Another week of kickball is in the books. Although it’s still tough to judge how all the teams are shaking out so far, the division standing are clearing up a bit. We currently have eleven undefeated teams, ten teams at .500, and eleven teams that are still hungry for their first taste of victory in the 2012 season. One team that certainly stands out to me without a win is the Rockets. They’ve played two tough games right out of the gate in the Shadowboxers and Love Garden. They will definitely find success in the weeks to come; they will be tougher and they will likely gain from the experience of playing stiff competition in the first two weeks. Aside from that there are certainly a lot good 1-1 teams out there and the divisions should continue to shape up over the next few weeks.
I hope I’m not a bad game charm, but nearly every game I attended was essentially a blowout by mid-game with the exception of Channel 6 vs. Dirty Mike. I missed the flood gates opening up on Dirty Mike in the 1st inning, when they allowed 5 runs to Channel 6, but what I did see was back and forth action with numerous good defensive plays by both teams. Dirty Mike fought back but fell short in the end and lost 13-9. Other than that the only other game at Holcom with a score differential less than 13 was the Slowride vs. Asteroid Head game, seriously (of the other five games out at Holcom the aggregate scores of the winners vs. the losers was 130-21). I originally thought this game was at 5:30 and was hoping to get in a little scouting – and by scouting I mean sipping some “grape drink” out of my Solo cup that definitely didn’t have beer in it – but unfortunately we played at the same time. I haven’t heard much about the game. On paper it looks to have been a good battle. Liberty Hall eked out a close win against Gang Green minus their captain Mick Cottin as he and, now wife, Robyn were celebrating a weekend tying the knot before slipping off for their honeymoon. Congrats to you both!!! Remember last year when they got engaged during their GOTW? Good stuff and small piece of KVKL history. Out at Broken Arrow the Chalmersiz came out victorious against Party in another low scoring affair, which is just their style, winning 7-3. Los Matadores took down Sacred Sword as well. They definitely seem to be ahead of schedule with their progress. They have another big challenge next week in Wildman Attack Force as they fight through their front heavy schedule. After that it was over to the Game of the Week where the Free State Growlers made sure the Bald Beavers left the field with a well manicured Brazilian in another drubbing that ended 31-5.
This takes me to my next point: Scoreboard. It would probably be a little easier to know what the hell is going on during the Game of the Week if I wasn’t busy chatting away, and drinking, and sweating, and participating in every other distraction that is the GOTW. I fully acknowledge that these are all faults of my own. However, these things are not likely to change anytime soon. In the mean time I think we still need to address the issue of finding a good way to keep the crowd up to speed on the score. For the majority of the games played spectators don’t necessarily care about the outcome of the game. It’s not as if it’s the Jayhawks vs. the away team. Because of this fact I think the crowd generally pulls for the underdog or the team who is trying to make a comeback in the later innings of the game. I think it’s difficult to keep interest in the game when I don’t know what the hell is going on; inning, score, outs, etc. Last year I offered the idea of everyone pitching in a couple dollars and we can buy an electronic scoreboard to hang on the backstop. I think it could easily be hung each week and taken down after the game. I can’t remember what the city said, but I think they didn’t want a sign left on the backstop. Is that right? Maybe someone who knows the exact answer can help explain. If not an electronic sign I think we should come up with alternative solutions and ideas that we can explore to help with this issue. I’m not sure if this will fly either, but what about people sitting in deep center field and using big poster board signs with the score, similar to a baseball scoreboard. I’d be willing to sit out there with a cooler, my feet in the grass, and watch from the opposite side of things. Or we could assign teams to do this weekly? Somehow, we need the score!