If you read my last blog post, then you know I was headed to Las Vegas for the World Adult Kickball Association Founder's Cup and Kickball Games tournaments. My team, Team Zissou, participated in the Kickball Games. The Kickball Games were created this year in order to allow anyone to be a part of the festivities in Vegas. Previously there was only the Founder's Cup, which required a team to qualify in their division to be invited to play. Team Zissou did in fact qualify for this year's Founder's Cup, but we agreed it made more sense to be a part of the Kickball Games.
So everyone headed out to Vegas at different times using different methods throughout Thursday and Friday. I arrived on Thursday by plane. For the first night, I was still using one crutch to get around. I quickly learned this is not an idea way to get around Vegas. I met up with various friends and my brother on the strip, hanging out at a club for most of the night. On Friday we for the most part took it easy. We grabbed lunch and sat by the pool, in bathing suits and red beanies, until it was time for the red carpet party. This is the welcome party for all of the kickball teams. Team Zissou arrived in style, wearing formal attire and red beanies. We managed to stick out quite a bit, and many people came up to asking wanting to meet us. We posed in our normal pyramid, and two of our crazed members jumped into the pool in full attire. We also gave out many of our custom-made giveaways, like stickers and buttons.
When we arrived at the field, we started our normal warm ups, which include dancing on the sidelines. Game 1 started at 12:00pm against Big Kahuna from Long Beach, CA. We went down early in the first inning, but came back to win. Our second game started at 2:30 against Your Mom from Hollywood, CA. We rode over to the fields on the same bus as Your Mom, and at least one of them was a lot of fun. On the field however, they proceeded to dominate the game. It was never even close. I was stuck on the sidelines watching cause of my injury, and many Zissou members just seemed tired. It had already been a long couple days, and already being in the hot Nevada sun for a couple hours didn't help.
After getting through beatdown from Your Mom, we headed over to some other fields for our second half of games. The next team to play, All Your Base Are Belong To Us from Las Vegas, NV, didn't have any girls. They told us the girls decided not to come, and I thought at the time that they just didn't travel out to Vegas. I didn't realize until right now that they were from there. Lame excuses. Anyway, we donated a couple girls from other Albuquerque teams to play with them so we could have a game, but the game was recorded as a forfeit in our favor. We figured we could at least have a fun time in a game that didn't matter, but the other team was very aggrevated throughout the game. They were extremely argumentative and testy on close calls in a game that didn't matter. It really rubbed us the wrong way. Fortunately the most fun game of the day was still to come.
Following the pointless game, we watched and waited as our next opponent was playing on a nearby field. The team was Pink Tacos from Huntington Beach, CA. They had left a custom made mini taco truck next to our field while they were playing their other game. Some of the members of Zissou decided to "borrow" it. They started wheeling it around the fields, and after a few minutes, were spotted by the Pink Tacos. A few of their members ran away from their game and chased their "borrowed" taco truck. They were able to scare Zissou away for a little while, but that didn't stop them. We decided to help them by carrying their taco truck over to the field we'd be playing them on next. They didn't realize that was going on and chased the "borrowed" truck again. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits by gametime. The game against the Pink Tacos was close for a few innings, then we kicked for 8 runs in one inning, which pretty much sealed the game. The game did include many attempts by the Pink Tacos at stealing Zissou's inflatable dolphin. The pitcher of the Pink Tacos also put on the Zissou muumuu, which he wore pantsless. Following the game the two teams exchanged giveaways and laughs.
When the final game for Zissou ended, we headed over to the main field where the final game of the Founder's Cup tournament was about to take place. There was a giant slip n slide that had been crafted down a hill. After most of the team tested their mettle on the steap slip n slide, we made our way over to the main field for awards presentations. We felt confident that we would win something. Then the awards starting going by. Best Costumes, Best Performance and Best Giveaways were given out to deserving teams, including Pink Tacos winning Best Giveaways. Then came the one we had the best chance at, the Life of the Party award. The presenter, who is one of the co-founders of WAKA, explained how this team was hands down the most exciting team throughout the weekend to be around. Then they said it, "Team Zissou!" We rushed the field, accepting our award and making a very fast pyramid for the pictures. It was Team Zissou's shining moment at the tournament that day. We were recognized as being the life of the party at the biggest party of the year. Every member of Team Zissou was well deserving and truly earned it. We look forward to defending that title next year!
Afterwards there were two after parties, one at Diablo's and the other at LAVO. I went to LAVO first and did not enjoy it. Then I headed to Diablo's and had a great time for the next couple of hours.
On Sunday we all pretty much did nothing, trying to have one relaxing day before getting back into our normal lives. There was a poolside flip cup tournament in which Team Zissou finished runner-up in. Some of us also had a good dinner at the Flamingo buffet. Then most of us that were left finished the night by listening to Oprah narrate the series
I drove back on Monday.