2009 Tournament Results

Sunshine, good times, laughs, blond wigs and mudslides. All good words to sum-up this year's tournament.

It was a beautiful 80-degree sunny day for kickball! Awesome - how many of us can say we've gotten a sunburn in mid-September before? How about, how many of us can say they have drank mudslides and beer at 9:00am before?

So how'd we do? Runner-up. Again. One of these years we're gonna have to break the runner-up curse!

Here's some pix - enjoy. Thanks for another great season Johnson's!

Tourney Time!

Who's thinking about the tournament already? Nothing better than an ice cold beer at 9:o0 on a gorgeous Saturday morning!

C'mon - Who's with me?

Say it with me one last time this season...

Who's gonna DOMINATE the tournament!!!!

September 10th Game Summary

One word - DOMINATION. Just kidding. the more appropriate "one word" would be FORFEIT.

The Playground Pirates didn't have enough players, so they threw in the towel from the get-go. So we gave 'em a couple of our weaker players (hee hee) and played for fun. Good thing they forfeited...'cause I think they beat us!

Anyway - we finished the season with only one loss, so that earns us a bye in the first round of the tournament.

Here's some pix from tonight's game...











See you all on the 19th at 9:00am sharp! Remember to bring your game with you!

September 3rd Game Summary

They're back....they're bad...and they're f'n MAD....

The BJs showed no mercy blowing past the Bustin' Ballers 15-4 after 5 innings. That puts us squarely in first place in our division. Here's the most recent standings...

1. The Big Johnsons 6-1-0
2. Das Boot 5-2-0
3. Sanford Wellness 5-2-0
4. Better When Wet 5-2-0
5. Where's My Pitch at 3-3-0
6. Bust'n Ballers 1-5-0
7. Playground Pirates 1-6-0 (not in tournament)
8. Longfellow Leopards 1-6-0 (not in tournament)

Yup - that's us at the top. We like being on top ;-)

This week we play the Playground Pirates again. We beat 'em once...we can beat 'em again! Plus its our last game before the tournament...so its a must-win!

See ya'll at 6:15 on field #2. Say it with me one more time.....1,2,3 -- D-O-M-I-N-A-T-E!!

August 27th Game Summay

Well....I guess the look on Craig's face pretty much says it all.

All good things must come to an end, and it seems the BJs perfect season has done so.

Unfortunately I wasn't at the game, so details are spotty....but apparently we lost by one run in the bottom of the final inning and the score was 13-12 or something like that.

Highlights I know about were that Cap'n Scott had a nice double and threw someone out at home. Awesome! If anyone else has any highlights they'd like to share, feel free!

Well - we've lost before...it's no biggie - we'll pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off and DOMINATE the next game!

Speaking of the next game...it's tomorrow on Field #1 at 6:15. Looks like we're playing the Bustin Ballers. I hope they're ready, 'cause I'm guessing the BJs are gonna be thirsty for the taste of victory....and beer of course!

Here's a couple other pix for your pleasure....see you all tomorrow!

August 20th Game Summary

Can you say....5-0? That's right...the Big Johnson's are still kicking ass, and I for one give a lot of the credit to the new shirts and being our own sponsors this year. Of course having great players helps a lot, too!

Last night we played Das Boot, most likely named after the movie Beerfest, and they were a tough team. One of their guys kicked a home run about every time he kicked. Calling them "stiff competition" might just be an understatement!

Anyway, we got got off to a great start the first 2 innings leading by 7 or 8 runs, but then they rallied back a couple innings later and closed the gap to 4. At that point it was 11-7 I think. The next inning they tied things up, 11-11 so we had to go an extra inning. We scored 4 and quickly shut 'em down after that getting us a 15-11 win. Wheeeew....that was close - probably closer than it sounds!

The night wasn't all smiles, though. Mark dislocated his shoulder while making an incredible dive for a fly ball out in left field. Fortunately we had umps from the Sanford Wellness team who had ice packs on-hand and helped stabilize his shoulder until we could get him to the ER. The report I got this morning is that they were able to get everything back in place and don't believe there is any long-term damage. He'll be wearing a sling for a few days until a follow-up appointment.

If any of you have updates on Mark's condition, please post them as we're all concerned and wish him a speedy, pain-free recovery!

That about wraps it up...next week we play Where's My Pitches At? I'll be out of town, so I've asked Craig to write next week's summary and send it to me. I think he may have been a little drunk when we talked about it, so someone remind him please....

Good luck next week - DOMINATE!

August 13th Game Summary

UNDEFEATED. Yup - you read right The Johnson's stay undefeated for another week.

Better When Wet played a great game and both teams had a good time. Most everyone stayed for Craig's birthday cookout afterwards...in fact several of us where there until 11:00 or so. I wasn't the last one to leave, so who knows when the hardcore folks finally called it quits.

Hmm....sittin' here scratchin' my head trying to remember some more details, but honestly it's been 4 days and the weekend was LONG...if you know what I mean ;-) I'll try to write a better post after we win this week.

Until then, see you all Thursday evening at 6:15 on field 1. Looks like we're playing (beating) Das Boot, and umping the Bustin' Ballers and Sanford at 7:15.

Do or Die Time

Alright Johnson's - it's time to get serious. Here's the current standings...

1. The Big Johnsons 3-0-0
2. Better When Wet 3-0-0
3. Sanford Wellness 2-1-0
4. Das Boot 2-1-0
5. Playground Pirates 1-2-0
6. Bust'n Ballers 0-2-0
7. Where's My Pitch at 0-2-0
8. Longfellow Leopards 0-3-0

It's us or them tonight. Someone goes home with the prize, the other with heartbreak. I don't know about the rest of you...but I want the "W" tonight.

Who's with me? Who's gonna DOMINATE?

August 6th Game Summary

Rain. Yup - lots 'o rain. But kickball is a hardcore sport, so we played anyway. And a few Johnson's mentioned that they actually prefer to be wet. Hmmmm....

Contrary to the last post, we didn't play the Longfellow Leopards...we played a rookie team called Tuck & Roll. "Rookie" is really the key term here....actually "VERY ROOKIE" might be a more accurate description. They started with 8 girls and 2 guys but quickly lost one of the girls to an injury from last week's game...so they were seriously out-manned (literally) and outgunned. I think the score ended-up being 22-0 after 3 innings. They took is pretty well and still had fun, but most all the Johnson's thought it didn't feel like a "real" win. Except for the one who shall remain nameless...and I think one of the umps commented that he would kick a ball at a girl in a wheelchair :-) Merciless I think is the key takeaway message there.

Thanks to Better When Wet (who seemed to actually be better wet) for umping! They're always a lot of fun - even more so when they're wet I think.

Let's home it's not raining next week because we're playing them and they're a good team when they're NOT wet. 7:15, field 1 - see you there. Oh, and it looks like we ump the 6:15 game. I think I heard that was taken care of (Scott & Dylan maybe?), but I can't say for sure. Can anyone clarify?

See you all next week.

July 30th Game Summary

You know, for a few brief moments last night I felt a little worried. A little worried that our team had maybe lost a little of our edge after such an easy win last week. And let's face it, that Sanford Wellness team definitely DOES NOT suck. So here's how it went down....

Sanford pretty much owned us for the first 2 innings. They were kicking to every little gap we gave them and their base running was top-notch. Before we knew it, we were down 7-0. How is that even possible? I detailed scientific post-game study showed that several of our key players weren't drinking beer the 1st and 2nd innings...and we all know that lack of beer has a negative impact on performance.

Fortunately the Big Johnson's got into the groove in the 3rd inning with a 10-run stretch that was kicked off (no pun intended) by an awesome grand slam by yours truly. Yep - my first ever. It only took 5 seasons...and it'll probably be another 5 seasons before I'm able do it again ;-) Seriously though, it was pretty awesome. Don't worry, I won't sprain my elbow patting myself on the back.

So the combination of beer and the 10-run stretch woke us up and we were able to hold on to the "W" 12-10. What a great game...a nail-biter to the end.

Kudos to Eric for several great plays at 2nd and to Rob for a couple amazing catches...and for shedding blood for the team on his first night - dude - you're HARD CORE! Also Craig made some kind of incredible "matrix-like" move to get out of a pickle between 2nd and 3rd base. I didn't think the human body was meant to move that way, it was cool. I tried to get a picture but oddly enough Craig didn't show-up - are you some kind of cross-dimensional super hero or something?

Anyway - it looks like we're playing the Longfellow Leopards next week - 6:15, field 2. And if the schedule is right Better When Wet (Craig & the Media One gang) will be umping...so that should be a good time. Until then...stay sexy Big Johnson's.

July 23rd Game Summary

It was a perfect evening for kickball - sunny skies, pleasant temps and the whole team was pumped about our new Big Johnson's shirts. Even Vicky who didn't have a new shirt was excited - she was wearing a Minnesota Gophers t-shirt that was the same color as the new Big Johnson's shirts, but it, of course, had the Gopher mascot on it. There was some joking around about combining the two and calling ourselves the Big Gopher Johnson's...or something like that. Anyway, it was fun!

The Playground Pirates didn't put up much of a fight. It was their first time playing kickball, so they weren't much of a challenge for our seasoned, well-tuned group. We 10-runned them after 2 or 3 innings...which was about all we got to play because the Pirates were so disorganized that the game started 15 minutes late because they couldn't figure out who was playing what. And don't even get me started on their kicking. What's so hard? Just send someone up to kick! Geez....

Anyway, I don't even know what the score was. We had a lot, they didn't. End of story. Kudos to Craig for at least one grand slam, there may have been a second one...not sure. Sarah and Molly laid down some pretty great bunts and everyone else played well, too. A big welcome back goes to Lori and Vicki...we missed you last year - glad your back. And a warm welcome to Big Johnson's Rookies Dylan and Jessica (it was Jessica, right? Terrible with names...and I wasn't even drinking!).

Thanks to our awesome umps from the old Media One team...I think they're calling themselves "Better When Wet" this year. Those guys are always a lot of fun.

That's the news....I'm outa here. See you all next week - 7:15 on Field #1. We're playing Sanford Wellness...they'll probably be in a little better shape than the Playground Pirates....but seriously...."Sanford Wellness"? What kind of team name is that? They must not have any alcoholics or perverts on their team. We should probably practice a little if we expect to beat them :-)

Laters.

2009 Season Kickoff

Hey Johnson's - Welcome to another great year of kickball!

The season kicks off this Thursday night (July 23rd) at 6:15 at McCart field #2. We'll be sportin' some cool new shirts - I hear they're OU burgundy with the Bi Johnson's graphic from the '06 season shirts. Sounds pretty cool!

I don't know about you all, but I'm pumped to have our team name back the "Big Johnson's." The Billy Frogs thing just didn't seem to fit too well the last couple of years.

I hear the Media One team is back this season....calling themselves "Better When Wet." They've always been a fun team, and I look forward to drinking beer with them after we kick their asses!

There's an updated link added to the right side of the blog to the site that shows our standings...not that we'll need it much as I predict we'll go undefeated this season.

Rest-up this week Johnson's...we've got a big game on Thursday against the Playground Pirates. Let's show 'em who's boss on OUR playground! See you out there!

Oh, BTW - it's Terri's birthday Thursday, so make sure to wish her a Happy Birthday!

Later.

Fun Ski 2009

The BJs got a little pre-season action playing Frozen Leg Kickball at Fun Ski 2009, a charity event held at the local ski area. 5 teams competed and be beat 2 of them...one by a lot of runs! But by the end of the day, everyone (on all the teams) had drank so much no one cared who won or lost!

The weather couldn't have been better - it was almost 50 degrees and sunny. It didn't take long before the snow melted and we were playing mud kickball instead of snow kickball!

Thanks to everyone that played! See you this summer!