Kickball

Since I was laid-off last year at the end of February, I have found the bulk of my work as contract work. This is employment that is either not steady, based on events in the area, or climate dictated. No complaints but can create some lulls between jobs or keep you extremely busy other times.

About a month ago an opportunity was advertised looking for kickball umpires for the Jordan Gross' Celebrity Kickball Tournament so I replied yes. Didn’t hear anything for almost two weeks, so I was under the impression I didn’t receive the slot. Then, the week of the tournament I received an email that I had been chosen to umpire the tournament.

As the days got closer to the kickball tournament, I received two other work possibilities. One was to umpire a flag football shift at MLK Park while the second was to umpire my first NSA tournament in Rock Hill. I knew I would receive more compensation in Rock Hill, but I was raised to always honor your first commitment. Ends up the best decision I made was sticking with the kickball.

Jordan Gross' Celebrity Kickball Tournament was a fund-raiser function hosted by Jordan Gross of the Carolina Panthers. Gross has played tackle his entire nine year career in Carolina. There are not many sexy stats for offensive lineman.

So on April 30^th the fourth annual Jordan Gross' Celebrity Kickball Tournament was held at Providence High School at 1800 Pineville-Matthews Road, Charlotte, NC, 28270. Mr. Gross started this tournament four years ago to raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation which affects his own niece.

The tournament began with eight companies entered in a double elimination kickball with the winning team playing the Carolina Panthers. There were teams who wanted to play for fun then they were teams who thought they receive an NFL contract. The intensity varied from field to field to team to team. In the end Duke Energy stood strong to play the Panthers in the Pros vs. Joes match-up.

My role in the tournament was that I umpired double-elimination games, co-umpired for the semi-final and final game and then for the prime game I was the third base umpire. Very little real action happens at third base, but I am in the background of a photo of the Carolina Panther number one overall draft selection quarterback Cam Newton from the Auburn Tigers. (I’m still working on receiving a copy of the photo for my scrapbook.)

During the prime game the Panthers hosted contests where Joes would either catch passes from quarterbacks Jimmy Clausen and Matt Moore or toss passes to Steve Smith and Armanti Edwards. They were other cute contest such as when a child out-ran Sir Purr around the bases with the help of some key blocks by the players.

Some of the Pros present were Jimmy Clausen, Matt Moore, Steve Smith, Armanti Edwards, DeAngelo Williams, Cam Newton, Jordan Gross, Ryan Kalil, Geoff Schwartz, Travelle Wharton, Kenny Moore and Chris Harris.

In the end the final score was 9-2 behind several homeruns kicked by the Pros, but after all the games and contests with the Panthers players the real winner was Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Glad I made the right decision.