What's next? Banning the sun?

Rules - most of us dislike them, but we all have to live by them. Our country is founded on the idea that we all will live and agree to act by shared rules whether they be in the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, or from the local city board. We do the same thing in games, and most people are okay with that as long as the rules remain the same. But something is going on kickball that is not so great.

As WAKA, the Wal-Mart of Kickball (WMoKB) has grown, many of its divisions have take it upon themselves to alter the rules, even though this is forbidden by the WMoKB's rules. It makes it difficult to play and at some point, virtually impossible to compete with the other divisions to claim the "World Kickball Champions" title. Several of the divisions that I play in or have played in have done this. Here are a few of the rules that have been changed:

• No overhand pitching
• Men cannot bunt
• The catcher does not have to stand behind the kicker when the kicker is kicking
• Players do not need their shirts to play
• Changing the amount of time for the "grace period" to show up late
• Allowing extra innings

These are just a few that come to mind. Most of them are decided on by the board of the division (I assume) and then enacted without input from the players. Certainly they are not passed by the WMoKB's employees (and to that end, where the heck are these great WMoKB representatives when they see these arbitrary changes, asleep?). And so after a player signs up to play by certain rules, and the rules are changed it's "too bad for you" time. No reasons given, just "These are the new rules so get used to them" is sent out to the masses by the board.

Most of these, I assume, are done in the name of making the people who whine about men bunting or overhand pitching happy - after all the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Certainly it is done for the people who take kickball too seriously. But it seems like people are getting a little too ridiculous about this.

One of the WMoKB divisions that Sideshow Bob plays in recently was sending out it's newsletter and in the recap (by the way, I can never get enough of the half-page-long, inside-joke-filled BORING game recaps) of one of the games they were writing about a guy who wears baseball batting gloves while fielding. Upon seeing this, the division informed him that they were now banning the wearing of gloves on the field as equipment that gives the player an unfair advantage - IN KICKBALL! What the...? This had to be a joke, but Sideshow showed it to me, it was real.

What's next, banning sunglasses because it's unfair to players without them? What about cleats? Maybe a certain color shirt (like black) should be banned because it's hotter when you wear black or white because the reflective rays burn the iris' of the now de-sunglassed players? I know, let's ban the sun altogether because that gives some players an advantage while hindering others. Maybe if a player's not that good but the ball drops near her we can make that an out for a good try (Don't scoff some little leagues do this)? There's no end to the rules we can come up with!

I think the point is made. In addition what about if these teams do decide to travel to Virginia Beach or San Diego to play in tournaments and then have to play by the real rules? How about this: there are 4 kickball leagues in this area if you don't like the rules in the one you are playing in rather than deciding to change them, play in a different league. And a note to the WMoKB employees, you might want to pay attention to your divisions and actually stop this stupid altering of the rules. Sheesh, at least at Wal-Mart they care about their customers.