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April 20, 2007
Inventing over kickball...
So, yesterday evening while watching the first annual WAKA kickball pickup game of 2007 — I didn’t tell you that my wife and I joined the national kickball league, did I? (By the way, WAKA stands for “World Adult Kickball Association).
Anyway, this is our first time taking part in the whole adult kickball phenomenon… It is quite an experience. Our first surprise was as to how “adult” it really is. Each team had their own ice chest full of cold beer (many players set their cup close to the position they are playing so that they can take a sip whenever they are thirsty). Also, not much scoring actually happens during a game — there’s a lot of kicking and catching of pop-flies, outs are easy, because you can thrown the ball at the base-runners… Basically, it’s just a bunch of people running around a baseball diamond, drinking beer.
But, is that a bad thing? Definitely not! In fact, next week (our first official game), I’ll be there with my own ice chest in hand. (By the way, our team is called The Flaming Balls.)
The thing is, my purpose today is not to share the experience of kickball itself, but the benefits of watching a well-played kickball game.
Benefits? Watching? You might be asking?
Yes. Yesterday, I was astonished by how many ideas I was having while standing there, watching a bunch of adults act like they were in middle school (a beer drinking middle school, mind you). As I was talking to a friend, inventions just kept rolling off of our tongues. And, good ones too!
The first idea was spawned by the problems presented by playing a fairly active game with a beer cup in hand. The brainstorming began on the topic of spilling. We then moved to the issue of a hands-free method of drinking and playing. Of course, it wasn’t long before the old beer cup/hat/straws apparatus was discussed. But, that idea is pretty cliche, and I’m not so sure how it does while running bases. The ideas kept coming until we finally got to one that we both agreed on…
The sippy cup!
Why haven’t I seen more beer drinkers using the sippy cup as their preferred form of a beer container? Think about it… You can spill it without fear of leakage. You can fall asleep without stressing about dropping the cup… It’s the perfect beer drinkers tool. Sure, you might have to suck a little harder to get the liquid to come out, but that would be half the fun, right?
My proposal? The Beerpy Cup (or just the Beerpy). The technology is in place and all it needs is just a little clever branding.
Second on the list of ideas came up because my friend is a contact lens wearer — one who perfers sun glasses, but is always losing her sun glasses. As a glasses wearer — and a recent convert to the benefits of transitions lenses — the solution for this one was easy: Suntacts!
These would be contact lenses that utilized the transitions technology. Not only would contact lens wearers get the benefit of “sun glasses” that were always with them, they would get the cool effect of their pupils turning black when the sun comes out (click the picture below to see a quick video).
Genius. UV protection that’s always on.
I’m hoping to have more ideas like this as the kickball season progresses, so I’ll be sure to keep you posted.
Posted at 11:57 am
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Jean - April 21, 2007 at 11:28 am
timsamoff () (URL) - April 22, 2007 at 2:17 pm
