ESPN's GoKickball Gameday

Reece - Good morning kickball fans. The sun has yet to rise but the fans are out in force behind us. Glad to have you with us for this, the season debut of our brand new GoKickball Gameday coming to you from Tampa, FL. Alongside Dick Vitale, Digger Phelps and Jay Bilas; I'm Reece Davis. I'm proud to say that I'm recovered from Gasparilla and the 3 months of therapy in the offseason.

Announcer - Welcome to GoKickball Gameday, pouring drinks by Yard Of Ale

Digger - This is kickball. Get focused and fired up. We're back!

Vitale - Each week I'll talk about the sport I love, Kickball. It always presents excitement and many storylines, baby!

Bilas - There is so much positive energy as this brand new season begins today in a new league. The players and fans are all showing enthusiasm and jumping with joy as we countdown to chug-off.

Reece - Much more coming up after the break on this great day of kickball, including our selections.

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Reece - Welcome back fans. Two perennial top teams begin the season with a relative easy matchup. Will either of The Alcoballics or Superbad be upset tonight?

Bilas - Superbad is loaded and will dominate against a newly formed weak Drunk Again team.

Vitale - Alcoballics vs. Bunt Chasers is like comparing Whitney Houston to Christina Aguilera singing the National Anthem, a no contest. A mismatch Baby! I really think The Alcoballics are on a mission this year. They had a great run in the tournament last season. The key to their team this year is how quickly their new members can mature and fill some key veteran departures. They still have enough talent to beat the Bunt Chasers on the field and at the flip cup table.

Reece - Now for Thursday's Selections. First up on the slate is the defending tournament champion, Growlers vs. The Beer Nuts.

Bilas - I like the Growlers in this game with the versatility of their players. Their offense is stellar and they have an improved defense. I think they will respond well to playing with a big bulls-eye on their back as defending champions.

Digger - Stellar Defense? Not tonight Jay. I like The Beer Nuts in an upset. They can smell it, and they'll come in with that mentality.

Vitale - On the other side of that Digger, the Growlers are a multi dimensional team. From top to bottom they are sensational. They have the depth factor and I give them the edge tonight.

Reece - How about Homebase Heroes' vs. Off Constantly?

Digger - Both teams have the depth to really compete again and veterans coming back. Off Constantly had a down season, despite being near the top in runs while Homebase Hero's finished 2nd in the regular season. The Key for me was the pitching of Marvin for the Homebase Hero's last season. It's going to be hard to replace his experience early in the season, plus they had some defense lapses in the tournament. I think that potent Off Constantly attack reappears tonight. Off Constantly win.

Vitale - There could not be two more evenly matched teams in all of America then these two. Well you know when I look at this matchup the key word is Tempo. When you talk about Off Constantly, they want to play that up-tempo game, get lots of runs on the board and score, score, score. The Homebase Hero's defensive system is fully capable of shutting Off Constantly down. I think they are able to corral the OC attach tonight. This game will be Awesome with a capital A Baby!

Bilas - Both of these teams are loaded and play good kickball. I got Off Constantly tonight as they have that offensive edge & kick really well. They will make a statement to the league tonight that the Off Constantly Offensive Attack is still very dangerous and will not falter like last year.

Reece - And finally our game of week featuring Shockers vs. Ligers. It's that time you have been waiting for, whose team will Digger match his tie and highlighter too and what team will Dick Vitale be hanging out with. What an early matchup is in store for you tonight.

Bilas - It's a really difficult and balanced matchup. The Ligers have a talented team, but they are still in the process of learning how to win big games consistently. The Shockers are also a talented team who can get after you on the defensive side. Both teams are missing their starting pitchers from a year ago tonight. I have a feeling The Ligers are going to have a great game tonight, get the W and will be a major player this year. Look for the Ligers to make the final four, finally. My contract with ESPN states I have to make this disclaimer - That statement has nothing to do with the fact I wore blue in my playing days under Coach K down at Duke.

Digger - I agree with Jay that both teams are talented and this will be a tough matchup. However The Shockers get it done tonight and they also make a statement to the rest of the conference that despite missing several players to injuries, and work this season they will still be a factor. Never the less, I think they are going to beat up Ligers in runs and shut them down defensively.

Vitale - Both teams were near identical in the standings, stats and early tournament exits last season. I'm going with The Ligers because of two X-Factors. The first is the noise; those Ligersticks can be somewhat intimidating. The second is while both teams have several new players, it's the Shockers who have more talent to replace due to injuries. Even though the Shockers have 2 of my diaper dandies on their roster, they will be relied on early to replace a ton of talent this year. I think it takes this team 2 games to gel as a team. It will not be easy in Ligerville tonight, but it will be a great battle. What madness it is here with these Liger fans.

Reece - Enjoy your kickball Thursday