Welcome to the tournament, KVKL’ers!  Whether you won or lost this week, you have to admit that there is excitement in the air.  Thought I would change it up for the last couple of posts.  Not that there weren’t short shorts and cute dogs galore, but I wanted to hop up on my soap box for a quick second, so bear with me.

I have been a part of KVKL for 5 years.  For the most part its been good times, getting involved in our community and meeting some amazing people.  However, one thing that still sticks in my craw is the inability for some people to just quit their griping and play the game.  I understand there is competition involved and everyone wants to win, but that’s the thing– EVERYONE would like to pull out the W every game.  Some teams just care more than others, but no one shows up to a game thinking, ‘hey, wouldn’t it be great to just throw this game.’  

But can’t we keep that in mind?  Or how the refs are volunteers?  And no matter how bad their call was, they are still giving up their free time to stand on the field for someone else’s game.  The refs should in turn be making the best calls they can, regardless of personal bias and without letting their consumption interfere with their ability to see only one ball being kicked.  Since when is berating a player a satisfactory response for a call that didn’t go your way?  They didn’t make the call, duh!  No amount of yelling at the other is going to change the fact that the call was made.  A disputed call is not an invitation for a group conference meeting, so let the captains handle it.  Its not a democracy and you don’t get to cast your vote.

Can’t we all just take a little responsibility for our words and actions?  You know how to really apologize for being a douche, don’t act like a douche any more.  Plain and simple.  There is no “getting back” at someone.  Put on your grown up pants and act like an adult.  There is no cause to make a conscience effort to act a fool.  If we were in elementary school, there’d be a lot of people sitting on the wall for recess instead of getting to play.

I am in no way disputing the desire to win or degrading the competitive spirit.  I want to win every game I play too, but at the end of the day all I can worry about is how I play and how I can support my team.  Passion for this sport is what drives us to give up 12 Sundays each summer.  Its what keeps us around in 100 degree heat before and after our games to scope out other teams and support our friends.  It drives us to play our hardest, diving for balls and sliding on dirt.  We come back every year hoping that our best is better than someone else’s.  We are adults playing a school yard game.  With the gift of age comes wisdom.  That’s what separates us from the kids… our age. And the added benefits of performance enhancing beverages.

Let’s play ball!!