- Season Games Decreasing - The number of regular season games was decreased from 10 games (Season 10) to 8 games (Season 12). When asked about the reason, our regional rep (MLoop) told us "we weren't sure with the lightning if we'd be able to play" and "people just burn out and we'll see the attendance just dies." Our division sells out 380+ roster spots in less than 7 days every season. We've NEVER had an issue with "season fatigue."
- Fall 2010 Party Budget - At the Fall 2010 Captain's Meeting, MLoop told us that WAKA "worked out a deal with the park, and you will not be charged for parking." This implies that parking is actually FREE for our division. However, our league representative (Jaime) informed us that parking was actually paid out of our party budget. Jenn V., who served on the party planning committee, also reported that the parking charges reduced our budget in half. This report subsequently got Jenn banned from the league. We believe that MLoop's comments during the Captain's Meeting were purposefully deceitful.
- Fall 2010 Cooler Rule - For the first time in Bayshore history, coolers were banned from the fields. It was explained to us at the Fall 2010 Captain's Meeting that WAKA's insurance carrier would not allow coolers due to implied alcohol consumption. Orlando's division rep, Kevin "Kegger" Maclean, informed us that our division has it easy because their "parking lot is further away [from the fields]." However, DPT reporter Silky Johnson exposed Kevin as a liar in this post, which shows pictures of his league bringing coolers and drinking non-concealed alcohol on the fields. We also have MLoop on camera stating: "I didn't say you can't drink [alcohol] on the field. It just means whatever you're drinking has to originate in a cooler which you can leave in your car..." Isn't this insurance fraud?
- Fall 2010 "Free Beers" - Two emails were sent to our league about the Fall 2010 Captain's Meeting / "Player Meet and Greet." Both emails included the following sentence: "There will be free beer given away for the early birds and drink specials." While there were beers brought out during the Captain's Meeting, we later found out (via Jenn's post) that our party budget had paid for them! Of course, Kegger and MLoop drank some of those beers as well. So we have a situation where our customer service rep implies they are buying us beers, only to use our money for their own pleasure.
- Kegger's Public Slandering - Our dear friend and fellow kickballer, Brie, decided to apply for the Breaker Division's open rep position for Fall 2010. She was hired and immediately began working with MLoop on the registration process. It didn't take long for her to step down. However, at the Fall 2010 Captain's Meeting, Orlando rep Kevin "Kegger" Maclean decided to tell Paige that they had fired Brie. Here is Brie's account of the incident in her own words:
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"During the registration process, I was gone one weekend for a wedding. I returned home and replied to my emails and placed the players on their selected teams on Sunday night. Mind you, the season was still a good month or so away from starting. Even if I hadn't replied to the emails for another few days (not that I would have waited anyway, but hypothetically), it would not have affected the players in ANY way. Well, because I was away from my computer for 2 days, Kevin (a.k.a "Keggers") apparently checked our email boxes on a regular basis, saw that mine was full and really got after me...basically created a problem to take aggression out on me. Dead serious. I severed my ties since it wasn't worth the extra $$ to deal with him all season. It was absolutely ridiculous.
A few weeks later at the Captain's meeting, Kevin was there (who I had never met in person) and apparently said some negative and untrue things about me to other members of our league. All of them came up to me and told me what was said and how horrible they thought that was of him. I made the decision to email Sarah in HR. I received emails from Sarah and MLoop apologizing profusely on his behalf, saying that they don't tolerate that behavior, action will be taken, etc...do you think I ever heard one word directly from Kevin? Hell no."
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Paige was actually complaining to MLoop and Kegger about their treatment of the "Paige on the Ground" incident (discussed below) when Kegger made his comment. Here is MLoop's apology email sent to Brie:
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"I wanted to personally apologize again for the conduct by Kevin last week.
I did speak with Sarah Park Manchester about the incident and we both take it very seriously.
We have both spoken with Kevin and he understands and agrees that he was out of line. He never meant to degrade or embarrass you and used a poor choice of words and conduct.
Unfortunately I can’t turn the clock back but I wanted you to know that even though people know us a fun party type of organization we still have professional standards that must be followed.
I hope to see you in Las Vegas, first few drinks are on me!"
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Since MLoop avoided the Alcoballics all weekend in Las Vegas, Brie never got those free drinks.
- "Paige on the Ground" - Paige got really drunk one night in the Winter 2010 season, and wound up on national television. Her night of debauchery was due to multiple shots at the bar after kickball, and thankfully she got home safely and is able to laugh about it with us. However, the Fall 2010 season brought about the much disputed "cooler rule," which banned coolers from our fields. Since PAL does not specifically prohibit alcohol, we immediately questioned our new league rep Jaime. She responded in an email to a team captain: "You think I want the hassle of not having beer on the filed??? Hell no... It was all due to that Chelsey Handler video issue.. Because the chick was wearing her WAKA shirt." DPT also discovered that MLoop told people Paige was to blame for the WAKA alcohol crack-down (sources available upon request). This appalled many of us who are friends with Paige and believe her drunken night should have nothing to do with field policy. WAKA even sells t-shirts which encourage getting drunk and falling down at a flip-cup table, so the hypocrisy was glaring. Paige was rightfully upset and confronted MLoop and Kevin "Kegger" Maclean at the bar during the Fall 2010 Captain's Meeting. Both of them predictably denied ever having said or implied she was to blame.
- Mandatory "Balls and Strikes" - Our division has never been competitive and we despise anyone who takes kickball seriously. So throughout our history, we've always allowed captains to agree before each game not to call "balls and strikes." This agreement was very prevalent during the regular season, and even happened from time to time in tournament games. However, our new regional rep, MLoop, informed us at the Fall 2010 Captain's Meeting that we could no longer do this. "Balls and strikes" had to be called for each game. It was very offensive to us that someone would dictate such a minor rule. As a result, most teams ignored his orders and we played many games free of batter's counts. What could he do? Ban us? Oh wait... he did. It seems customer preference is frowned upon at WAKA.
- 6 vs. 5 Innings - In the Fall 2010 season, MLoop changed the number of innings we play from 5 to 6. This really shouldn't have been an issue, except that in order to do so he explained all games must stop on the hour with no exceptions. Our division rep, Jaime, clarified this in a captain's email: "If your team finishes the 5th inning before the required 1 Hour stop time, you can continue on the the 6th inning. HOWEVER, if you do not finish the 6th inning in the allotted 1 hour time frame, the game concludes and you go back to the 5th inning score." This ruling creates major issues which were outlined in this blog post, and was even in direct contrast to WAKA's own officially published rules. Our division rep, Jaime, eventually told us that she would allow all games to finish (basically going against MLoop's ruling). To her credit, she honored her pledge to us and we didn't have any issues during the season. But it is interesting to note that the two referees we sent to the 2010 Founder's Cup could not find one team outside of Florida that played six innings. Even the tournaments consisted of five-inning games. So why is there inconstancy in MLoop's region?
- Winter 2010 Lighting Issue - After the Daylight Savings shift in the Winter 2010 season, we had an excessively strict enforcement of game times due to our field lights shutting off at 9:15pm. The problem was that they were turned on at 6:15pm when it was still daylight outside. Our division rep, Tyrus, told us it was out of his hands because the PAL lights were controlled in the state of Iowa (not making this up). Alison took it upon herself and made ONE phone call to PAL. Not only were they able to shift the duration of lighting, they also offered to keep them on longer at no cost to us! Why did a player have to do the regional rep's job? How hard is it to listen to our concerns and make a phone call on our behalf?
- Bayshore Division Charity Breakout - Our division has been formally requesting a break-out of our charitable donations since February 2010. We've talked to division representatives, regional representatives, human resources, etc. The request is simple: how much money have we donated to which charities each season? We want to use the information as a gauge for future fund-raising. WAKA responded to all of our initial requests with skepticism, instead of seeing it as a marketing tool which shows a positive impact in our community. Finally in October 2010, we were told they'd provide the list in December. Unfortunately, WAKA then banned the person who was working on the project.
- MLoop Ignores Bayshore at 2010 Founder's Cup - The Alcoballics were the first team to represent Bayshore in WAKA's annual tournament in Las Vegas. They joined the "fun league" (Kickball Games) and ended up winning $1,000 in the Best Team Performance category. The 'Ballics were well received by every team and WAKA employee they met. However our regional representative, MLoop, failed to say hello or acknowledge the Alcoballics the entire weekend. Way to support your people, MLoop.
Aftermath:
Of the 16 teams in the WAKA Bayshore Division: 10 joined GOKickball in a new start-up league, two went to the established Kickball Society in Temple Terrace, three returned to WAKA and one team disbanded. We estimate WAKA lost about 317 players due to our efforts, while GOKickball went from 0 to 209 registered players almost over-night.
WAKA was able to bring in new players and put together a season of 10 teams with about 200 people. However, for a league that would sell out 380 spots in 7 days every season, it's a major decline. The people in our community will continue to push business away from WAKA. There are much better choices in our area, run by people who listen to their customers and are willing to operate in a democratic manner.
