sundry other information to Natalie.)

It’s not that Natalie enjoys shirking her duties – this is her fourth season playing WAKA and she's served as captain every time. Her job, though, keeps her busy with travel. She’s a project manager and “is a pretty big deal.” People apparently know Natalie. But I’m guessing some Kick in a Boxers would have a hard time picking her out of a line-up.

Natalie is originally from Baton Rouge and graduated from LSU, but let’s not hold that against her. She’s been here three years, enjoys bouncing on Ty's lap at kickball parties (funny - me too!) and loves the debauchery associated with kickball. Her most cherished memory of kickball was being carried out of MacDinton’s once, though she doesn’t really remember much about it. I’m guessing it wasn’t in some sort of “We Are the Champions” manner, as KIAB is 2 and 6 on the season.

If you’ve read this far, it’s probably only due to the fact that I haven’t provided the last piece of information you’re craving – Natalie’s dating status. I’ll let her tell you herself:

“I’m single. And ready to mingle.”

I’d wish you boys good luck, but with Natalie’s track record of attendance, you probably won’t see her again till halfway through the spring season.

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.

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Which historic figure do you wish you could have played kickball against?

Week 9 Games Rained Out

Unfortunately we got rained out in our last scheduled game of the season. It was pouring in South Tampa but for a while it looked like we were going to be safe at the PAL Fields but just as I set up all of the fields it started to rain. We held off for a while, hoping the rain would cease but to no avail.

Week 9's games will be made up next Tuesday.

Random Video of the Week

This week's video brought to you by the tourism board of Cleveland. Thank you to the cool people on Suck My Kick for pointing me to this video.

Which place would you rather to visit?

Week 9 Predictions

Can you believe that it's already week 9? Its crazy right? If you have had a good time, be sure to fill out your survey that WAKA sent you in your email. If you have not had a good time, be sure to delete that email quickly. So how is this week going to pan out? I'll tell you how.

Vicious and Delicious vs Raging Balls on field A
Vicious and Delicious has been on a terrible 3 game slide as of late. They started the season looking like rockstars and have ended it looking like burnt out roadies. Raging Balls is pretty psyched for the game, they can't wait for their first win of the season, even if it doesn't ever actually come. I think its finally Raging Balls' time to shine as they pull off the upset against the downtrodden Vicious and Delicious. Prediction: Raging Balls 2 Vicious and Delicious 1

New Kicks On The Block vs Your Mom Makes a Dry Roast on field B
If Vicious and Delicious loses and New Kicks on The Block win, this matchup will be rehashed in the first round of the playoffs. If not, then who knows what the hell will happen. I mean I'm sure I could figure it out if I wanted to and lay out all of the playoff possibilities with you but I'm feeling lazy so I would rather have the easy outcome happen. Prediction: New Kicks On The Block 4 Your Mom Makes a Dry Roast 3

Tech USA - Where My Pitches At vs Anything But Blue Balls on field C
How will ABBB play this week? Isn't that always the question? Have you wondered how crazy it is that a team with 4 words in their name is NOT the longest team name in the division? Ever wonder what the inside of a kickball looks like? Have you noticed that all of the sentences in this paragraph are questions? Have you thought to consider that that may be because ABBB is just one big question mark each week. Will they be good? Will they be terrible? Prediction: ABBB confound reality and both win by a huge margin and lose by a huge margin at the same time.

Don't Touch Our Balls vs We've Got The Runs on field D
We've Got The Runs captain, Anne, started her kickball career on Don't Touch Our Balls last season though it's not certain that anyone from DTOB remembers her. She's hoping they will remember her after this game as she hopes to knock off the kickball titans. I hope to win the lottery too. Prediction: Don't Touch Our Balls 6 We've Got the Runs 2

Bull Gators vs The Balled and The Beautiful on field A
The Bull Gators are probably the most improved team on the season. The Balled and The Beautiful improved for a little bit and then remembered that they weren't really all that good at this kickball thing. They are really good at having fun and wearing snuggies though. Prediction: Bull Gators 6 The Balled and The Beautiful 0

I Already Hit That vs Kick In A Box on field B
This could be the most fun game of the week. I fully expect Erik and the Limeys to show up in full Halloween costumes. I also fully expect to collect royalties if Erik ever creates a band called Erik and the Limeys. Prediction: Kick In A Box 1 I Already Hit That 0

Ball Kickers vs Quit Yer Pitchin on field C
Tuesday night is bobble head night. No, no one will be handing out little dolls. There should just be plenty of offense to allow Courtney to run the bases with her distinctive running style. Why should there be plenty of offense? Ball Kickers have a runs against average of 4.88. That's second worst in the division to Raging Balls and their astronomical 7.00 but Raging Balls is playing Vicious and Delicious who are notoriously quiet on offense. Prediction: Quit Yer Pitchin 8 Ball Kickers 3

Seminoles vs Suck My Kick on field D
This is the matchup of the week even though it may not count for anything by the time the game starts. Don't Touch Our Balls is the only team that can unseat the Seminoles but even if they win, it may come down to the Runs Against tie breaker (which the Seminoles currently have a slight advantage in). The only way for the Seminoles to lose the division is if DTOB wins and the Seminoles lose and give up more than 2 more runs than DTOB gives up. Confusing? Maybe but I'm sure the Seminoles are hoping that I didn't just jinx them. The division Regular Season Champion Trophy will be on hand for the game. Prediction: Seminoles 2 Suck My Kick 1

Week 10?

So here it is kids, We've got one week left in the season (or do we?) We've got a 9 game schedule and 9 games will count in the standings but we've got a week off between week 9 and the playoffs. This week was intended to be used if we had any rainouts but luckily we have had none so we can use that week as week 10 games that don't count towards the standings. Teams will get to choose who their opponents are. So far Raging Balls and We've Got The Runs have decided that they want to play each other and Tech USA wants to take on the Seminoles. If your team has a request to play a particular team in the non-binding week 10 matchup, either email me or comment on this post.

Remember, the playoffs are November 7th. Yes that date has been on the website since registration opened so no you can't claim no one told you.

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Requests so far:
Vicious and Delicious vs New Kicks On The Block (request made by anonymous)
Raging Balls vs We've Got The Runs (made by We've Got The Runs)
Don't Touch Our Balls vs Bull Gators (made by Don't Touch Our Balls)
Seminoles vs Tech USA (made by Tech USA)

Halloween Theme in Week 9

Week 9 will be played just a few days before Halloween so obviously it will be a Halloween Theme. Come dressed as whatever you will be for Halloween. Just make sure to have your WAKA t-shirt with you as well.