That Was The Round That Was Round 2 DCKickball Capital Conference  August 4, 2006 If this column sucks ... it's not my fault. I've melted. Good morning Capital, and WELCOME to the "High Drama (and temperatures) on the Fields of Glory" edition of That Was The Week That was. We played four mind-blowing games in the sizzling summer heat this week, and when the dust settled, we came back with one of the most intriguing Super Saturdays in a long time. THANK YOU to everyone who came out to play, brought extra containers of water and ice, and played four outstanding kickball games. We'll take a look at that in just a sec, but first... IF THIS IS NEWS TO YOU, YOU HAVEN'T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION SATURDAY NIGHT (that's TOMORROW) is the massive Capital End of Season Blowout, HOLLYWOOD NIGHTS at RFD. Come dressed in your red carpet finest, or pick your favorite celebrity and emulate them all night long! Your $5 cover ($20 for guests) gets you exclusive access to: 8:45 red carpet unfurled at private bar entrance (810 7th St. NW - look for signs) 9pm doors open 9-1 two bars serving open bar rail liquor, Miller Lite and Sam Adams DJ and Dancing all night long, 2 bars Large covered courtyard for secret celebrity spotting 11pm awards presentation 1-2:30am happy hour specials RFD is located at 810 Seventh Street NW, near the MCI Center and conveniently located near Gallery Place / Chinatown / Fuddrucker's Metro on the green and yellow lines. Here's the tricky part: we have a PRIVATE ENTRANCE to the party space on 8th street, as this is an OPEN BAR PRIVATE PARTY. Try getting THAT in that other kickball league! Don't miss your chance to see your favorite kickball hotties all cleaned up and looking good. Will you recognize them? Make a game out of it! For more info see the special Hollywood Nights page. TIME IS RUNNING OUT Suffering from the end of summer kickball season blues? Never fear, fall kickball is here! Perfect your skills for next summer. Flirt with that player you forgot to flirt with this season. Most of all, just have some fun and make the summer last a little longer. There is still room for players and teams in the Capital Conference for DC Kickball this fall. Go to dckickball.org to sign up. Hurry up - registration ends soon! Check the website for an upcoming Meat Market Happy Hour! Questions? e-mail Fall President Rebecca Miller (Team Lush) at rebecca@dcpreservation.org Okay, let's get right to the good stuff. ROUND TWO RESULTS: Lunchbox KC 2 YTBD 0 Your Mom's Team 3, Bad News Barristers 2 (6 innings) DC Detention 2, Big Kids 1 Thick Femur 1, Team Lush 0 Which makes THE BRACKET look like this: http://dckickball.org/capital/bracket06.pdf And SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE look like this: SEMIFINALS, 11 AM (2) Lunchbox KC vs. (3) Your Mom's Team (4) Thick Femur vs. (8) DC Detention and the ginormous PEOPLES CUP FINAL, 12:30 PM (or earlier, depending on how quickly the semifinals go) WHO FEELS LIKE BEING A LINE REF? We're looking for a few good folks to line ref the games Saturday. Here's your one last chance to make a difference in the games this week! Please contact Marc England at mrcengland@aol.com to volunteer, and we will thank you profusely with FREE ADMISSION TO THE END OF SEASON PARTY! YES! FREE ADMISSION! YAHOO! GAME OF THE WEEK In a week of high drama, it's hard to pick a single game to be the GOTW, but last night's tilt between YOUR MOM'S TEAM and the BAD NEWS BARRISTERS had no shortage of great plays or bitten fingernails. The plucky Barristers came back late from a 1-0 deficit to tie the game, then took a 2-1 in the top of the sixth inning. Barrister Character! Who knew? YMT, though, kept the pressure on, and scored two in the bottom of the inning, the last on a sacrifice fly, to take a 3-2 win and advance to their first-ever Super Saturday. Congratulations to both teams! TEAM OF THE WEEK Except for a team that used to wear ever-so-attractive beige shirts, it is a tradition in Capital Kickball that the #1 seed never wins the championship. That prophecy was fulfilled when DC DETENTION crushed the hopes and dreams of 26 of my favorite people by beating my beloved Big Kids in a pitched battle Wednesday night. Trailing 1-0 going into the last inning, DCD forced two runs across the plate to take the lead, then held off a furious last-ditch rally by the Kids to advance to their first-ever semifinal appearance. Congratulations to the Orange Crush! Jerks. INTERESTING TIDBIT OF THE WEEK #1 By "interesting," we mean "only to JP," of course, but it's worth mention: Thick Femur's game vs. Team Lush was the Black Death's first game against a veteran kickball team in over a year. INTERESTING TIDBIT OF THE WEEK #2 Okay, yeah, we know it's a different league, but for the first time since 2002, a Thursday team will be playing in the championship. INTERESTING TIDBIT OF THE WEEK #3 Each of the four semifinalists is a renegade defektor from the other league. SOLIDARITY! POWER TO THE PEOPLE! DOSVIDANIA COMRADES! Thick Femur were the longest sufferers, they came into existence in 1998. DCD came into existence in 2003, Your Mom's Team in 2003 (2000 if you REALLY want to stretch back into the roots), and LKC in 2004. WHAT THE HELL KIND OF WORD IS "TIDBIT," ANYWAY? Hey, MY column, MY rules! "MUST BE THE SHIRT" OF THE WEEK We mean it when we tell folks that they need to wear their DCKickball shirts to play in these playoff games. Lunchbox's JACQUES' shirt is packed away in a box right now, apparently. So to make sure he got to play, he and a teammate, upon orders from the conference board, split time wearing a shirt so he could participate in last night's game. The result? He makes two really nice catches and nails a runner trying to score. SHIRT BRING POWER! MUNGO LIKE. DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEFENSE! The oddsmakers expected an explosion of runs this week, especially with Thick Femur and Your Mom's Team riding serious hot streaks going into the playoffs, but heavy underdogs BAD NEWS BARRISTERS and TEAM LUSH acquitted themselves extremely well in gallant playoff defeats. As we've said for years, "defense wins championships." Well done! LOOKING AHEAD TO SATURDAY'S MATCHUPS (4) THICK FEMUR (-1) vs. (8) DC DETENTION Unmentioned in TWTWTW this season is the incredible defensive streak DCD is on. They only allowed eight runs in the regular season, and only three more in two playoff games. Thick Femur, on the other hand, scored a record 69 runs in the regular season. So this is truly the irresistible force vs. the immovable defense this week. Conventional wisdom says that DCD's defense and Femur's offense will cancel each other out, and the key to the contest will really be DCD's kicking vs. Thick Femur's defense. Expect fireworks from these old rivals, whose regular season game was rained out. (2) LUNCHBOX KC vs. (3) YOUR MOM'S TEAM (-2) Lunchbox has been gearing up for this one ever since they took a 7-1 beating in the first meeting between these two teams. YMT's two playoff games were each decided in the last at-kick, and co-cap MARC gets the QUOTE OF THE WEEK from last night, saying "my heart can't take much more of this!" Conventional wisdom says this looks like a close game, and recent history makes that look like that gives YMT the advantage. Expect this weekend's plays of the week to come from this matchup. BIG UPS TO DA MUG This week marked the end of the Ugly Mug portion of our kickball schedule. Many thanks to the staff and management of our sponsor bar, they put up with a lot of nonsense from us, and they love us anyway. Be sure to stop in during the offseason and say hi! CRYSTAL PITCHER UPDATE The votes are streaming in, and it's gonna be close! Don't miss the Crystal Pitcher announcement at the HOLLYWOOD NIGHTS EXTRAVAGANZALICIOUS tomorrow night! Who will win? Who will lose? Who will be jilted as their fiancée runs off to Las Vegas for a firefighters convention? Oh wait, no, that's not us. Wow, way to be topical JP. CLASSIFIED ADS OF THE WEEK CONDO FOR SALE Unique corner patio unit in very secluded area of historic Parkfairfax. Two entrances, extra storage, separate indoor bike storage, beautiful landscaping, lots of swimming pools to chose from. Easy access to 395, Old Town, and Shirlington. Larger unit, with washer/dryer, dehumidifier, and lots of in-unit storage. Most comparable units in area are going for $310,000 and higher - will take $290,000 for this great unit! Contact Beth from Team Lush at bvanemburgh@hotmail.com with questions or interest. NEED A ROOMMATE? Help!!!!!!! I need a place to live by August 15th. Single male, nonsmoker, no pets and a damn good cook, and I need a place to live in the District. If you need a roommate, email me at jeffchapman9@gmail.com. Okay, let's call this a week. Get back to work, SLACKER! See you Saturday and Saturday night! Questions? Comments? Unspeakable outrage? jp@ctam.com or AIM: jaypea99 John "JP" Powers Co-Captain, Big Kids President, Capital Conference DCKickball ***Round 2 This Was, That Is***