Super Kickball Tournament!!!

su-per
[soo-per]
-adjective
-of the highest degree, power, etc.
-of an extreme or excessive degree.
-Informal . very good; first-rate; excellent.
-(of measurement) superficial.

kick·ball
[kik-bawl]
–noun
-a children's game, similar to baseball, in which a large inflated ball, as a soccer ball, is kicked instead of being batted.

Superheroes inspire 'Super Kickball' benefit

Proceeds will help fund a mobile comic book shop

By Lyndsey Teter (talen from the Other paper online article: The Other Paper)
Published: Thursday, September 23, 2010 10:13 AM EDT

There’s no part of Victor Dandridge’s plan that doesn’t sound fun. The state employee plans to leave his desk job at the Bureau of Workman’s Comp next month to pursue his goal of being a successful comic book entrepreneur.

First, though, there will be a little kickball.
“It’s a little thing I put together,” he said. “It will be the inaugural portrayal of Super Kickball in Columbus.”
Super Kickball, in case you’re wondering, is an event Dandridge concocted that combines kickball and superheroes. The twist is that the rules for each round will be inspired by a different comic book character.

For example, during Multiple Man round (based on the Marvel comic hero), all outfielders will already have a ball in hand, increasing a player’s chances of getting outed while running between bases. During the Bizarro round, players must do everything the opposite of what they normally would do. It’s inspired by the backward Superman-like character from the planet Htrae (“Earth” spelled backward).

“At that point, a home-run kick will cost a team a point,” Dandridge said.

Attending and participating in the game is free, but Dandridge will be accepting donations. And what on Htrae could he be collecting money for?

“I want to raise money to open a mobile comic retail shop,” he said.

Dandridge wants to gut an ice cream truck, replace the annoying circus-inspired jingles with a superhero soundtrack, and fill the thing with comics to sell to Columbus’s South Side neighborhoods.
“I want to bring the comics to the kids, instead of the other way around,” he said.
Super Kickball will be played from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 25) at Sills Ball Park, 3055 Lockbourne Road. Admission is free.

Dandridge grew up in Southfield, and he said that area of town is a wasteland when it comes to comic books.
“There are eight shops in Columbus (including surrounding suburbs) but none on the South Side,” he said.

Proceeds from the mobile shop will supplement the free-lance and self-publishing comic career that Dandridge has finally decided to give a full-time shot.  “I told myself I’d do this for one year and see what happens,” he said.  As a longtime reader of comic books, Dandridge believes they’re a valuable educational resource that’s mostly untapped.  “They promote creativity, artistic expression and innovation,” he said. “They provide a unique way to engage.”

Dandridge wants to be part of a growing national movement that is introducing comic books to both elementary teachers and students. He concedes, however, that the comic book world can be intimidating for the uninitiated.

“When you have comics that have been running 30, 40 or 70 years, that’s a lot of history that people don’t just want to jump into,” he said. But he hopes getting more comic books in the hands of more children—for less than half the price of a movie ticket, he said—will help the craft gain accessibility.

Dandridge would like to piggyback on the success of prominent local creator Jeff Smith, whose work Bone has been used to teach mathematics and creative writing in classrooms across the country.
“First we need to get books in kids’ hands,” he said.
Part of that includes raising a meager $2,500 in capital that he’ll need to run the mobile shop for the first quarter of its existence. In addition to requesting donations at Saturday’s kickball game, Dandridge and a handful of local artists will be on hand selling sketches to help him reach his goal.

If all goes as planned, the mobile shop will be active year-round, even in the dead of winter. He plans to park it near schools and libraries until the warm air returns next summer, he said.

Super Kickball Tournament

Brought to you by Victor Dandridge JR
Saturday, Sept. 25th, 2010
11:00am-4:00pm
Sills Ball Park
3055 Lockbourne Park
Columbus, OH 43207
http://www.wizworldinc.blogspot.com/