So Jason Oliver has a four day birthday extravaganza (his 27th birthday was last Wednesday night… please punch him 28 times in the arm hard) and I’m left with having to write a consecutive Commissioners Poll.  Go figure.  What’s worse – I have to try and write this Commissioners Poll (and I had to vote on the poll rankings) without having had the benefit of seeing our Tropical Park teams play (and, by the way, in case you haven’t seen it, we already emailed everyone at Tropical the new Week #08 schedule and the playoff schedule).  For example, after I saw Balls and Dolls from Miami Lakes dominate their opponent this past week, I strongly considered changing my first place vote from Life’s a Pitch to Balls and Dolls but I didn’t feel it was fair to punish Life’s a Pitch for not getting a chance to play a statement game this week because of the weather, so I decided to keep my vote for Número Uno intact for the time being.  The other Commissioners?  Well, you’ll have to keep reading this Poll to find out!  In case you didn’t know yet, this version of the Commissioners Poll was written by Rene Medina.  Enjoy!

1. Balls and Dolls – 2 first place votes. 29 points; previously tied for 1st.  I finally had a chance to watch a big chunk of this team play last week, and lemme tell you… wow.  I think this may be the fastest team in K.O.A.L.A. Kickball when it comes to running the bases.  As some of their players like to boast when they talk to me, “Where is there a soft spot in our lineup?”  After having seen them throttle Team No Name last week, I honestly have no clue where the chink in their armor is.  But the million dollar question remains – will they be at full strength come playoff time?

1. Life’s a Pitch – 1 first place votes. 27 points; previously tied for 1st.  There’s another way to measure this team’s excellence.  Count how many All-Stars play for their team.  Four of their seven guys played at the All Star Game.  As for their girls?  All underrated.  This team has the talent to take any team on in playoffs, and, I’d make them my odds on favorite to win the Tropical Park regular season and playoff trophies.
2. The Only Tenn’s They’ll See – 25 points; previously 3rd.  We know who plays for them, we know their talent level, we know the experience in this team, but they have the same issue that Balls and Dolls has: will all of their players be available to play for playoffs?  First, they must focus on winning the regular season trophy, which would be an incredible feat considering the quality of teams currently playing at Tropical Park.
3. District 28 – 19 points; previously 4th.  This team didn’t seem to get punish too harshly after losing against PSN Slidaz last week.  They’re still near the top of the standings at Miami Lakes, and they still have an incredibly gifted kickball team.  Their same question remains: will they get out of our Hunger Games playoff tournament alive and the winners of the grand prize?  May the odds forever be in their favor.
4. Kickball Team – 17 points; previously 5th.  One of my personal sleeper teams in K.O.A.L.A. Kickball, Kickball Team has suffered only one loss this season, yet conversation at Tropical Park still centers around Life’s a Pitch and The Only Tenn’s They’ll See.  Statistically, they still have a chance to win the regular season Commissioners Trophy and enter playoffs as the #01 overall seed at Tropical Park.  They’re currently ranked fifth for now, and I think that most of their players are perfectly fine continuing unnoticed.
5. PSN Slidaz – 16 points; previously 8th. Tough vote for PSN Slidaz.  They beat District 28 in a pretty handy manner, ooze championship experience in a way that no kickball team at K.O.A.L.A. Kickball does, and yet they only get a two place bump in our poll.  For me, they’re my sleeper team at Miami Lakes, and I’ll go as far as to say this: I think they should remain the odds on favorite to win Miami Lakes playoffs (using the logic that, to be the champion, you’ve gotta beat the champion).  However, their two losses this season still hurts them in these rankings.
6. Team No Name – 10 points; previously 6th.  This team has the confidence that they’re the greatest team in K.O.A.L.A. Kickball (and possibly the history of kickball), which is good for them considering they just received a good ol’ fashioned wallop at the hands of Balls and Dolls.  They’ll be missing key contributors like underrated first baseman Brian Oliver and crafty veteran Jason Oliver in the playoffs, so I have big questions remaining unanswered about a team that – at full strength – did not seem capable of competing with the elite at Miami Lakes this past week.  They’ll count on their vast kickball experience to give them a chance at the playoff trophy.
7. Always Pitching – 9 points; previously 7th. The Jekyll and Hyde team of K.O.A.L.A. Kickball.  Don’t sleep on these guys, because even though they’re always “pitching,” they’ve a track record of complete dominance when the lights shine brightest in the playoffs.
8. Green Tea Baggers – 7 points; previously 9th. The jolly green giants of K.O.A.L.A. Kickball. That’s why I wish they’d call themselves.  Regardless, they boast speed in the outfield, clutch kicking, and solid contributions from All-Star caliber females.  They’ll be a threat at Tropical Park.
9. Dream Crushers – 6 points, previously unranked.  This team has bounced back nicely after getting crushed by PSN Slidaz to tie Team No Name and defeat Ballbarians (previously fourth team in the standings).  However, this team still has to atone for their loss against PSN Slidaz before more teams take them seriously as a threat.

Quick Reminder on How the Poll Works: Once both leagues have played at least 2 games each, the Commissioners each cast an anonymous ballot for the teams that they think are the top 10 in K.O.A.L.A. Kickball across our Miami Lakes and Tropical Park Leagues. The first ranked team in each ballot gets 10 points, the second ranked team in each ballot gets 9 points, and so forth all the way to the tenth ranked team in each ballot, which gets 1 point. The points that each team gets from each ballot are added up, and then the 10 teams with the highest total number of points are declared the Top 10 in the Commissioner’s Poll. Remember that this poll does not affect standings or playoff seeding in any way; it’s only for fun!