It’s kickball time!

Behold!  THIS epic season doth await us.  Upon the threshold of kickball greatness we stand, united (well, sort of…).   No need to toil in more off-season tedium and banality.  Pump thine fist, gulp thy libation, whilst we simultaneously savor the taste of defeat and victory.  Remember, we are all victorious by nature of our passion and prescience.  Honored member’s of the Kaw Valley Kickball League are we. Let it begin….. 

Week 1, News and Notes-

Recycling- At equipment handout you’ll get a a bag for recycling.  Please recycle plastic, glass, aluminum and bring it back to Hobbs.  There you’ll find bins for glass and plastic.  You’ll also find aluminum specific containers provided by Cans for Community.  The bags will need to get back to the garage (or, car-hole) with the equipment.  Should be very straightforward.  

Spirit of the League/Officiating-  REMEMBER…..teams playing 5:30 games ref the 7:00 and vice versa.  The late game at Hobbs will be handled by those in attendance.  Please be patient and vigilant when it’s your turn as a kickball referee.  With that in mind, fellow Board member Curtis McCoy would like to “remind folks that essentially there are two seasons.  The regular season and the post season.  In the regular season experiments are abound, great comebacks exist, shitty refs are to be found, injuries are to be had, mismatches will happen, mistakes will be made, you will get your ass kicked, you will kick ass, etc etc.  But smiles should be all around and a hand extended (with a beverage possibly?) should be the name of the game. Now as for the post season: it’s ok to argue calls, act too serious, get super nerdy about strategy, over analyze the defensive alignment, have drama with the other team, etc etc.”

And, further “that our peer-umped league is not perfect in the regular season and that is quite okay. In fact that is one of the reasons why its so fun, funny, and frustrating all at the same time. This is our league, a recreational league at that, and has been crafted through years of trial, error, argumentation and collective thought.  All individuals and teams should expect some mistakes from time to time this season.  But, know and understand that all people out there are really trying to do the best job they can while having a good time.  Everyone gets to play in the playoffs and any injustice (no matter how small) done in the regular season can be, and often is, rectified by the playoff gods.”

That is poetry Curtis.  Well said.

Score Keeping-  Please be sure to look over the scorecard as it possesses new gadgetry.  There are lineup rules posted on the sheet for easy reference. Please write as legibly as possible so we, the Board, may decipher them at a later date (without the use of some cryptic decoder device).

In case of trouble of any sort- Find Nick, Curtis, Adina, and/or Andrea.  They’ll all be at Hobbs after the 7:30 games. Josh, Phil, and I will be away this weekend.  Questions, comments, concerns?  Please find one or more of them.

Kickball Date: zero five, one four, zero niner

New and Notes:

Seems like everyone had a good go of it Sunday evening.  The weather improved as the evening progressed and most teams got to play in at least one game.  All the participating teams looked good.  I think the new schedule will make this the most interesting year to date.  Anyways, hope you all had fun last weekend!

Field Repairs- Sol Arie, of Open Sky Landscaping fame, is resodding and reseeding Water Tower Park and Edgewood (East and West) in the area’s where we have caused the most damage.  Thanks for your hard work, Sol!  So, in order to give his work the best chance for success, please keep off those fields for a few weeks. If you need practice locations try: woodlawn, wrigley, fenway, hillcrest, deerfield, and woody.  Please comment below with suggestions regarding other fields.  Again, KVKL does not encourage the use of South Park during the 2009 season for kickball related activities.  Thanks for your attention to this matter!

Hobbs bathroom- We may be waiting a bit longer on the permanent bathroom as there is a sewage linkage problem to the new location.  LPRD thinks we’ll have the new one in (and functioning) by July.  Till then, we’re stuck with the portable pot(ty’s).  Ick!  Bring you hand sanitizers.  I wonder if Curtis will lend us his “pooh” suit (?)…..sorry.

Recycling- We are still working on a recycling program and it looks like there’s no escaping using Hobbs as a collection hub.  I believe Cans for Community will be placing aluminum collection bins at Hobbs.  So we’ll hand out to each field (except Hobbs) a collapsable bag from which folks may place their recyclables and return them to Hobbs at the end of the evening.  You’ll get the bag when you pick up equipment.  Once to Hobbs, we will need to separate the bottles and plastics into different bins (which will be provided by KVKL) as ONLY aluminum cans go into the CFC bins.  This program will require some work from all of us.  We’ll change the program as necessary to make this a fluid and simple process. We welcome your input.  Please, please help us make this easy. 

Schedule- We will have the first five weeks schedule to share with you very soon as we are currently in the voting process re: field selection. 

Lastly, I’ll be gone for the first week of the season and Nick Lerner will operate as Commissioner whilst I’m away.  If you have pressing concerns re: KVKL and want an attentive ear, that’d be a golden opportunity. I know Nick is excited about the chance to share his wisdom AND solve problems. 

Need kballs?  Please give me a shout.

Deron gradually@hotmail.com

All games ON!!! POSTED APPROX. 3:30 p.m.

We do have (roughly) a 40 percent chance of rain.  Feel free to play until rain prevents us from doing so.  If lightening becomes a factor, we’ll definitely call the games (off).  So far, so good.  Enjoy your evening….whatever you do.  Thanks!!!

Preseason games set….

For Sunday, May 10th

Please keep in mind there will be no refs and that game length will be 7 innings or 1 HOUR (whichever comes first).  The labeled ‘open’ slots are there to encourage teams to show up early (or late) for pick up games.  We do need to have lights off by 11:15 p.m.  The DCFG fields will have KVKL markings (or, lines).  Hobbs has softball until 7:00, so the fields will be marked for softball.  No worries, just play kickball.  Andrea Vieux will handle equipment pick up (all three fields) for the DCFG complex and be there around 4:00.  I’ll take care of the equip for Hobbs. Additional Board Member’s will handle equipment drop off.  Here are the times/locations:

Douglas County Fairgrounds (SE of 19th and Harper)

Wrigley (smaller field closer to buildings)

4:00 p.m. open

5:00 p.m. Girls w/L.S.E. @ Slowride Roadhouse

6:00 p.m. Slowride Roadhouse @ Channel 6

7:00 p.m. Channel 6 @ Girls w/L.S.E.

Fenway (east of Wrigley, has a green wall in left)

4:00 p.m. open

5:00 p.m. Mad Greek @ West Coast Saloon

6:00 p.m. West Coast Saloon @ Free State Brewing Co.

7:00 p.m. Free State Brewing Co. @ Mad Greek

Cowser (largest field with substantial mound)

4:00 p.m. open

5:00 p.m. AstroKitty Comics @ Replay Lounge

6:00 p.m. Replay Lounge @ Weaver’s

7:00 p.m. Weaver’s @ AstroKitty Comics

8:00 p.m. First Blood @ Love Garden

9:00 p.m. Love Garden @ Eastsiders

10:00 p.m. Eastsiders @ First Blood

Hobbs, Memorial Park (11th and Delaware)

7:00 p.m. Sacred Sword @ Teller’s

8:00 p.m. Teller’s @ Henry’s

9:00 p.m. Henry’s @ Sacred Sword

10:00 p.m. open

One last note, the KVKL would like to strongly encourage the use of aluminum cans for your liquid consumables.  We have this observation about glass: it’s heavier, bulkier, messier (especially when shattered on concrete), AND inefficiently recycled.  Why do I say these things?  The KVKL is developing a relationship with Cans for Community and our aluminum refuse could go toward a good cause.  Look for CFC bins at Hobbs the first week of the season. 

Thanks all, have fun this weekend.  It’s kickball time!  Deron