Division Break Down- Group A Part 2

Now that we have established Confused Kixx will undoubtedly win Group A, that's not to say there aren't any other high quality teams within the division.



One team that I will be keeping a very close eye on is 1 More Shot. When team Where's My Pitches and team Scared Hitless combined to make the monster Confused Kixx, not all players from each team were included in the end product. Many of these cut players were left without a home, wandering around the kickball world. The saddest part was all of the left over kickballers are excellent players. With the help of Coach Vince Trujillo many of these players found a home on the 1 More Shot squad. Which resulted in 1 More Shot adding some more muscle to their kicking line-up and picking up a very experienced pitcher. Now they are more than just a kickball contender, expect them to finish second in Group A.




Another team expected to do some damage are the Billy Bad Asses. Their claim to fame happened this past Spring Season when they beat the now defunct and crushed Shocker Nation. It was and is the biggest upset in SCK history to date. The Bad Asses are returning a majority of their squad, which is very promising. Last season, they were sanwhiched in a ridiculously good division, which made this really good team look mediocre. Look for them to break out this season and finish 3rd within Group A.







By far my favorite team, the LTA family finally has a realistic chance at being a strong kickball contender. They are the most practiced team within the league and unbelievably it's really starting to pay off. They are figuring out what it takes to win and they are putting it together perfectly. The Acuna Boys have made it their sole responsibility to put Los Totally Awesomes on top. With Coach Gabe "Zelda" Acuna leading the team and Pitcher Chucky "Where's my $200" Acuna laying down some nasty curve balls, it should be a very promising season for LTA. Maybe at the end of this season they can change their team motto from "They can beat us, but they can't BE us" to "You can't beat us or BE us".

Final Prediction for Group A

1. Confused Kixx

2. 1 More Shot

3. Billy Bad Asses

4. Los Totally Awesomes

5. Tu Sabes

6. Multiple Scoregasms

7. After School Specials

Division Break Down - Group A Part 1

After much anticipation, the divisions for the SCK Summer 2010 Season have finally been released. Despite the initial plan of separating teams by skill sets, it was ultimately decided to balance out the divisions and mix up all the teams. However there is always a method to the madness. To separate the teams, power rankings were used from last season; with a mix of logistical necessity for league operations. All three inexperienced rookie teams were divided throughout the three divisions. The end product should hopefully result in a very exciting season.



Now that being said, its time to to break down each division and makes some predictions. First up is Group A, which I feel will be the most interesting division this season. They are headed by pre-season #1 Confused Kixx and the predicted favorite to win the Summer 2010 King of Kickball Title. I often get confused stares and questions marks on why Confused Kixx, and not last season champs the Drunken Monkeyz, are being picked to win it all this season. Well it's simple really, they are the best team.

Confused Kixx is a hybrid of two teams that originated from the Thursday night league. On Thursdays they are known as Dazed & Confused and the other group is "something" kixx. Dazed & Confused are back-to-back champs and are on their way to their 3rd championship as we speak. While Kixx is a hard core, competitive, skilled team that plays to win and they do lots of it. During the off-season, these two teams made the brilliant move of combining forces and assembled an all-star cast of players to participate in a out of state, national kickball tourney. They ended up claiming 4th place among tons of other highly skilled teams. Not only do they have big time experience, but they also practice religiously. They scrimmage multiple times a week, not including league play in two different leagues on two different nights. These cats don't mess around and with that kind of resume how can you honestly expect them not to win it all. Truth be told, if they are unable to win this season King of Kickball title, it would be an epic failure. Truly. Its not about putting "targets on anybody's back", it's the truth and no one can say otherwise. They are the best team.....for now.

to be continued....

Coaching Change

Change is common place for most teams during the off-season. Some teams will lose players, pick up players, change their team name, or a variety of other things. Few teams stay consistently the same, season after season. That being said, I was very surprised to hear about some of the changes coming out of the Balls & Dolls camp.

Apparently the Balls & Dolls have made a coaching switch. Three season veteran, Head Umpire and Coach of the Spring 2010 Season award winner, Oscar Esparza Jr, will no longer be at the helm of the Bs&Ds ship. Instead long time assistant-coach Oswaldo "The Ultimate Warrior" Vielma will now be the new man in-charge. My understanding is this change came out of necessity rather than any sort of team mutiny.

The change comes during a crucial time in the team's history. The Balls & Dolls are the only "marque" team who has yet to make any legitimate run at the SCK King of Kickball title. However I can assure you its not through a lack of effort. This team is constantly practicing and picking up any scrimmage they can scrounge up. They are usually a victim of circumstance. Every time they are about to get over that nagging little hill, they are quickly denied. And it is always at the hands of their nemesis the Shockers. The Shockers have eliminated the Balls & Dolls from post-season play a staggering THREE times. However this could be the season where all that comes to an end. Although Coach Esparza has been the head of this team for a number of season, the new blood of Coach Varo just might be the tiny push the Balls & Dolls need to get over that nagging little hill.

Good Luck Coach and Happy Kicking

Pitching Problems

Any team who wants to make a legitimate run at the King of Kickball title knows they must have good pitching in order to excel. If a team's strategy is to simply serve up pitches to kickers, well they can expect to get absolutely slaughtered week after week. That being said, team Kick N Da Balls can expect a long painful season.

Most recently Kick N Da Balls has been known as a good, solid team. Arguably they could have been considered the best rookie team of the Spring 2010 Season. However that was before the kickball mercenaries of Confused Kixx went out and recruited KNDB's two best players. One of those players just happened to be KNDB's best and only pitcher. Now they are left trying to full a huge void in their team. I had an opportunity to watch them scrimmage against the LTA unicorns. During this game, KNDB went through not ONE,not TWO,but THREE different pitchers. The worst part was each pitcher got progressively worse as the night went on. Coach Tiger Pride of KNDB has repeatedly claimed that his team is in a rebuilding year. However its hard to believe he never considered filling his pitching void for the upcoming Summer Season.

As for their offense, they look promising. They were able to score 4 runs off of pitcher Chucky "I named my dog Blue" Acuna, which is respectable. KNDB has a couple strikers on their team such as Calvin "Dont Touch My Hair" Bell. If utilized correctly they may be able to out score their opponents because they have absolutely no chance at stopping them with their suspect defense.

We will soon see what Kick N Da Balls is really capable of. Good luck and Happy Kicking.

Practice Makes Perfect

Los Totally Awesomes are part of the "Original Six". The "Original Six" are the six teams that played in the very first season of SCK. The league was built on the backs of these six teams and LTA is one of them. They have been with Sun City Kickball since the very beginning and I mean the very beginning, when SCK was nothing more than pick-up games. Their team motto is, "You may beat us, but you can't BE us." Mainly because they could never beat anyone. However that is all about to change.

LTA practices more than any other team, by far. However I think that has more to do with loving them some good ol' kickball than just wanting to desperately win games. I know them very well and they are undoubtedly the closest group as a team you are ever going to find. They are friends before they are competitors and that's some good stuff! That's what kickball is all about. But I wouldn't be doing me due diligence if I didn't give you the entire scouting report for the LTA familia.

Pitching: They have finally found some good solid pitching with Chucky "I love me some headbands" Acuna. Good speed, nice curve, he should do well this coming season.

Offense: It looks like they picked up some more strong legs which is always a good thing. They ended the Spring Season with 29 points scored, which was on average with the rest of the league. Their biggest problem is they have NO bunting game and everyone knows if you want to score, you need to be able to bunt.

Defense: The defense is looking better. They have yet to lose a scrimmage so it seems as though the D is holding their own. Last season they gave up 25 runs in a division with some high scorers so that looks promising.

Prediction: They will best their 4-3 record from last season with ease. A playoff team for sure. However in a league stacked with ridiculously competitive teams, that purposely sandbag their rosters with great talent, it will be tough win it all.

The Pirates! Lost At Sea

As registration winds down, the question that comes up the most is, who is "in" and who is "out". Of last season's 20 teams most are coming back with the exception of a few MIAs. The league villain Shockers and Drunken Monkeyz obviously signed up for another season of kickball blood, guts and glory. With other tenured teams such as the Balls & Dolls, Multiple Scoregasms, and Family Jewelz who are all going into their 4th SCK season. While league favorite Coach Lucas "Like my socks" Quimiro also brought back the Kings of Jimmy O or team I'd Hit It back for their 3rd SCK season. Oh wait, we can't forget my two favorite teams, the Violet Femmes and the Pirates! The Femmes are geared up and ready to go but sadly...the Pirates! will be taking the Summer Season off.

I was absolutely crushed when I received the news and how I received it was more than a little bizarre. A parrot flew through my window, which was not open at the time, and came crashing through the window. The parrot dropped what turned out to be an empty beet bottle onto the floor. The strangest part was the parrot seemed to be rather drunk and struggled to fly back out the window. As the parrot then flew into each wall, it kept squawking and repeating the same thing over and over, "Awk! Get off the roof! Awk! Party over! Awk!". Eventually the parrot made it out the window and flew away....kind of. In the bottle was a letter short note written in black permanent marker, the kind you shouldn't use to draw fake mustaches onto your face with. On the back of an old SCK "Alcohol Policy" hand-out was written the following..

"We nah be goin' t' make it says aye. Start wit' out us."

Just then a tear rolled off my check and onto the crumpled beer stained paper. Captain Cimi and his merry band of drinking buccaneers will be sorely missed this summer season. I'm sure we will see them from time to time in El Paso's random waterin' holes,but it just won't be the same. This be a sad sad day, says aye...

Back to Business!

Well I guess its time to come out of hibernation. The blogspot has been dormant and simply gathering dust for months now. Even the Angry Umpire rolled his stinky sloth-like body out of bed to start writing some brand new postings(http://www.angryumpirescorner.blogspot.com/).

So I guess I better get going too. Considering that there is all sort of new kickball news to get the SCK faithful caught up with.

However before we start, remember folks...its just kickball. Which I know seems odd coming from someone who writes about recreational league kickball as a hobby. The blogspot is designed to add another dimension to the whole Sun City Kickball experience. Something to make the league different from all the other plain old leagues.In essence, it's like having a kickball sports page. It is not meant to be taken seriously or personally. It's all in good fun.

SCK is not just a league and it is more than just another non-profit organization. We are family. I know that sounds incredibly cliche but it is true. Anyone who doubts this can just ask "The Original Six", we might not always see eye-to-eye but at the end of the night we are all SCK. On the field we play to win, but off the field it's all about having some good ol' kickball fun. SO RELAX

Happy Kicking.