That Was The Cup the Was the Peoples Cup DCKickball Capital Conference  August 6, 2006 If this column sucks ... it's not my fault. The Great Offseason Melancholy has kicked in. Good morning Capital, and WELCOME to the "everybody out of the pool" edition of That Was The Week That was. The smashing success known as the 2006 foray into DCKickball has finally come to an end, and Super Saturday lived up to its name, both on the fields and at the Hollywood Nights extravaganza at RFD. THANK YOU ALL for being a part of this season, it was fun, it was crazy, it was hectic, but it was really rewarding. Okay, let's get right to the good stuff. SEMIFINAL RESULTS: Lunchbox KC 3, Your Mom's Team 2 Thick Femur 2, DC Detention 0 FIRST ANNUAL PEOPLES CUP FINAL Thick Femur 3, Lunchbox KC 0 GAME OF THE WEEK A tense 0-0 game under sunsplashed skies looked to be headed into extra innings as the fifth inning came calling in the Peoples Cup final. Amazing defense was played on both sides of the field, and it was becoming clear that the first team to blink in this staredown would eventually be the vanquished. When Femur's first two kickers made outs, it looked a lot more likely that overtime would be needed to settle the score. But suddenly Femur got a runner on. And another. And another. Bases loaded, Two outs, and longtime kickball veteran ZIPPY up to kick. He blasts a shot into right field that ricochets off of the knee of the outfielder. One run scores. Two runs score. Lunchbox scrambles to recover a ball that now is bouncing around in left field. Three runs score, Zippy is standing on second, the dust starts to settle, and the Femur sideline erupts.  A game Lunchbox squad made a fight of it in the bottom of the last, but three outs and zero runs later, the title was sealed, and Thick Femur emerged triumphant. Congratulations to both teams for a stirring contest. KICKBALL CAN BE A CRUEL, CRUEL MISTRESS When you play in a league of 16 teams, and all of them make the playoffs, it stands to reason that 15 teams will end their season with a loss. But there was something especially painful about the way some of the teams went out this year. A stumble on the basepaths ended Here for the Beer's season. A misplayed grounder ended the Big Kids season. An overthrow at home plate ended Your Mom's Team's campaign, and of course, there's the final described above.  Kickball is a game of inches, a game of timing, a game of opportunity. Any given game can slip away in seconds, as this season's playoffs proved. THROWBACK OF THE WEEK After cheering and jumping and screaming and yelling, Thick Femur paid tribute to their rivals in the old league, several of whom jumped to the Black Death this season, by cheering "1, 2, 3, DROPKICK THIS!" DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS Thick Femur's run to the cup was highlighted by three straight shutout wins, by scores of 1-0, 2-0, and 3-0. The oddsmakers have already installed Femur as a 4-run favorite in their season opener in 2007.  RAT-A-TAT BOOM AND ALL THOSE NOISES Thank you to everyone who came out to be a part of the 2006 HOLLYWOOD NIGHTS EXTRAVAGANZA. Big props go to Big Kids HILARY GAZZOLA and LAURA TUROWSKI, who decorated the place and made sure everything went off without a hitch. RFD loves us, they really do, and it's amazing how much more fun the place was once the air conditioning kicked in, eh? CRYSTAL PITCHER UPDATE For those of you who weren't there to hear me slur my way through the awards ceremony, congratulations to DC DETENTION, who won their first-ever Crystal Pitcher Saturday night. It was well deserved this year, there was a distinct tint of orange everywhere you looked on Wednesday nights this season. WEDNESDAY DOMINATION RETURNS Just when we Thursday teams were starting to feel better about ourselves, Wednesday teams took both the cup AND the pitcher this year. Sigh. Looks like there's more work for all of us to do. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Well, kickball doesn't have to end here, you know. You can still sign up to play ball in the fall by going here. Look also for a Year in Review edition of Everybody Scores later this week, to close the door on this amazing kickball season. THANK YOU, ETC. It's amazing, for the first time in a quarter of a year, I don't give a damn what the forecast is for Wednesday and Thursday. This has been an incredible kickball season, one where we took a lot of risks. Frankly, we had no idea how things were gonna work out in the end, but thanks to the deeds and dogged faith of all of you, things worked out so amazingly well. First, give a big thanks to your TEAM CAPTAINS. From established longtime teams who made the jump from the evil empire, to teams who were hastily assembled in the last days of registration, we had a real mixed bag of people playing in this league this year. Without the hard work of the team captains, we never could have pulled this off. So raise a glass to them! They really made things happen. Special thanks need to go to the Best Damn Board of Directors in All of Kickball. The planning for this season started as far back as last August, and the hard work and planning these folks put into making the season happen needs to be recognized. Let's start by recognizing the efforts of Thick Femur's MATT "CARLTON" MARTELLI, who was usually the catalyst for the bigger ideas we had as a division. Either (a) by coming up with grandiose ideas, or (b) vehemently complaining about something that rubbed him the wrong way, Carlton did a lot to steer the decision-makers in this league for the last 12 months. Next, let's shine the light on Your Mom's Team's MARC ENGLAND. Marc joined the board this year and was the man who always remembered to pay attention to the details. He also managed one of the most mercurial groups of kickballers, the umpires, and put together a schedule that kept things running really smoothly all season long. Thick Femur's ERIC LANCASTER was the man who kept things moving, coordinating rules changes and equipment managing, all while preparing for his wedding. His hard work made sure the new league was "all systems go" from day one. The Red Rovers' SCOTT TILLETT was the man who kept the board laughing all season long. He also headed up the communications efforts, writing Everybody Scores every week, and putting up with perpetually-late Power Polls. The board's deepest thinker, many a dispute was settled with his emails of seven paragraphs, with charts and graphs. The board's do-everything, the Big Kids' HILARY GAZZOLA, deserves massive praise for the three incredible parties we threw this year. From scouting venues to arguing for lower cover charges, Hilary is the one to credit for the conference's legendary party reputation. She also was the catalyst for the single most important pieces of paper in the history of adult kickball, the FIELD PERMITS we used to chase softballers away every week. The deeds and dogged faith of these folks made this season happen. When you see them out and about this offseason, buy them all the drinks you can afford. They deserve it. Okay, this has gone on long enough. Get back to work, SLACKER! Have a great offseason, and be ready for to take the Fields of Glory again in about nine months! Questions? Comments? Unspeakable outrage? jp@ctam.com or AIM: jaypea99 John "JP" Powers Co-Captain, Big Kids President, Capital Conference DCKickball ***That's the season!***