For anyone who played kickball last Fall, you know how rough things can get as the sun starts setting earlier and earlier. Games getting moved up to 6:15pm, games being shortened to 3 innings, you get the picture. So this Fall we decided to do something about this.

Starting Week 4, we will be moving to Stead Park (map). Stead Park is located near the corner of 17th and P St, just a couple of blocks away from the Dupont Metro. You can see a map showing the journey from Stead Park to Tom Tom on the Adams Morgan Division website.

Stead Park has alot of things going for it: size, grass and LIGHTS. Fields with lights cost more than fields without lights, but can you really put a price on getting in a full 5-innings of kickball goodness? I think not.

Wednesday Kickballers, as of now, the games are a GO for tonight!

Again, games in progress will be called off in the event of lightning or the fields become unsafe to play on. Games called after 3 innings are considered full games.

Refs and Captains, use good judgment out there. Call the game if it starts pouring. We don’t want anyone to injure their Flip Cup arm!

If it becomes a torrential downpour even BEFORE the first games start, just head straight to Tom Tom’s. We’ll give Mother Nature the finger and hang out at the bar on DC Kickball’s patent pending “Rainy Day Tab.” I made that last bit up, but we’ll do something involving FREE alcohol – yeah! It’ll be a good chance for you to practice those Flip Cup skillz in preparation for the Flip Cup Tournament coming up at the end of September.

See you tonight!

p.s. that “Rainy Day Tab” would be open to Monday kickballers as well. Sweet, huh?

Week 1 – August 23 – 24

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT:

Welcome to the Fall Season of DCKickball’s Capital Division! We have a lot of returning teams and players from the summer league and as an added bonus –Columbia has been merged with Capital. If you are a new player or have just changed over from one of the other leagues, check out this division’s rules. See some of the changes in the rules section below.

We have a new bar this season: McFadden’s so treat your bartenders well. Flip cup is allowed and our specials are $7 pitchers, half price burgers on Wednesdays, and half price apps on Thursdays. Make sure you bring your id- regardless of the fact you have your DCKickball T-shirt they won’t let you in without something that says you are legal.

Thanks again to everyone for coming out to play this fall. Let’s make it a great season!

Rebecca Captain, Bitch Be Cool

SOME OF THE RULES: (THANK YOU MARC)

1. The games must start on time. The 6:30pm can not start any later than 6:40pm and the 7:15pm must start no later than 7:25pm. If the game has started and time is an issue for the 6:30pm game and it is past 7:15, the game has to end at the end of the current inning (if it is not the 5th). Remember, daylight will be an issue very soon! (ignore 6.1 in the rules…it says 15 minutes but the rule for the fall is 10)
2. Flip a coin to see who will be the home team (ignore 6.2 in the rules…the season schedule does not list home or away teams)
3. 3 fouls is an out.
4. The pitcher must be on the pitching strip at all times when pitching…no running up to the strip and then pitching. Also, the pitcher has to be behind the strip until the ball is kicked, if not then the pitch is a ball (this is covered in the rules).
5. The catcher can play past the kicker but not past home plate…the entire rule is listed in the rule book.
6. A team must have 4 girls and 4 guys to be a legal team.
7. Everyone must wear their DC Kickball shirt to play.
8. All teams must provide a line ref before or after the game they play each week. If you do not provide a line ref – one of your wins will become a forfeit.

WEATHER POLICY:

If we need to cancel due to rain, your board of directors will send out an email to the division by 5pm on game days. If you don’t receive an email – come to the fields because the games are a go!

Games in progress will be called off in the event of lighting or the fields become unsafe to play on. Games called after 3 innings are played are considered full games.

VOLUNTEER:

Interested in helping out this fall with squatting, umping, parties or charity? Your board could certainly use your help. Questions or comments on how the division is run? Talk to one of your board members: Rebecca, Marc, Erin, Laura or Christine.

We desperately need volunteers to be head umps – especially for Wednesday nights. The only way to make this season work is if you volunteer an hour out of your evening before or after your game. You’ll receive half ($25) of your registration fee back if you ref 5 games and entrance to the mid and end of season parties for free. It’s easy! Balls, Strikes, Fair, Foul, Safe, Out. You’ll even have line refs to help you.

THIS WEEK’S GAMES:

We play near the intersection of 17th and Constitution Avenue, NW on the Washington Monument side of the street. Two fields will be set up. Take a look around for people you know or call your captain to find out where they are. Since we have to squat for these fields they may or may not be in the exact same spots as the summer.

Wednesday, August 23

6:30 PM Field A Big Blue Mamas on a Plane vs. The Freqs Umps: STober, RR

Field B ABCTE vs. PP&C Umps: YTBD, STaint

7:15 PM Field A Sotally Tober vs. Riffraff “The Sequel”

DCKickball is slowly lurching into the 21st century.

First of all, we’ve created a MySpace account (http://myspace.com/dckickball). So, feel free to check it out. If you have a MySpace account, please send a friend request our way!

Second, DCKickball has forums! That’s right, our own little Craigslist, minus the creepy Missed Connections and EBay spam. Thanks to an army of computer programming monkeys, you can log-in to the forums using your existing DCK login.

Also, should you care to create an avatar to accompany your posts, check out Gravatar. Just make sure the email address your give Gravatar is the same email address you use for DCK.

UPDATE: Oh snap! The latest Forum topics now show up on the front page!

Reffing Clinic

The reffing clinic will be held at 6:30 TOMORROW at the kickball fields. To ensure quality reffing, each team will be asked to supply at least two refs from their roster during the season. Captains, please gather volunteers from your teams.

Besides discussing the rules of the game, Captains are encouraged to attend and discuss any questions they may have about the upcoming season. Division social budget, fundraising opportunities, party planning, etc. Commencing immediately after the clinic will be the….

Pre-Season Party

The inappropriately named “Pre-Season” party will be at 8 pm TOMORROW at Tom Tom’s. Both league nights are invited (duh) to come and mingle with their teammates and with other members of the division who play on their off-night. We’ll have four kegs of FREE beer to quench your Tuesday night thirst! Party starts at 8, but don’t arrive too fashionably late. Those that attended the reffing clinic will have a head start on you.

DCKickball was proud to be part of this great charity event over the weekend which benefited the Limbs for Life Foundation who provide prosthetic limbs for amputees, who could not afford them otherwise. We helped raise over $500, so thanks to everyone who came out!

DCKickball was happy to be part of the Chip Franklin Show this morning on WBAL AM 1090, up in Baltimore. We got to share the microphone with Brannan Ville of KLOB (the Kickball League of Baltimore) and chat up the joys of organized, adult kickball.

SMASHED Presents:

Saturday August 19 The Couch Potato Party

To add yourself to the evite go to: http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/dcsmashed@gmail.com/couchpotato

What’s not to love?

• $10 charitable donation/entrance
• Happy hour specials at 5 neighboring bars
• Silly games with fabulous prizes
• 100s of friendly drunks in 90 degree plus weather
• 1 city block

Plan to attend!

Details: The fun begins at SPAGHETTI GARDEN (2317 18th Street) anytime from 3pm until 6pm. Come there to register, get the list of participating bars & activities, info on how to win the big prizes and more.

If the trip to Spaghetti Garden wears you out, we’ll have some mindless movies for your enjoyment.

From there we’ll be moseying over to On the Rocks, Roxanne, Peyote and finally ending up at Tom Tom. Come be lazy, playing putt-putt, partaking in guitar hero, doing trivia, playing old school games (board and alcohol) and more.

However, there are incentives for appearing at all five bars so don’t get TOO lazy!

From 3pm until 8pm enjoy great drink specials at the all bars:

$2 Shooters $3 Draft beers (excludes Sierra and Guinness) $4 rail drinks and domestic bottled beer $5 bottled foreign beers

Look for food specials at all the bars.

If you are SO lazy that you can’t get to Adams Morgan until later, check in at Tom Tom after 6 to get your drink on.

Remember, your asinine behavior helps raise money for our charities. This time around all profits will benefit the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project

If you’d like to get on our mailing list for future fun events, just send an email to:

mailto:dcsmashed-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

...or visit http://www.smashed.geekpad.com

Questions? Email us at dcsmashed at gmail.com or ckohlmeyer at dcbar.org

Kicking For Kids Who Can’t is an event taking place on the National Mall on THIS SATURDAY, August 19th. On that day, kids and adults of all ages will kick with all of their might to raise money to benefit the Limbs For Life Foundation, a Non-Profit 501©3, which provides prosthetic limbs for everyone who cannot afford them.

More Information

Day 1 of Week 1 of the Fall Season got off to the right start. For the most part, teams showed up on-time, 4 games got played in their entirety, and we absolutely crushed Tom Tom for a few hours following the game.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Fernando, DCKickball salutes you!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_bit_hokie

http://jk.deuley.com/dck/party/index.htm

At the beginning of the season, we told you that “playing kickball is its own reward, and if you’re truly having fun (whether on the field, at the bar, or wherever you end up afterward), you can say with confidence that you have scored!” Well, it looks like EVERYBODY SCORED this season—except for that one guy on the blue team.

Read On!

• Week 1: 8/14, 8/16
• Week 2: 8/21, 8/23
• Week 3: 8/28, 8/30
• Labor Day
• Week 4: 9/11, 9/13
• Mid-Season Party: 9/16
• Week 5: 9/18, 9/20
• Week 6: 9/25, 9/27
• Flip Cup Tournament: 9/30
• Week 7: 10/2, 10/4
• Playoffs: 10/14 (all-day)
• End-of-Season Party: 10/14

The Playoffs will be held down on the Mall. All 4 rounds will be played, with some breaks in between. The End-of-Season Party will be held later that night.

Are you afraid the girl of your dreams may play on Monday nights and you’re scheduled for Wednesdays? Or maybe your new best friend plays on Wednesdays, but you’ll never meet him because you’ve got Mondays? Maybe you have enough girls, and enough friends, and enough friends who are girls. Maybe you think your team is the best at FLIP CUP. Think again….you’ve proven yourself on the nights you play, but have you proven yourselves against the rest? Well fear not. John and the Potomac Pirates invite all of the Wednesday night teams to come out on Mondays for some socializing. And you know what? Matt, Sarah and the rest of Beyond Reproach are returning the favor and inviting all Monday teams to come out for some drinking and flip cup. It’s a standing invitation for the whole season. What could be better? Come out and socialize. You know you want to…

Don’t understand what I’m talking about?

Some people have asked, so I thought I’d explain why we switched to a schedule of Monday teams and Wednesday teams.

It wasn’t arbitrary. It was driven by numerous requests from registering teams to play on a particular night. In the first season of DCK, this was not tolerated, all teams played on different days. But, this was a deal-breaker for some teams, so we softened our stance. As time has gone by, more and more teams haven’t requested a particular day. There are various reasons for this, usually it just helps teams and players plan their week, knowing that they play on a certain day.

So, as you accomodate more and more of these teams, it necessarily pushes other teams into certain “day slots”, whether they like it or not. It’s just the nature of scheduling. Anyway, I hope this isn’t a problem for too many people. I would have communicated it sooner, but it’s not something that you realize until registration is closing and you’re trying to piece together a schedule.

Hello Adams Morgan Kickballers-

Welcome to the 2006 Fall kickball season! My name is Alan Van Grack and I am the President of the Division. I look forward to making this a great experience for everyone involved.

Games begin next week!

This Fall, each team will always play on either a Monday or Wednesday night, for the entire season.

Monday teams are: Axis of Weasel Heebs and Crackers Kick Daddyz Little Lebowski Kickbrawlers Potomac Pirates Big Ballers How’s it Taste Motherf@%er!!

Wednesday teams are: Beyond Reproach Blacktop Legends Seacocks and Snatch Blocks Itchy Crotch Initiative Frank’s Tanks Last Kids Picked Rule 76 Kick Ball is the Reason Mommy Left

The official schedule will be released shortly, but remember next Monday and Wednesday, the 14th and 16th, the season will begin.

Pre-Season Party

The inaptly named “Pre-Season” party will be on Tuesday, August 22nd, at Tom Tom’s. Come on out and mingle with other members of the division that play on your off-night, or just come on out for the free kegs of beer! Tom Tom’s will also be our sponsor bar again this season and will host all post-game events. We’re still working out venues for the mid-season and post-season parties, but will let you know in advance.

Kickball Board Members

We are still looking for people to join the Kickball Board. If you’re interested in volunteering and making the kickball experience more funtastic for everyone, please let me know. Especially important are our social and charity coordinators. If you work for a non-profit or would like to be involved in raising money for one, please be part of the Board.

Rules, Rules, Rules

Who are we kidding? It’s just kickball. However, there are two important rule changes that returning members will need to update themselves on. Basically, 3 fouls are now considered an out, and the catcher no longer needs to be directly behind the kicker. Below is a link to the Kickball rules.

http://dckickball.org/blog/pages/rules

Please familiarize yourself with them as each team will be asked to supply at least two refs from their roster during the season. We will hold an official reffing clinic, Tuesday the 22nd, right before the “Pre-season” party. If you would like to referee the games, please come on out for the clinic.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me at anytime. I look forward for the season to begin!

Thanks,

Alan

Our Champions, Thick Femur:

The Runner-Ups, Lunchbox KC:

All photos from the Championship game.

Video of the pivotal play of the game.

DON’T MISS THE FABULOUS HOLLYWOOD NIGHTS END OF SEASON PARTY TONIGHT!

The 1st Annual Fall Meat Market Happy Hour is happening Wednesday, August 9 at 7pm, so get your tenderizer ready! This party will be an opportunity for all who need players and all who need a team to come together and need each other. Captains who are looking for talent will be visually identifiable in some fun way so that aspiring rookies can plead their case for a spot on the team.

• WHERE: Tom Tom (Adams Morgan)
• WHEN: Wednesday, August 9th @ 7pm
• WHY: Hang out, scout talent, drink FREE Bud Light

If you’re the CAPTAIN WHO NEEDS PLAYERS, this is your opportunity to fill up your roster with new, equally athletic / attractive / bizarre players to match your kickball style!

If you’re a PLAYER WHO NEEDS A TEAM, this is your one and only chance before registration closes to come out, introduce yourself, ingratiate yourself, and get lined up with some of the finest kickball teams in the world.

If you’re a PLAYER WHO’S ALREADY ON A TEAM, enjoy the drink specials, check out the new competition, maybe make a new friend and maybe help your captain get the roster filled up. Or just play flip cup.