Bringing sexy back for a big win

It shouldn’t be possible for one October kick to change a game, change the course of a season and quite possibly the fate of so many lives.

It shouldn’t be possible, but it happens. Ask Kirk Gibson. Ask Scott Podsednik. Ask Derek Jeter. And now, if The Urban Tribe goes on to have an undefeated season and win the World Series of Kickball, you can ask another. Our towering outfielder, Ditka.

For a few moments on that cold, Halloween night it looked like The Urban Tribe was in danger of seeing their magical season tumble off an October cliff. Mayday, the scrappy lead-off hitter, began the game with one of her patented leggy singles. But fly-outs by the next three kickers foiled a promising start.

When the Lincoln Cougars stepped up to bat the night felt ominous. Would this be the night of The Urban Tribe’s first loss? The lead-off kicker smashed a booming shot to right but the wind a gravity were with us. It landed just out of play. A pop out came next as did subsequent fly outs by the next two batters. The Tribe survived the inning.

In the next inning, the Brewmaster, Joggler, John Kelly and Silky D all hit safely and scratched across a couple of runs. That left two ducks on the pond when Ditka came up. His anthem blared…”bump bump..bump bump…I’m bringing sexy back..yeah!” and the Cougars shuttered. Their rookie pitcher sent a toe-high, two-seamer heading his way. Ditka lifted the back of his front foot, planted, uncoiled and upperbooted the yellow sphere through the ionized Union Park sky.

It sailed to the outfield. Their leftfielder took off as did their centerfielder. And then it began to dawn on them, what this was. The ball kept going and going until it finally landed on the solid Chicago mud. By the time they reached it, the action was over. Ditka was trotting around third and heading for home. That kick propelled this resilient Urban Tribe team to their biggest single inning offensive output of the season. 5 runs when it was all over.

“He is bringing sexy back,” said the Architect about Ditka, “Them other boys don’t know how to act.”

But what Ditka started, others had to finish. In the fifth inning, Porn Star whacked his team leading 3rd home run of the season sparking an 8-run offense explosion. Nearly every Tribe member scored at some point during the game. Even Wild Thang (no doubt inspired by her new anthem) put on an offensive show this night.

“She really makes my heart sing,” said team GM Denim.

On the defensive side, the Tribe would bend but not break. A couple of missed balls gave the Cougars a spark of hope, and when they loaded the bases with no outs, even Adler stood frozen by the tension. But the Urban Tribe snapped out of it. A line shot to short was caught by DJ master Meatball and the inning was finished off with a nifty double play. In the end, the game was called early due to the slaughter rule and the Urban Tribe won 14-4. The Cougars quit and the Urban Tribe kept its unbeaten record intact.

Tonight, we go for the full season, clean sweep. We play the only other undefeated team so we’ll need everyone to bring their A game. One kick can change the course of history. And that kick can come from you.

Remember, remember the seventh of November.

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