I bowed out after I made my first run. I let Danimal sub in for me, and it was a good decision - he kicked ass. I became cheerleader and #1 superfan, (literally) losing my voice in the process. I regained the ability to speak about 10 days later, whispering Kim Carnes style in the meantime.

We drew quite a crowd - had some passersby who became unofficial refs and umps -- making calls for us when we got too emotional to be rational. Also, a couple of "new guys" who happened by during the first game actually joined in on the second one. "Other New guy" (aka "tall grey") was voted the favorite, but only because of his "muddy 'rave' pants".

I think MVPs went to Martin Iles and Heather Grace - devoted couple by day--arch kickball rivals by night?! On opposing teams both times, they were both willing to roll, slide, dive, and bean each other in the chest with the ball -- they sacrificed themselves and their domestic bliss for the greater good and team glory.

• Heather and Martin: "As hard as it is to be an individual, we manage occasionally."

We were too tired, and out of gatorade. So we just high-fived him and spit in his general direction. Spit with love.

As I said, it was all very exciting. I only lost my voice - most everyone else had trouble walking for at least 4 days after the game. A few weeks later, I interviewed the birthday boy:

kp: Heather Grace and Martin Iles have been named the MVPs...how do you feel about that?
cw: Grace and Iles did play fantastic defense, but offensively their kicking games were weak. Iles actually fouled out and Grace kept kicking pop flys directly to "Other New Guy".