As soon as we made the decision to move to NYC, I knew I couldn't leave kickball behind. I knew I couldn't replicate the magic "The Others" had, but it would allow me to meet a few new people and continue to have a night to look forward to. So before we even had a place to stay I signed up for a team in NYC. The first game was our first day in New York, so it was the only game I missed all season. I could just imagine Christie's reaction if I said I was peaking out to play kickball within hours of landing in NY. So I decided not to tempt fate.
The SF league was played in Golden Gate Park. The NYC league is played in Central Park. At first they seam very similar but they couldn't be more different. Golden Gate park 90% of the time is a cold, foggy, windswept area of the city. It didn't matter if you had a t-shirt and shorts on in the Mission, SOMA, or downtown, if you were headed to Golden Gate park you had to bring a jacket. Central Park in the summer is a hot, humid, and calm oasis in the middle of Manhattan. Golden Gate park 90% of the time, you were either offered drugs, smelled something from hippie hill, or walked past a homeless encampment. Golden Gate Park offered a fields full of holes and crab grass. This sounds like I am bagging on Golden Gate Park, but more of a compare contrast. I love Golden Gate park for the memories it has given me from childhood to adult hood. But there's not many times I would go there instead of Crissy Field, Dolores Park, or many of the other better maintained, safer, warmer, and easier to get to parks throughout the city. Manhattan really only has 1 park and it's central park, so the environment is just a lot more inviting. (again only in the summer). Instead of playing on a grass surface life SF, the NYC league plays essentially in an all dirt softball field. Balls bounce truer, but the ground is far less forgiving if you had to dive or fall for any reason.
So the name of my team is "I'm just a bill".
See here for reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ
Looks like I can't get away from teams named from TV references.
It was a pretty good season overall. It reminded me a lot of season 1 of the others. A lot of random groups of people put together playing low scoring games and generating very little offense. I spent the first game playing a little all over the place, but by the 2nd game I got to play my favorite position on the field, pitcher. We spent most of the games for the rest of the season barely having the minimum amount of players and scrapping together. We even had a guest "Other" appearance, as Simon joined for our final 2 games of the year.
The differences don't stop there, as the second part of kickball is the bar afterwards. The first thing is the location. In SF you are used to just leaving the park, and having the bar either right across the street or a few blocks away. In NYC, we play around 60th but have to make it up to 84th! And we usually walk! And it's a smaller league, so there are only 8 teams and because of the trek there really isn't a huge turnout, only around 4 teams show up.
And even though you think flip-cup is universal, no one plays team vs team. Anyone can play on any team. It is really though for competitive people like me, but it is much more communal. The other thing is no one "drop" the cup, its the cheers - pound - cheers.
So overall, a very successful season, we got to the final four and lost to the eventual champions in the pouring rain. And I met some really fun, great people which is really one of the biggest reasons I wanted to play in the first place.
Raman is the Karl Malone of kickball
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