Vandelay Industries once again runs the table at the Golden Lunchbox Kickball Tournament to claim their 8th title in franchise history. They defeated another MUSA kickball powerhouse, SuperDudes, 5-0 in the final who were looking for their 6 Lunchbox title. The championship game wasn’t really close, as the ‘Dudes were only able to muster a few scoring opportunities which all feel short. In the end Vandelay just dominated the day scoring 59 total runs and only giving up 5 in 5 total games on the day. That includes a 27-0 pounding of Friends With Benefits and 20-1 thrashing over tournament newcomer Kick Astley. Congrats goes to VI and for all the teams that participated in the first ever double elimination Golden Lunchbox Kickball Tournament.

I want to send out a special thanks to Andy Lunzer from the Twin Cities MUSA kickball league for making the trek down and helping ump all day. I also want to thanks to all the volunteer umps who came through on the day and helped make the tournament run smoother. It wasn’t without it’s bumps, but I think the format worked and overall most teams enjoyed the extra game(s) and spending the day hanging out at the park a little longer, even if the weather was a bit foggy to start the morning.

If you’re interested in checking out the tournament shook out, you can view the completed bracket here.

Can’t wait to do it again next Spring!

A Call to Standard Divisions

Only a couple days away and we will be crowning our latest MUSA Kickball Golden Lunchbox Champion.

Are you on the List?

EOS TEAM LIST – official

Thursday June 12th

Festivities kick off Thursday night with the Golden Lunchbox Tournament Selection Show live from O’Briens Pub across from Wick Field on 50th and Vliet.  Join the fun as teams select their slots on the bracket for the 26th edition of the coveted Golden Lunchbox Tourney. Fill out your bracket for a shot at cold hard cash for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places and hobnob with some of the most prolific freak shows in the league.  Good times, good times.  Balls drop at 8pm!! Get there early for good seats. If no representative from your team can make it, no worries, your team’s fate will be in the hands of someone else who will pick the ping pong ball for you. After the Selection Show the brackets will be complete and you can check them out at the links below.

Looking for help

Per usual, MUSA is looking for those of you that like to ump and want to help out with the tourney for a few games. MUSA will pick up the tab for lunch, plus a pretty good assortment of beverages and snacks during the whole day.  If ya know the rules and love being behind the dish, let me know at dan@musasports.com.  It’s important to note that we can schedule ya around any games you might be participating in, so even if you are playing, we can accommodate your schedule.  Sorry, ya can’t ump your own game! 😉 If you are not playing and still want to help out, all the better. Please contact me.

If your team isn’t playing in the tournament, but still want to play, it’s always a good idea to show up at the Selection Show. Once brackets are announced, teams tend to need players. Always a good mingling scene for free agents looking to hook-up!

Saturday June 14th

Golden Lunchbox Tournament

OK, OK, let’s get to the reason for this long winded post. Teams get to compete for the coveted Golden Lunchbox trophy and have their name engraved and immortalized in MUSA lore. This season we are headed back to McCarty Park (map) and bumping the start time up to 9:30am instead of having the dreaded 8:15 games. We’ll still have 4 brackets divided up among the 3 fields (#1 South, #2 West, #3 East, and the Nomads) Nomads bracket is sharing field space with others and you can see the bracket link for the schedule.

It’s a county park and all teams are encouraged to bring their own food & beverages for a tailgate/picnic. Win or lose we want you to hangout awhile and enjoy a day of kickball. Don’t forget sunscreen!

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me. dan@musasports.com

In-Bounds Open Co-ed Arena Kickball Tournament

Sure the weather is getting a little better, but you never really know what it’s going to be like day-to-day, so we’ve decided to play with our balls indoors for a day in May. We’ve teamed up with In-Bounds Training Center in Glendale and they asked us to break-in their newly opened sports facility before our Arena Kickball leagues get started this Fall/Winter.

Check out the details below.

• Saturday May 17th
• 9am – 5pm
• Double elimination style tournament
• Co-ed (at least 4 of each gender)
• 10 field players
• 8 teams maximum
• Food & Beer

Plus, each tournament participant will receive a free event t-shirt thanks to our event sponsor NEWD Clothing Company.

Come join us in a day of indoor kickball fun rain or shine.

In-Bounds can be found at 2920 West Vera Avenue in Glendale or checkout their website www.inboundstrainingcenter.com

Countdown to spring kickball – 34 days!

Kickball Captain Appreciation Week

This week we want to remind everyone that captains deserve a high five for all they do for their teams. Registration, line-ups, sponsorships and more. Captains are a special bunch and we want to share our appreciation for them by offering an enrollment bonus to them. All captains who register a team before March 1 will receive a MUSA logo drawstring bag.

Take the ball and run with it. Get your kickball team recruited and signed up to join the fun on and off the field. The March 10 deadline is approaching! Don’t hesitate. Don’t procrastinate. Sleep better at night knowing your team is registered for the Spring 2014 season and get a little something in return.

Free Agents – Don’t sit out another season wondering what it’s like to play MUSA kickball. Sign up here NOW to be recruited by captains looking for players.

Players – Have you heard from your captain about the new season? Let them know you are looking forward to it!

MUSA United Club

If we can’t have leagues for every sport, we’d like a MUSA United team participating in them if possible. Play more with MUSA and join our MUSA United Club Sports. Currently, we have MUSA teams participating in futsal and skeeball but looking to expand the MUSA brand to other sports/events. Cost is just the what the league charges and MUSA will provide the MUSA gear. Check out the possibilities/ideas below and if you have any others, please contact me to get the discussion going.

Futsal
The next futsal season starts Monday nights, March 24 – May 19 at In-Bounds Training Center in Glendale. Price is $50/player and MUSA will provide the jersey. I’m looking to have an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ team. Registration is currently open so if you want to play please contact me or if you have questions please ask.

Ultimate
Anyone play in a league already? Let’s put a MUSA United Ultimate team together. Contact me if interested.

Soccer
We’ve actually had a MUSA United soccer team for years that is run by Sean Shannon. Well, he’s stepping down after this year’s outdoor season, but I’d like to carry on the tradition. Teams will be forming soon so stay tuned for more details.

Just some of the ideas and I’m sure there’s plenty more.

See you on the playground soon and get those teams registered.

Super, Dude! Team Claims #4 with Walk-Off

Fall 2013 Champions – SuperDudes

Congratulations to the SuperDudes for winning the Fall 2013 Golden Lunchbox 3-2 over RBV in dramatic fashion on Saturday November 2nd and claiming their 4th Lunchbox. It wasn’t without drama. The SuperDudes vs RBV rivalry is well noted as with the 2013 Spring semi-Final game that went 16 innings and now inducted into the MUSA Hall of Fame. We got much of the same with the 2013 Fall final game.

2013 Fall Runner-Up – RBV

Before we get to that, each team had a path to the championship and in that wake lay many teams. RBV matched up with #2 ranked Minnesota team, HLShhh… for it’s first game of the day and was up for the challenge beating them 6-4. The road didn’t get any easier for, as they now faced tournament favorite Vandelay Treatment. Solid defense and some very close calls saw RBV edging Vandelay 1-0 in 13 innings. A little more offense came into play when they defeated Overnite Celebrities 7-3 in their Elite 8 match-up and Prestige Worldwide was next up for the red & yellow. They wouldn’t put a friendly wager on the game, but they still defeated PWW 2-1 for their place in the Golden Lunchbox Championship.

Lord Kickball with the walk-off

SuperDudes wasted no time in taking care of Tuesday veteran team Mr. Roger’s Neighborhoodlums 7-0 in their first game of the morning. Things bogged down a bit in the Sweet 16 when they met Thursday night rival Bear Balls. They were able to hang on to a 2-1 victory setting their sights on last Fall’s Golden Lunchbox Champion Blue Balls. A close game indeed, but SuperDudes proved it was their day and retired Blue Balls 3-2 leading them into the Final Four where they faced Cinderella team from Minnesota Quiss Quoss. [insert comment about the shoe not fitting and something about a pumpkin] I’m guessing you got the point, SuperDudes won 13-2 and Quiss Quoss comes out chanting “Final Four!”. You see, there ARE moral victories.

The rematch of the Hall of Fame Spring 2013 Semi-Final game… SuperDudes vs. RBV part deux.

SuperDudes took the lead 2-0 and looked like business was taken care of for most of the game. RBV threatened and finally broke free scoring a much needed run and making it 2-1 late in the game. Then in the 9th inning, RBV tied the game with a sacrifice fly and sending this game into extras. Neither team had problems getting base runners on, but both had troubles scoring and coupled with some great defensive plays, on we went into the 13th inning with both teams fielding 6 players. RBV was unable to plate a run in the top of the inning and a bomb to right field from veteran player and Hall of Famer Jeff Schmidt was able to score fellow Hall of Famer Anthony Rodriguez and claim the SuperDudes 4th Lunchbox in walk-off style. A great game to watch and congratulations to both teams for a great tournament run.

Now, let’s head to the Bash…

Hall of Fame Class of 2013

As is the tradition since 2004 at the Fall EOS Bash, MUSA likes to recognize certain parts of the organization that help make MUSA the great and one of kind organization it is today by selecting them to be part of the MUSA Hall of Fame. This year’s class is a little big because I wanted to induct the teams that have been playing in our organization for 10 plus years and there are several of them. Listed below are the team names and the season they began playing MUSA kickball. Thanks for your participation all these seasons!

Absolut Jell-O – Spring 2003

The Flabongos – Spring 2003

Flying Hellfish – Spring 2003

Kick Me in the Junk – Spring 2002

Picked Last in Gym Class – Spring 2002

Kickin’ Mules – Spring 2002

Gimme Your Lunch Money – Fall 2001

BKF (But Kickin’ Fools) – Fall 2000

The teams were not the only ones to the get the honor of being selected to the MUSA Hall of Fame. We also inducted an individual that defines class, good sportsmanship, and has a willingness to help the organization out with field monitoring and umping EOS games. Not to mention he’s been playing in our league for a long time.

Chris McArdle

As I mentioned earlier in this post, there are games that no matter what the outcome, no matter what happened, players and spectators will remember watching and walk away with a reaction. This couldn’t be anymore the case with the 2013 Spring Semi-Final game between SuperDudes vs. RBV at McCarty Park. Filled with drama, this game could’ve easily gone either way and no doubt some of the best plays I’ve seen. Because of our rule of taking players off in extra innings for EOS games, this game was down to a 3 on 3 and ended in 16 innings with the SuperDudes squeaking out a 3-2 victory.

Spring 2013 Semi-Final (SuperDudes vs. RBV)

We don’t induct many items into the MUSA Hall of Fame, but when we do, they must have a substantial effect on the league and if you look at our present inductees there’s no arguing any of them don’t belong. Same goes with the MUSA Message Board. Known for it’s legendary personalities, this board was responsible for bringing down productivity in the metro-Milwaukee area when kickball season was in session. You could go there to see/post the latest smack talk, get the latest point spreads, see if your team cracked the top 25 or maybe just to get the latest weather updates on field conditions. Regardless of your reasoning, the MUSA Message Board was a vital part of the MUSA culture and will always be remembered.

MUSA Message Board

If you weren’t able to attend or want to check out some of the pictures taken during the ceremonies feel free to to the gallery here. Thanks to all the teams and umpires for another great season and I look forward to another come Spring. Have a great off-season and enjoy the Holidays!

Alright standard level team captains, it’s time to prepare your team for yet another exciting End-O-Season (EOS) Weekend. The culmination of all the hard work your team put in over the Fall season if finally here. The Golden Lunchbox Tournament is open to all standard level teams but the after-party is for any and everyone. Let’s get the details started…

First you want to contact Coach Dan and let him know if you plan on playing in the tournament or not. The link below is to the updated list of teams that have accepted and declined their bids. If your team is not listed at the link below it means you play in a Recess division and are not eligible or your captain has declined the bid. Green means your team has accepted  and plan on playing and if no color, it means I have yet to hear from your captain. If I don’t hear from your team by the deadline of Tuesday October 29th 5:00pm you will be taken off the list and I’ll assume your team is not playing.

All Standard Level Teams Are Eligible

– EOS Team List – (official)

Wednesday October 30th

Festivities kick off this season on Wednesday night with the Golden Lunchbox Tournament Selection Show live from O’Briens Pub across from Wick Field on 50th and Vliet.  We didn’t feel like competing with Halloween so slight change to Wednesday. Join the fun as teams select their slots on the bracket for the 27th edition of the coveted Golden Lunchbox Tourney. Fill out your bracket for a shot at cold hard cash for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places and hobnob with some of the most prolific freak shows in the league.  Good times.  Balls drop at 8pm!! Get there early for good seats. If no representative from your team can make it, no worries, your team’s fate will be in the hands of someone else who will pick the ping pong ball for you. After the Selection Show the brackets will be complete and you can check them out at the link below.

– Golden Lunchbox Bracket –

– Printable version –

Looking for help

Per usual, MUSA is looking for those of you that like to ump and want to help out with the tourney for a few games. MUSA will pick up the tab for lunch, plus a pretty good assortment of beverages and snacks during the whole day.  If ya know the rules and love being behind the dish, let me know at dan@musasports.com.  It’s important to note that we can schedule ya around any games you might be participating in, so even if you are playing, we can accommodate your schedule.  Sorry, ya cant ump your own game! 😉 If you are not playing and still want to help out, all the better. Please contact me.

If your team isn’t playing in the tournament, but you still want to play, it’s always a good idea to show up at the Selection Show. Once brackets are announced, teams tend to need players. Always a good mingling scene for free agents looking to hook-up!

Saturday November 2nd

Golden Lunchbox Tournament

OK, OK, let’s get to the reason for this long winded post. Any and all Standard level teams are going to compete for the coveted Golden Lunchbox trophy and try to have their name engraved and immortalized in MUSA lore. Single elimination tournament to see who is champion of the playground to be held at Wick Field on #2, #3, #4 & #5. We’ll figure out start times once we have a final team count of who’s in and who’s out.

New this year is the addition of the “event t-shirt”. I’m designing a MUSA Kickball t-shirt that will be on sale for pre-order and will be ready for pick up at the tournament info booth. On the back it will include all of the teams that are participating in the Fall 2013 Golden Lunchbox Tournament and the front will be similar to the MLB Postseason t-shirts the players were wearing in the dugouts in the playoffs this year. More info coming soon about the shirts.

EOS Bash & Award Ceremony

Return to Glory! We’re headed back to the party room at  the “old Long Wong’s” for this season’s Bash… it’s now called J&B Blue Ribbon Bar & Grill (5230 W Bluemound Rd) but not a ton has changed so it’ll be like we never left. It doesn’t end with the tournament this season and this is where we have the fun and celebrate another awesome kickball year. Although some have been known to go home and “accidentally” fall asleep, we like to keep the fun going with the EOS Bash. This party is for EVERYONE, so regardless if you played on a Recess team or not, we want to see you!

As always, DJ Fred X will be spinning the ol’ records for us and is sure to keep you folks dancin’. I’ll be interrupting the action to hand out some awards, we’ll do the Silver Thermos and Golden Lunchbox presentation and hopefully not take too much time so we can let you get back to your celebrating.

Oh, and did I mention the best part? There will be FREE BEER, soda and food (until it runs out and sorry mixed drinks are on you). I’ve reserved a few barrels, so now there’s no reason for you not to come and party with us. The party will start shortly after the last out of the tournament so plan on a 7pm start time.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me. dan@musasports.com