Kickball

Game Time

John Sample — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 16:47:00 GMT

Alright.

Its been a weekend of games. We played some “pass the trash” (the name of the game in polite company) with Josh and Linda.
It was a good time, although the usually eloquent Linda called it at one point... “a stupid game for jerks“. I think thats the funniest thing I've heard in a while.

It was opening day for another season of kickball. We won of course. It helps that we are the only group in the league thats played before.
We didn't field a whole team due to the redskins game, although I think we found some new pitching talent in Paul.
I'm going to have to smack some priorities into these donkeys.

Rob and Brad talked us into playing fantasy football this year. We're losing pretty bad as I type this: 29 to 55. Now THIS is a stupid game for jerks.
Yes, thats right; we're losing to a guy in Kiev who is probably craning his neck in a crowd of a hundred people trying make out a fuzzy image on the community 9 inch black and white TV.

The Last Two

John Sample — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 07:53:00 GMT

The cinderella season comes to an end with, but not without a fight.

Our first match last night was against The Usual Suspects for a spot in the finals. It was a tough game but we pulled it out with a 3-2 win.
Once that was over we had to turn right around and play the division championship against the 3 time defending national champions.

We put up a decent showing... but ended up losing 4-1. Thats pretty good when you see most of the point spreads out of their games.

And so season the closes with a team full of rookies that only won 2 games in the regular season going all the way to the finals.
We'll be back next season, a year wiser and back in the hunt.

Next week I'm reffing the all star game before the end of season party. I'll post anything interesting that happens.

Quarter Finals

John Sample — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 09:45:00 GMT

We pulled an upset last night. We came in the 10 point underdogs to pull off a 4-2 victory.
This sends us to the semifinals tonight with the division championship immediately following if we win.

Check out the bracket:

Look at that pretty picture, the 11th seed taking out the 3rd.
Our record against the Usual Suspects is 1 and 1 so we can definitely do it.

Oh yeah, there was a triple play last night, all from Gonz (1.)catching the pop fly (2.)catching the runner off of first and (3.) nailing Caesar in the back as he tried to run home. It was a thing of beauty.

Playoffs

John Sample — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 10:56:00 GMT

I haven't posted for more than a month, so I guess I should give an update on how things are going.

We're into the playoffs for the kickball season.
We didn't end the regular season with a very good record: 2 wins, 5 losses, 1 tie.
Most of the games could have gone either way, but things just never seemed to work out.

But.......

Playoffs are here and everyone starts back at square one. Single elimination by the way.

WE WON THE FIRST ROUND LAST NIGHT!!!!

The score was 1-0. The only run came in the first inning when I was up to bat. Bases loaded and two outs.
I was walked and Paul came skipping into home. We played tough defense after that with a few 3 up 3 down innings.

As great as it was to win, this was definitely the most controversial game we've played.
We had a player ejected. Yes, thats right, one of our teamates was ejected from a kickball game. Long story that doesn't need to be here.
We got caught accidentally fielding only 3 girls (rules say you need 4). The refs usually check before the inning starts but no one noticed until we had 2 outs on the other team. The league president happened to be there when it happened and even she couldn't find a rule for what to do for a penalty, so they did nothing.
Needless to say there were some heated arguments. The ejection happened soon after.

Here's the bracket for the playoffs. I'll update it as soon as I get all the scores:

Kickball - Game 4

John Sample — Fri, 29 Apr 2005 17:59:00 GMT

More Kickball Posts
Game: 1, 2, 3, 4

We lost 2 - 0. That brings our record to 1 win, 1 tie, and 2 losses.

It was a great game though. Came down to the last inning.

I don't have any drawings, because not much exciting happened. Almost every inning was 3 up 3 down and only the 5th had any good action.
Corey introduced the other team to the fact that there's no infield fly rule with an easy double play. I thought there was going to be a riot.
Corey was off the field and ready to kick before anyone had a chance to figure out what happened. I loved it!

Best refs of the season.

I think we're going to start scrimmaging against the team we played. They practice on the same nights as us, so it would work out.

Oh yeah, remember those balls I ordered? They showed up before the game.
Can you read the name on this one?

Kickball - Game 3

John Sample — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 18:16:00 GMT

More Kickball Posts
Game: 1, 2, 3, 4

I've really got to write these things sooner than a week after the game. I think waiting so long is clouding my memory of events.

We won! 6 - 1 against “The Usual Suspects“

MVP of the game was definitley Corey. He scored 2 heads up runs (both head first sliders) and was rock solid with the catches in the field.
Paul is the MVP of my heart, however. He saved my butt when I dropped a catch.
The ball bounced right off of my arms. The runner took off from second just as the ball hit me. I threw to the ever trusty sticky fingers and he tagged the guy before he could make it to third.
Here are some photographs of what happened taken with my 300 megapixel camera:

I also had a slide into home, but I was called out.

My wife got into it pretty bad with the ref. She's lucky Todd is a cool guy, I think I saw fire coming out of her mouth at one point:

For the record, Todd was absolutely right about the call.

The pitcher on that team was by far the best I've seen. I think his name was Jason.
He was throwing super fast sidearm deals that barely gave you anytime to get to the plate.
I was however still able to keep my perfect batting record..

Thats it for this week. I'm going to try to get a write up of tommorow's game up a lot faster.
For some action shots, look here.

Kickball - Game 2

John Sample — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 19:53:00 GMT

More Kickball Posts
Game: 1, 2, 3, 4

We lost: 9 -1.

But, we were playing the 3 time defending national champions. The last team they played had to invoke the slaughter rule at 18 - 0.
We played out the game.

Not much interesting to report about the action. I had a couple of good catches. So did Rob. Jiffy got a good out at second, and the team stars did their thing.
I think good things are going to happen for the rest of the season.

There were a couple of bum calls, mostly because the first base umpire wasn't watching the game. She was standing next to the fence talking with a friend the whole time. Not that we would have won, but it would have shaved a couple points off the score.
The good news is I was inspired to draw this picture:

Note to the refs:
When 2 runners are both standing on the same base they are both out.
The head umpire was great, though, so that makes up for it.

Now we just need to work on getting people to show up at practice. There are ~25 people on the team, but its always just the same 8 people who show up. There are some people in the line up I don't think I've even met yet.

Speaking of not showing up, we've had a hard time finding kickballs to work out with. We've been playing with a little Spider-Man 4-square ball.
I finally ordered some off the WAKA site. The problem is their store says “Allow 2 to 3 weeks delivery.”
Two to three weeks?
Whats up with that?
Is each one individually hand crafted from baby seals or something?
They sell like 3 things: shirts, hats, and (shocker!) kickballs. Shouldn't they know how to lay their hands on a couple lickety split?
I'm imagining some poor guy running running around the warehouse right now going:
“Oh man, where in the world did we put all those kickballs?”

Kickball - Season Opener

John Sample — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 18:38:00 GMT

More Kickball Posts
Game: 1, 2, 3, 4

The news is out on the streets, The Blazers are a team to be reckoned with.
Last night we played our season opener against a team thats been around a few years. All of us except the team captain (Mike) are Rookies.

We led until the last inning when they tied it up. The game will go in the score books as a 4-4 tie.

Since I don't have any pictures, I decided to recap a few of last nights key plays with my uncanny ability to draw life like sketches.
First of all lets set the scene right. We don't play on a baseball diamond. Or even a flat piece of land. We play on a slopey piece of ground in a park right next to a lake. This means the entire field is covered with goose droppings. It was also very stormy last night and the ground was super wet.

First up: Mike's Matrix Style First Base Slide

The opposing team got to Mike's bunt super fast and the fielder was bearing down on him with a deadly look in his eye:

Refusing to be run down, Mike slid feet first PERFECTLY FLAT ON HIS BACK into first base. The ball zoomed over just inches above his chest.
This was the first inning of the first game of the season and Mike set the tone. This was no game for sissies.

Corey also got in a great first base slide. He went in head first, so his new team shirt is pretty much finished.
Now on to the defense. This is our ace in the hole.
Susie (first base) rocks. I don't think she missed a ball all night. If you haven't seen a kickball game, it is almost impossible to throw someone out on first if they bunt. There is a rule that says the fielders can't pass the line that runs from 1st base, the pitchers mound, and 3rd base until the ball is kicked. Even if you know someone is going to bunt its tough to get to a ball right in front the plate and throw it in time. It doesn't seem to matter to our team though.

Then there's Paul who catches every ball in a one mile radius.

I don't know about everyone else, but I was expecting to get whippped up on since this was the first game for most us. I think things are looking good.

Next week we play the defending NATIONAL champions. (Yes there is such a thing.) They actually recruit, scout, and cut people. I also hear rumors that their practices consist of more than drinking.