The Regular Season pennant is decided next Monday

We've won three games since the last time I've posted. We've played better each week, which makes me hope that we're peaking at the right time. The caveat here is that the games have been against teams that have ranged from average to not very good at all. Yesterday we beat Blackbeard's Ball Buster's 10-1, which looks great on paper. Then when you realize that they are 0-7, it's really basically what we're supposed to do.

I'd like to point out one particularly inspired bit of shenaniganary from last week. Michael built a giant box of chalk, like you would use to chalk up a pool cue. It was about knee high, a square box with blue "chalk" insde. The chalk was made of gardening foam (like you put fake flowers in), spray painted blue and with a circular divit in the middle. Michael and I pounded some blue playground chalk for extra effect. When Michael was up the first time, he deliberately fouled off the first pitch. He then loudly complained that the ball slipped off his foot, and he needed his chalk. So I got it from the dugout, brought it out, and proceeded to chalk up his foot. With blue chalk now covering his shoe, he then went out and...well, popped up. But still, it was a good visual.

So, we're one win away from winning the regular season title. Which is where we were last season when we pulled our choke job against the Valley Girls. This season our opponent is Uno Mas, in a rematch of last season's Division tournament title game. The winner almost certainly will be the regular season champs. This isn't life or death, because we like Uno Mas and wouldn't be upset with seeing them win. Plus, we've weren't regular season champs the last two seasons, but got it done in the playoffs. Still, it would be nice to add another notch to our belts.

New video (not a press conference, but still)...

So, we're still working on the press conference from the week before! We thought we had everything done on Sunday, but due to some additional technical issues (and us being perfectionists), we still need some final work on it. And I doubt there will be a press conference on Monday night's Redrum game because...they had to forfeit for the second straight week. We played a pick-up game anyway, even though it didn't count in the standings.

I would say that it's sad to see Redrum have to forfeit two games in a row because they couldn't field four girls, but I think it's their own fault in a lot of ways. They onyl had five female players to begin with, and one of them apparently will be missing for the rest of the season because of work issues. If you leave yourself no margin of error, this is what happens. (And if they forfeit one more time, they are no eligible for the post-season tournament.)

However, we do have new video content for you today! Scott and I (along with cameraman Michael and costume designer Ashley) went down to the Hollywood Division's park last night to disrupt their end of season All-Star game. Since Scott and I have played in Hollywood before we switched to Studio Division, we still know a lot of people there, and this was done in the spirit of friendly shenanigans. (In fact, we're discussing some sort of mini-tournament with the AS teams of the three main SoCal Divisions - Studio, Hollywood and Dogtown).

56 people thought that our "attack" on their game was funny. One person did not. Needless to say, wackiness and near injury ensues!

New video postponed

The creation and post of this week's press conference has been postponed due to AWESOMENESS! Expect the video to be completed and posted later this weekend.

Taiko drummers

So, I've found a taiko drumming group in San Diego for the World Championships. In order to try and booka group of drummers from their club, there's a form you need to fill out with some really specific information. It seems really complex for me just wanting a couple of people to come and beat on some drums for an hour. I'm seriously contemplating whether this is worth all the bullshit, which is saying something since I always think that anything relating to the Ninjas is worth the bullshit, no matter what it is.

But then again, I think our reputation is starting to proceed us, and we need to do something big at the tournament to keep our reputation as "wacky pranksters". Which I think will also help us in the tournament since no one could possibly take us seriously.

Game Three: Ninjas vs. Rhino Stampede

It's eerie how similar this season is to last season. Our pattern last season was:

Game 1: Lose badly to veteran team
Game 2: Play terribly for first three innings against new team, then rally to win late
Game 3: Remember that it's OK to play well for five innings, and win easily

The exact same thing is happening this season. On Monday we played the Rhino Stampede, who are now in their second season and are getting better. It should have been a good test for us, since we had several good players missing and we somewhat shorthanded. However, like last season, we seem to have clicked during Week 3. We jumped out to a big lead early and basically cruised from there, winding up with an 8-2 victory (and frankly, we probably could have scored more if we had wanted to - we kind of started getting way too aggressive baserunning to the point of being silly and kicking for HRs instead of playing small ball.)

Honestly, it was the best we've played as a team since maybe the first championship game two seasons ago. Which is not to say that we haven't won by more runs, or beaten better teams. What I mean is that I really can't remember any glaring mental errors that happened during the game. Everyone made really smart, sound decisions and it paid off. I think at this point, if we don't beat ourselves, we should win every game.

Also this week in the Division:

- Redrum had to forfeit against Wonderballz because they didn't have enough females! They only have five girls to start with. One of them (Scott's roommate) was out of town this weekend for work, and another had to miss because of Yom Kippur. The Redrum captain tried to get the game postponed because they were missing a girl because of a religious holiday, but that didn't go anywhere. Basically, if you only have five girls on your team (and they like that so they don't have to "clog their line-up" with girls that they think are "easy outs"), you run the risk of this happening. Plus, only one girl missed because of Yom Kippur.

- And, the Valley Girls were beaten soundly by The Trey Stafford Explosion. This was a huge deal based on past history. If you recall, Trey Stafford was the person who had been heckling one of the Valley Girls' best players (Spitz) by reading aloud Spitz's own poetry that he posts on his MySpace. Perhaps the best and most vicious heckling I've heard in kickball. Needless to say, this has turned into a full-blown rivalry, which hasn't meant much since the Valley Girls have been significantly better than the TSE.

Until this week. Final score was 8-4 and I don't even know if it was that close. This was especially sweet to watch because The Valley Girls, as they are frequently capable of doing, had been getting pretty cocky because they were 2-0, and had beaten us in Week 1. (Pride comes before a fall, except in our case, when pride comes before another championship.) I could have told them that beating us in Week 1 is no great shakes since we always lose.

So, when you play really well and win while your two rivals lose, that's pretty much a perfect night.

Ninjas vs. Wonderballz press conference

In case you missed it, here is the latest press conference, done after last week's 8-5 win over the Wonderballz. I would normally have the YouTube link, but apparently Scott is too good to go ahead and upload the video to YouTube.