(Photo from Roscopoet, pulled off the KVKL Flickr page. Click image to check out our flickr page!)
Hey buddies,
The scores aren’t up yet, so we’ll have to help each other out on everything that went down last night. I officiated for the 5pm #26 Blue Collar Rockets vs. #7 Slowride game. The Rockets nearly busted everybody’s bracket by keeping the game extremely close. The Rockets’ defense was solid throughout the game, and their offense took advantage of every mistake Slowride’s 9-person defense made. The lead changed a few times, and by the top of the ninth The Rockets were just down by one run, though they were unable to tie it up and get a major upset. During the 6:30pm game at YSC 3 the #14 Late Fees took on #19 Channel 6. The Fees and Channel 6 have played three times in the last two years, and we were 1-1 before yesterday’s game. In 2010, Channel 6 fell apart during our Game of the Week match-up, and we fell apart during our first tournament game, thankfully this game felt much more competitive. The Fees got an early three runs and held onto the lead for the entire game, but Channel 6 kept it close. I’m not sure of the final score, but it was in the single digits; with the combination of a brand new slightly juiced ball (approved by both captains) and the bump at home plate, both teams popped up the majority of their kicks–to the point where I had to implement a “Push-up for Pop-ups” program, five push-ups for every pop-up. Over on field 4 at YSC, the #18 Brew Ballers took on the #2 Love Garden team. Brew Ballers played some great kickball for the first 5 innings, taking advantage of some very rare Squid errors. Love Garden started off slow, the top of their line-up didn’t make one run until the sixth inning. Up until The Squids hit the sixth inning, the No. 2 team in the league could only muster a three point lead, but in a game played by amateur kickballers it only takes one inning to completely change the momentum of a game. Love Garden hit their stride in the sixth and had a monstrous inning, and the Brew Ballers, despite their best efforts, couldn’t catch-up. The game ended (I think) 13-2, an impressive score when you think about the official rankings and how Love Garden has handled most mid-level teams over the years. The 9:30pm game at Field 4 was #14 Liberty Hall Late Fees vs. #3 Sacred Sword. The game started off offensively slow for the Fees and by the end of the second inning Sacred Sword had a four run lead on us–two of the runs were scored off a kick that went over our heads and nearly flew over the 200′ fence. Though, despite some unfortunate calls and Josh Hunt’s trash talking, we kept our shit together and played some of the best defense I’ve seen all year. Other than the second inning, we held The Sword scoreless, and worked our asses off to make a few runs. At the top of the ninth it was 3-4, and we were feeling good, but Sacred Sword held us off and the Late Fees’ season ended. I think everyone was surprised by how close the game was, the refs, players, and people in the stands, but I’ve always known The Fees had the talent and experience to hang with the best, it’s just unfortunate our season ended right when we finally figured our defense out and started playing great kickball. It was a hell of a game, and I couldn’t have been happier with the way we played… well, I guess I’d be happier if we won. The Fees had a great time with both Channel 6 and Sacred Sword (The Sword vs. Fees game actually pitted a newly engaged couple against each other), those teams have some of my favorite players in the league, and though our season is over I’m just glad we ended on such a positive game.
I know twenty-six other games were played yesterday, please fill us in on how your Sunday night went!
Love,
Coach Billy Gay Cyrus
—–
For those who entered the Bracketology/Kickatology contest, please be patient as I organize the entries and wait for the official scores each week. Thanks!
Posted by Scott Stewart (Goat) on August 15, 2011 at 11:53 am
Here are the games from Holcomb that I know (99% sure on the winners, I don’t know all of the scores):
First Round:
Balls Deep over West Coast.
Goats over Free State (20-2, run rule after the top of the 7th).
Dirty Mike over Replay (maybe 23 to 20?).
Chalmersiz over Astrokitty.
Wilt over Swarm.
Star Bar over Gang Green (maybe 15+ to 2?).
Red Lyon over Wildman.
Second Round – “Awesome Bracket”
Pita over Balls Deep.
Goats over Dirty Mike (16 to 9 – Note: There was some strong trash talk coming from both benches, it seem like most of it from Mike’s side were drunk fans and just a couple of Mike’s players, with a couple of Goats reacting to it. Then in the 8th a Dirty Mike player was way out of line during a play at the plate and players from both teams had to be broken up. I won’t go into too much detail, I will just say that besides the one Dirty Mike player that was a ass, everyone from Dirty Mike’s was awesome, really nice, played great and gave the Goats a hell of a game).
Chalmersiz over Wilt (10-3).
Star Bar over Red Lyon.
Second Round – “Less-Awesome Bracket”
Free St. over Replay
The Swarm over Astrokitty (Kitty had a decent lead early, Swarm tied it up, went to extra innings – Swarm by 1)
Don’t know about Gang Green/Wildman game, I think Wildman won.
Great night all around. I would love to hear more about the YSC games and the scene over there!
Posted by kmarshall25 on August 15, 2011 at 12:53 pm
In the opening round of the tournament Star Bar faced Lawrence Gang Green. The game got off to a rather slow start for Star Bar, but by the 3rd or 4th inning we had a comfortable lead – probably around 10 runs. As the game moved on we (Star Bar) had a couple innings where we made it through our entire line-up and then some before registering three outs…This added to our lead. In the last two innings we kicked, the 7th and 8th innings, I was told we scored 14 runs. Surprisingly, Gang Green kicked three homeruns against us but only managed to score a total of 4 runs. I think the final was something like 25-4 (ish).
In round 2, Star Bar squared off against Red Lyon, who we were told easily advanced against Wildman 15-0. This was a bit alarming as I knew Red Lyon is a team of wiley veterans and didn’t play as a whole unit many times this season. With all of their parts, they are a force to be reckoned with. As the better seed we were the home team and hoped to get a quick stop and put up a couple runs of our own up in the first inning – to state things calmly, the exact opposite happened. Lyon came out kicking the ball well. We (Star Bar) must have made about 3-4 errors in the top of the first inning and Red Lyon rattled off 6 runs before we finally squeezed a long fly ball for the final out. In the bottom of the first our first two batters quickly got out, the third batter got a single, and our fourth batter made the final out to retire the side. Woosah.
After that Star Bar’s defense buckled down and made some decent defensive plays. By the 3rd or 4th inning we rallied to within 2 runs and then tied the game quickly afterwards. I want to say about the bottom of the fifth we got back to the top of our order. After a couple of textbook bunts with one out (ask Troy…), we kicked the first of several homeruns to go up 9-6. Red Lyon came up to bat with the top of their order and were able to take a couple runs back, making the score 9-8. From there Star Bar’s offense settled down and went into cruise control, scoring 7 more runs in the next two innings. Holding a 16-8 lead going into the top of the 9th, Red Lyon managed a couple more runs and game ended 16-10. Overall it was a good game played by both teams. There were a few mistakes by both sides, but otherwise it was a very good game of kickball. Hats off to Red Lyon for the great game.
Posted by Spencer Cramer on August 15, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Great play by your catcher to KICK our runner out on a bunt. Well done.
Posted by Dakota Loomis on August 15, 2011 at 11:34 pm
I’m still pissed off about that play and will be stewing about getting kicked out for months, if not years, to come. Still, a sick play even if it contributed to us losing and directly led to me being out by a step.
Though…getting kicked out on a bunt is what I deserve for bunting in the first place.
Posted by troy on August 15, 2011 at 1:33 pm
i’d really like to write a much longer piece than i’m about too….
kickball is one of my favorite things about living in lawrence, i’ve played since the second season and over the last few (especially this year) i’ve seen way to much bitching, threating, and overall poor sports. something needs to be done. i’m not saying that i’ve never bitched, but after the game or play i’ve talked/appologized to the player and or ref (also always been a captain). everytime i ref i ask each team (even if i know the team) who are the captains. if it starts getting out of hand or i see that it’s about to get out of hand i tell each team to chill out and tell the captains to maintain their team. there are a lot of refs that are getting bullied and captains letting their team get out of control. last night i saw in different games- an elbow thrown, an opposing player grab a hat from the other team and toss it, many players cussing out refs and opposing players, way to many players involved in arguing/yelling about a play, and quite frankly just overall douche bagness. it’s getting completely out of hand. THIS IS A BAR LEAGUE. IT’S RECREATIONAL. IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE FUN. refs need to start warning captains that players from their team are about to be tossed, anyone not a captain needs to be desiplined for leaving the dugout to yell. players and teams need to get control of themsleves. teams that are taking this league WAY to serious need to go to the city league or learn how to chiil the fuck out.
i will say that in our two games both sides had fun and there was no bickering- hats off to wildman (love it when opposing players will shot gun beers with me-thomas) and star bar (as for asking me, all i have to say for kris is boooooooo) it’s nice when teams winning or losing have fun, the way that kickball should be.
i just needed to vent and hopefully as a league we can start checking ourselves a little better
Posted by Diana on August 15, 2011 at 4:20 pm
FIRST ROUND:
Balls Deep – 11
West Coast – 6
Goats – 21
Free State – 1
Replay – 20
Dirty Mike – 23
Chalmersiz – 31
Astrokitty – 4
Wilt Ch. – 13
Swarm – 8
Star Bar – 31
Gang Green – 4
Red Lyon – 15
Wildman – 0
Love Garden – 17
Harper Valley – 3
Ghosts – 2
BrewBallers – 13
Slowride – 10
Blue Collar – 9
Screamers – 6
Corksuckers – 2
Sacred Sword – 10
Weavers – 0
Liberty Hall – 5
Ch. 6 – 2
Das Boot – 20
Tellers – 2
Los Luchadores – 7
Asteroidhead – 8
SECOND ROUND LESS AWESOME:
Free State – 18
Replay – 14
Astrokitty – 11
Swarm – 13
Gang Green – 10
Wildman – 11
Harper Valley – 0
Ghosts – 24
Blue Collar – 12
Corksuckers – 9
Weavers – 5
Ch. 6 – 6
Tellers – 3
Los Luchadores – 21
SECOND ROUND AWESOME BRACKET
Pita Pit – 11
Balls Deep – 2
Goats – 16
Dirty Mike – 8
Chalmersiz – 10
Wilt Chamberlain – 3
Star Bar – 16
Red Lyon – 11
Love Garden – 18
BrewBallers – 2
Slowride – 3
Screamers – 13
Sacred Sword – 4
Liberty Hall – 3
Das Boot – 18
Asteroidhead – 3
Posted by Coach Billy Gay Cyrus on August 15, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Thanks Diana!
Posted by tittietrifecta on August 15, 2011 at 4:45 pm
well upon seeing all of these results, it is very apparent that i will NOT be winning a 12 pack of beer or concert tickets to one of my shows. but it’s aok, i never win any pools even when i select teams based on mascot or city so knowing lot’s about teams skills doesn’t always a winning bracket make, i guess that’s why its august awesomeness….
i was able to watch a bit of the first round at holcom and was so happy to see astrokitty holding tight with chalmersiz for two innings, especially dan luckey’s kick over their right fielders head, but after that chalmersiz took their style and ran away with the victory. astrokitty brought the force in their second game and took the swarm to ten innings before completing their season. i say look to the swarm to keep that less awesome bracket pretty fierce next week. they’ve got the experience and the ‘fro on their side.
it was fantastic having four games going at once in such close proximity. i was happy to see that the harpies win the” happiest team who lost” because they didn’t get shut out in their first game. although mick picked the upset of asteroidhead over los luch, i was hoping their cole beards and sweetest pink jersey’s would of prevailed over the kaleidoscope of the astroidhead. bri even mentioned that she pretty much popped two bunts straight into jason “the appalachian hipsters” over-alls. i am gonna be ballsy and predict swarm versus luch for the left side bracket finale!
the booming das boot opening cheer set the stage for their two lop sided victories. i can’t wait to play them next week. i know that brad and his boot have been nipping at our heels for many years, and it’s going to be a battle to the death. however swords always trump a boot to the ass on the weapons scale, so it’s time for them to run to the hills….
and as always thanks to all of you who bring the dance week after week at the replay. i mean we play sports all day and then you guys demand the dance within two songs of starting djing, gotta love it, let’s keep having fun. all hail the mighty KVKL.
Posted by kvkl fan on August 15, 2011 at 4:51 pm
I like having the two tournament games in one day but I’m thinking now that may be too much kickball for one day considering this is a beer league and the fact that the league is more competitive than ever. I fear that four and a half to six hours of drinking in one afternoon is too much for a lot of teams to handle. I think yesterday was proof positive that its only a matter of time before things really get out of hand. I hope I’m wrong.
Posted by Coach Billy Gay Cyrus on August 15, 2011 at 5:27 pm
As someone who last year played three consecutive kickball games in one day, two of which were decided by one run, and one that went into extra innings, I can say with absolute confidence that there is no such thing as too much kickball. I’m not sure if you’re concerned about recklessness, or assholes, but with the introduction of the waivers we have become an exclusively adult league and it’s up to the individuals to act accordingly.
Concerning assholes: they’re everywhere, and will always be out to ruin our fun. There is no easy fix to this problem, but Troy is absolutely right that refs should be more involved in keeping aggressive teams in line. Hate the players, not the game!
Billy Gay out.
Posted by soobs on August 16, 2011 at 3:14 am
Yeah boy! That’s soooo you go girl!!
Posted by Eribear on August 15, 2011 at 6:40 pm
Dont forget that there will be a town hall style meeting at the end of the regular season. One person per team is invited to this event. Start thinking about who that person is now… It does not have to be a captain, just someone with passion and respect for tne game.
More details coming soon, so save the date Sunday, Sept 11.
Posted by cozborn on August 15, 2011 at 9:14 pm
just a quick questiom about the final score of the space pussy swarm game. since it was extra innings the run that broke the tie should have ended the game. so the final should be 11 to 12 swarms game. am I correct on this?
Posted by Diana on August 15, 2011 at 9:45 pm
Yes, the score should only be 12-11 swarm in that case. I was just going off the final score that the scorekeeper wrote down, but after looking at it, that’s what should have been written down.
It will be put up on the kvkl website correctly.
Posted by TheBiggestOfJims on August 15, 2011 at 10:36 pm
Lots of fun yesterday, but sad that my team’s season is over. Oh well, on to drinking and watching other people play kickball!
On a side note, there are fun assholes and shitty assholes. There was, until this season, a fine art of being a fun asshole, a la creative heckling, but I agree with Troy in that it seems to have gone by the wayside to be replaced by the shitty assholery. I hope everyone can have more fun in the weeks and years to come.
Go kickball!
Posted by A-trainnnnnnn on August 15, 2011 at 11:08 pm
Goddamn! I hate shitty assholery!
Posted by Eli on August 15, 2011 at 11:57 pm
I feel that creative heckling is one of the things I bring to the table, it’s just that with as hot as most of the season has been, I haven’t been able to drink my heckling up to it’s fullest potential. At least our games were pretty chill this week, I think we had one play where we had to argue at all, which is crazy, because we usually manage at least one call a game where we have to go dig through the rule sheet.
As for assholes, just stop acting like “they’re assholes on the field, but they’re cool outside of being competitive”, because they realize that with as timid as many refs are, they can be assholes during the game and have no consequences afterward. If someone was a douchebag on the field, they didn’t magically lose the douchebag part of their personality after the game was over. When people realize that no one wants to hang out with them because they ARE assholes, they stop BEING assholes.
But seriously folks, would it kill more teams to put someone with witty banter at pitcher or catcher positions? I feel like it would make the games far more entertaining, especially for the crowd.
Posted by KVKLer on August 16, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Here’s the problem I see with this idea: whether you’re being an asshole or a creative heckler is determined by how you’re being perceived, not what you think you’re doing. Combine that with the fact that most players/commissioners/refs who have been around awhile have preconceptions about many other players and the level of tolerance is not uniform, to say the least.
The worst part is that passing the blame onto “those other players” and not accepting any is a growing trend in KVKL. Nice guys aren’t ever assholes? There are always two sides to an argument or fight. There is always responsibility to go around. Some players accept it, and like Troy said, apologize after the game and things are cool. Some players don’t accept their responsibility, harbor resentment and then project their own distaste for particular players in their analysis of whether someone is being an asshole.
The league is not the same as it was 8 years ago and it never will be. The refs need to get a better handle on giving out warnings and kicking people out of games and it needs to be on both sides of the argument, not just the person who does the “most assholeish” thing because these are always escalating situations. If someone is deliberately provoking another player and that player eventually snaps, it’s not commendation to the player who snaps to also kick out the player who provoked him. When a player snaps it’s not them operating in a vacuum and just because people are more passive aggressive doesn’t mean they aren’t just as much to blame, *especially* if they know that another player is likely to be easily provoked. It’s bullshit and it happens constantly.
Final Thought: players need to accept responsibility for their own contributions and need to stop being SO biased when determining what behavior they’ll tolerate and from whom. It’s all about perception. If you think you’re a clown, all you’ll hear are jokes; if you think someone’s an asshole, all you’ll hear is shit.
Posted by Tosinator on August 17, 2011 at 4:11 pm
“If someone was a douchebag on the field, they didn’t magically lose the douchebag part of their personality after the game was over.”
———-
Oh, come on. People do things in the heat of the moment/competition ALL THE TIME that isn’t indicative of their normal, true personality. It’s not about being a douchebag who knows he/she can get away with it because of “timid” refs. It’s about getting caught up in the moment and doing something that one would not do under normal circumstances.
Part of good sportsmanship is being able to move on after a game–and that goes for both the people being assholes in game as well as the people who are perceiving them as assholes.
If you were an asshole in a game, apologize (if necessary) after the game and be sincere about it. If someone apologizes to you (or your team) after they were being a douchebag in a game, accept their apology and let it go.
Having “consequences” for people being assholes in games isn’t going to stop people from having those in-the-moment, asshole reactions to things. It’s all about resetting after the game is over, because at the end of the day, most of us *aren’t* douchebags in real life, even if we seem that way during a game.
Posted by KVKLer on August 16, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Wait…. what was wrong with that thought-provoking post about how the difference between creative heckling and asshole is mostly in how it’s perceived? I thought it was good! And much nicer than calling people assholes.
Posted by Coach Billy Gay Cyrus on August 16, 2011 at 3:13 pm
First-time posters need to be “moderated.” Should be up now!
Posted by KVKLer on August 16, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Haha, ok good because I couldn’t remember everything in there. I thought it got lost in the interwebs.
Posted by Bunt Industries on August 16, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Billy G, Your Late Fees played a great game. Way to stop our offense from ever getting it together. I must divide the credit as follows.. 66.99988% to your incredible first basewoman, 22% to your galactic biker shorts, 11% to Styles’ midriff Kanrocksas T-Shirt, .00012% to the Love Garden referees switching out every inning, and 0% to Caleb Skulskie. Until next season when we will beat you by 30 again…
Posted by troy on August 16, 2011 at 4:20 pm
wow…that seems like caleb is getting to much credit
Posted by proctopus on August 16, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Sorry to swItch out. We all kept having to pee. And smoke crack. And not ref.
Posted by soobs on August 16, 2011 at 3:28 pm
Chario Malmersiz v Spacious Pussy was a fun game despite the lopsided result. Space Pussy brought the jamz (always welcome against the Chalmersiz!) and some stellar coaching by New Buddy Shawn. I overheard him dropping such coaching jems as “Kick it inside the field this time,” and “Don’t touch that, it’s still throbbing.” Well, I can’t confirm the last one… After the fifth, Chalmersiz took up Candle-mandated beer-in-hand rules to keep things jovial in the face of a clear mismatch. Pussy took a shinin’ to the attitude of the match and from what I’ve heard they rallied around the positive spirit of the game! This generated a fresh optimism for their matchup against the Swarm and they churned out their best performance of the season despite their speakers blowing out early in the game. Chalmersiz thoughts go out to Erin Pfannenstiel who took a scary looking digger on the first base line… Side note: that seemed to be somehow a very dangerous line as I saw a few people get hurt on their way to first at Holcomb Red.
Chalmeez v 10,000 Pussy was much more of a grinder than the first round. Wilts had a female missing from their line up so they gave up an automatic out at the bottom of their order (A deficiency of females? Most unChamberlain-like). As a show of good faith I kicked out every time I got up to the plate rendering both my first game without a base and my first game without a run. (Yeah, that’s the ticket! I did it for them! … Shut up Soobaroo). Fortunately I was more productive on defense and the rest of my team is fucking awesome anyway! So we never really gave Wilt much of a shot at getting into this one. Always a pleasure to see my boy Chris Cardwell and I’d like to say thanks to the Wilt for my opportunity to play against the two handsomest players in the league! I think the Granite those bros jaws were chiseled from must have come from the fabled mines of Narnia. Or Germany.
Can’t wait for Rounds 3 & 4!!
Eat, play, love. And don’t yell in anger. Rage has no place on the Kickball field. And a warning to the Douches: if I get shouted at while I’m reffing I’m kicking your ass out of the game with the quickness. Maturity is sooo fucking Raven.
Posted by NotASexSite on August 17, 2011 at 3:02 am
Hello.
Please to tell me more about the “pussy took a shinin’”.
Also, “Chalmeez v 10,000 Pussy” is my favorite of all time! Good to know someone else like it too! “Wilts had a female missing” doesn’t sound too fun.
Check out my website http://www.kickballsingles.com or http://www.kickballdoubles.com if you’re kinky!
Posted by Eribear on August 17, 2011 at 10:53 am
Really….. ?
I thought this was our way to get away from the sex bots on the “community”
Posted by AdamP aka Wild Bill Kickcock on August 17, 2011 at 11:40 am
thasthejoke.jpg
Posted by Coach Billy Gay Cyrus on August 17, 2011 at 12:39 pm
Yeah, I nearly deleted it when I first read it, but it’s definitely not spam. Possibly my favorite comment of the season.
Posted by Eli on August 16, 2011 at 6:30 pm
seeing as it’s only natural for people to be quicker to anger with people that they don’t know, perhaps we, as an entire league, could try harder to get more people out to preseason scrimmages (or even some extra KVKL sponsored bar nights that can get extra money into the league [ohmygawd!let'sfixwatertower!] or our charities) where we can get to know each other without the stress of being in the middle of a serious game, i know that’s a tough thing to do, but it could cut down on the number of times that people refer to each other as “that asshole playing whatever position” instead of realizing that the other team has actual people on it
Posted by JHunt on August 16, 2011 at 10:36 pm
Great idea Eli. Next pre-season please reach out, we could use your help putting that together. Always looking for people with ideas that are willing to donate their time to implement plans. Also looking for some extra people to help with clean up at Holcom this weekend, you game to help?
Posted by Eli on August 17, 2011 at 12:26 am
deal…and i think i already have an idea on how to implement several ideas into one big hugely complex idea that will be a pain in the ass to do, so i’m going to think it out more before i put it out there, maybe see if i can’t either simplify it, or at least knock out some of the problems myself first…but right now i think my brain is about to just give up and shut down
Posted by MikeyP on August 17, 2011 at 3:09 am
That picture has got to be one of my favorite kickball pictures I’ve ever seen. Kudos to Roscoepoet.