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

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.