Kickball always seemed the odd man out in the panoply of recreational sports in the District. But the game most of us abandoned in middle school took off, yielding ever-larger rosters of teams that walked the streets and crowded the bars with their brightly colored team shirts. And in typical American fashion, with fame and fortune has come litigation.

The City Paper reports today on a lawsuit -- yes, you heard a right, a lawsuit -- filed by the World Adult Kickball Association (WAKA) against the smaller upstart DCKickball. It seems that WAKA is none-too-happy that DCKickball, formed by WAKA defector Carter Rabasa, has taken to using their "signature" rules -- four men and four women, at minimum, are needed to play, and they must all be 21 or older. WAKA also claims Rabasa defamed them when he called them "the Microsoft of kickball." WAKA is demanding -- hold on to your seats -- $356,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Hate to say it, WAKA, but that seems a little, ummm, Microsoftish of you, don't you think? One kickballer who had a legal run-in with WAKA himself may have said it best in the article:

I hope Carter doesn’t fold up his tent because of this. Getting lawyers involved…is the worst move WAKA could have made. It’s stupid, and it’s hilarious, that something as trivial and meaningless as kickball is occupying some serious people’s time. It really sheds light on WAKA’s organization and the way they run things. I don’t think there’s any way WAKA can win this. I mean, who would want to be seen standing with this bully when this is done?

>>DCist on the kickball wars