Wiffle For A Wish

Up until recently I thought there was only one wiffleball tournament in the country that sent proceeds to the make a wish foundation (Wifflin 4 Wishes). It is with great pleasure that I inform you that there is another tournament, Wiffle for a Wish, that raises money for such a worthy cause. They played their tournament on the 20th with 33 teams and raised more than $7,000.

A little taste...

As some of you may know, the second issue of the Wiffler's Digest magazine will be out at the end of this month or the first week of September. We've finished contributing all the content and are now waiting for it all to be assembled. It's a long and painful process but I think everyone's hard work will pay off for this issue. So what all is in the upcoming issue? Well I won't spoil everything but I will tell you that there is some coverage of the London Wiffleball Tournament that I, and some of the writers, attended. There's also some opinionated articles along with part one of a fictional wiffleball series and a review of the movie Screwball: The Ted Whitfield Story. But it's not just articles, there's actually a quiz in this issue and a couple more wiffle related ads. While I won't link you any of the content in the new magazine, I do hope you enjoy a preview of the cover. Those of you who have emailed us and wanted to subscribe to the magazine will be the FIRST ones to read the new magazine before it is uploaded in .jpg form onto our Picasa photo album. For best quality, I strongly suggest you subscribe so you can have it in .pdf form - it's much nicer. Just email us at wifflersdigest@gmail.com and say you want the magazine. That's it!

Also, for all you stragglers out there...if you either "like" us on facebook or "follow" us on twitter there are generally more updates there than on the blog. There you will find more links to videos as well as the posts that are made here daily. You don't miss a thing.

Got to love the parody videos

I know you've probably seen hundreds of the parody videos taken from parts of the movie Downfall. Most of them were removed by Youtube but now a new one has surfaced and has something to do with the upcoming NWLA Tournament this fall. It's sort of like a fantasy tournament and a bracket is set up featuring the top 50 ranked teams in the nation. Voters, typically league commissioners, determine who advances in each round until there is a figurative national champion. It's a nice way to end the wiffleball season and gets everyone into fantasy football mode. There's also a smaller bracket for teams from smaller leagues and a "Dangerfield" Tournament that features the nation's worst teams in a battle to determine who is the worst team in the U.S.A. The subtitles are really telling of some of the frustrations that some of the members of the NWLA exhibit on the message board, such as: lethargic interest of certain leagues to vote this year, amount of teams from each league being represented, etc. Enjoy this video while you can. It's only a matter of time before it gets taken offline.

Sick of hearing about the earth quake on the east coast?

Well...check this out. Some kids uploaded a video of themselves playing wiffleball when the alleged 5.8 earth quake struck the mid-Atlantic 3 days ago. I'm not certain if this video is authentic - the only way to tell for sure is if the front yard cracked and one, or more, of the kids fell to their death(s). So even if it isn't real it's still pretty funny. The effects of the earth quake that have been reported seem like jokes when you compare them to places where significant earth quakes have occurred.

I think this picture sums up this point nicely:

Non-Stop Black Top (Episode 4)

Best episode of Non-Stop Black Top yet! This program from the Black Top Wiffleball League has really turned some heads and with good reason. They've really worked hard. Various camera angles, an actual microphone, and great commentary. Padres win the championship.

Great Interview with Travis Roy

You may remember the video that was posted on here recently made by Golden Stick at the Travis Roy Benefit Tournament at Little Fenway. Here is a great interview with Travis Roy that was taken on that day.

MCWA!

We've waited all summer and now the Monmouth County Wiffle Association have finally posted their tournament.

He's getting better

Our friend in Japan is really making some progress with his pitching. Check it out.

Wren Wiffleball Tournament

This tournament has been around for 20 years (making it one of the oldest in the country) and I've somehow missed it. I can't beat myself up too much though because, as far as I can tell, they don't have a website.

I'm speechless

Do I really need to say anything?

"Kitchen is a home run"

This video was made by a guy who has a project called the Celebrate Project where he tries to celebrate a different holiday every day for a year. August 15th he and some friends celebrated National Wiffle Ball Day. The video is a little blah in parts but I found the labels on the boundaries pretty funny. They used tote tops that were, I'm assuming, originally used for moving because they were labeled "office", "linen", and "kitchen." As for celebrating a different holiday every day, I'm a bit skeptical if that can be accomplished but best of luck to this guy.

"...Hopefully I caught the slider."

"That was awesome - I just hit the camera with the wiffle ball." Really dude? Was it just the awesomest thing EVER? Perhaps. But allow me to drop some knowledge on you. You may or may not know but the price difference between a camera and a wiffle ball is a fairly large one. A wiffle ball costs like $2.50, a camera does not. So spend a little extra dough on a piece of plexiglass to protect the camera, alright? "Hopefully I caught the slider." Hate to break it to you but I saw little to no movement on the ball before you nearly broke the lens of your camera.

Golden Stick teams up with Travis Roy Foundation

This year makes the 10th year that people have been raising money for the Travis Roy Foundation. This year Golden Stick took part in the Travis Roy Tournament at Little Fenway and helped the foundation raise a record breaking $406,000 this year alone ($1.5 million since 2002). That's a lot of money for a great cause! For more information on this story READ HERE.

Washburn Wiffleball League World Series

Bombers upset the favored Quackers in the Washburn Wiffleball League World Series (3-game series). Great highlights video, probably their best yet!

Happy 58th Birthday Wiffleball!

Yesterday morning some of you may have saw something on the sport on CBS Sunday Morning. There's some highlights from the Palisades WBL and others and the video is pretty good. National news, baby!

New Episode of This Month In Wiffleball

As the mercury rises this summer the competition in the Palisades WBL is heating up. Some teams may be down but not truly out (except for the Astros). There are two teams tied for 4th place, and two tied for 5th as well. The White Sox only have a 3 game lead on the second place Red Sox. The notorious Pete Montanez and the Blue Jays seem to be struggling a little judging by their 7-9 record. But for some of the contending teams may still be able to pull off some upsets because the regular season doesn't end until September 11, making their schedule among the longest of any wiffleball league in the nation. They will play almost 100 regular season games in 2011 when it's all said and done! Meanwhile, the rest of us can wait in anticipation for another 2 or 3 episodes of This Month in Wiffleball.

WCWBL in local news

Windy City Wiffleball made it into the local news. Check it out.

Nice pick-up games

Even the kid, which looks to be around 11 years old, has some game. And if that's not enough reason to watch this - "ATLiens" by OutKast was the music used in the background.

Screwball Now Available For Instant Play on Netflix!

 

Last summer we started seeing movie trailers popping up on Youtube about a wiffleball movie. Naturally, I assumed it was a joke and thought nothing of it - until I found out that it really was legitimate. Well...as legitimate as a wiffleball movie can be anyway. Reviews on this movie are scarce but most of which seem to dislike the movie. One reviewer called it "idiotic" and a "waste of time." Harsh. Not all the reviews are so negative though. One thing that most reviewers seem to agree on is that it's lacking video and acting quality. One reviewer said the movie is like "one long Youtube video in terms of quality in both production and humor." The leading actor in this movie, Ross Patterson, is known for his work on funnyordie.com as well as his roles in Accepted and The New Guy. He just finished working on a movie called FDR: American Badass. Sounds interesting.

Getting back on topic - the movie is now for instant streaming on Netflix. This is the first real chance that most of us have had at watching this movie. So if you have 85 minutes to kill give it a watch and let us know what you think about it.

Source: Interviews quotations were taken from customer reviews from Netflix.

Accident?

In the description of this video on Youtube it says "...drilled with a bat that the hitter threw on accident." I'm doubting that it was an accident. I'm not sure if the batter is a foreign exchange student or if his citizenship is legitimate. Personally, I'd find it funnier if he was a foreign exchange student. In any event, I imagine that they argued about what they would be doing on this summer day and his suggestion of playing soccer was dismissed. I guess he got the last laugh. Soccer it is.

FT Wiffle Reunion Game

The tattered remains of Caputo Complex Wiffleball and FT Wiffle have merged together to create the Monmouth County Wiffle Association. However, only FT Wiffle met at "Lancaster Field" recently. By the way it's not the same Lancaster Field in the sense that it's not in the back yard. Gethard mentions the reason for this in the update video saying the yard is too small for a bunch of 19-year-olds to play a game in. Nevertheless the new set up looks nice - a lot more room for the players. The highlights video was preceded by an update video by Gethard. He mentioned that the tournament that was to include remnants of FT Wiffle and Caputo Complex, as well as anyone else interested in playing was taking longer to organize than originally planned. He attributes this to delays in the delivery of components in which they plan to build the new field with (particularly the fence). Gethard admits that they could have had a simple set up and had a "simple game" but that just wouldn't be their style. He talks of making it "bigger and better" than anything they've ever done. That's cool. But he might not be noticing that summer is running out and all the players will be dispersing once more to their colleges and universities. Can he make this happen before it's time to head to the university book store? We'll keep you posted.

NWLA Site is Lookin' Gooooooooooood!

Those of you who have leagues in the National Wiffleball League Association or frequent it's thriving messageboard may have gotten used to the format of the website and maybe you've not visited it in a while... Well you now have a new reason to stop by - it looks awesome. The guy who runs the site, commonly referred to in wiffle circles as 'Wiffleball100', has been slaving away at updating the new look on all the pages. He's doing a great job! Can't wait to see what else he plans on doing!

The 200th Post

There is an evil lurking in the suburbs of Philadelphia this summer. Someone has been rampaging around and vandalizing religious statues (particularly the Virgin Mary and Joan of Arc) causing more than $30,000 in damage. What a cock-smooch, right? So what does this story have to do with wiffleball? Nothing really. But the guy who wrote the article referred to a childhood memory in this column. As a child he recalls occasionally hitting a wiffleball over an outfield fence of a neighborhood field into a woman's backyard which had a Virgin Mary statue in it. The woman who lived in the house would usually retrieve the ball for them. However she would remind them of the statue. “She’s the Virgin Mary, boys, not a center fielder.” <-------- That made that story worth reading. Read enough national news via local newspapers online and you'll find that wiffleball finds a way into print, even if it's not necessarily in the headline. They still haven't caught the turd burger who's been defacing all those statues either. 

Source: Philly Burbs News (Courier Times, The Intelligencer, Burlington County Times) for full story.

Wiffle Rochester Appears In Local News

Wiffle Rochester has made it into the local news. I guess the entire premise of the story is based around the fact that adults play wiffleball. Is that really so surprising or was it a really slow week in the news room?

Source: Democrat and Chronicle (interview)

Greatest Wiffle Image of All Time?

I come across many logos and images to do with wiffleball all the time but this one stands out from all the rest I've seen up to this point. So could this be the greatest wiffle image of all time? I think so. You can find this image on the website of a group of wifflers that call themselves "Lowball". They probably have one of the most stunning wiffle sites out there and it's safe to say that they are wiffleball's best kept secret. Let's spread the word.

Shangri La' Wiffleball - Wiffleball Tonight Episode # 2

Shangri La' Wiffleball has recently developed a Wiffleball Tonight program. The first episode was pretty boring but they changed it up for this second episode - which made it tolerable to watch. Check it out.

Tewksbury Dudes = Serious Endurance

They might not look like it but these dudes are studs. Recently they broke the [unofficial] world record for longest wiffleball game by playing for 32 hours. That's some serious endurance...ladies know what I'm talking about. When these guys aren't playing wiffleball for ridiculous amounts of time they meet every Saturday for their tantric sessions. But seriously, these guys have done a great deed. Not only did they play for 32 straight hours they raised $1,352 for the Jimmy Fund. This endurance wiffle record has been broken a few times in the recent past but the bar has been raised once more. Only time will tell if another group of players can break it. At least these guys did if for a good cause.

Source: Wicked Local Tewksbury (features an interview with Alec DiFruscia, the kid who made this happen).

Definitions with Wiffler's Digest

Teacher: Okay class take your seats! Now, get our your dictionaries. It's time to learn the word of the day. Class: "Yay!!!!".
Teacher: Settle down class. Today's word is pansy.
Student: "What letter does that begin with?"
Teacher: The letter 'P'. P as in Pansy. Let's read together, okay?
Class: A pansy is 'a violet cultivated in many varieties, having richly and variously colored flowers.'
Teacher: Very good class but that's not quite the context I was going for. Read the secondary definition.
Class: 'a weak, effeminate, and often cowardly man.'
Teacher: Excellent! [end]

What is with these people using wiffle ball equipment to inflict "pain"? It's plastic. It can only do so much. These kids think they are going to get a girlfriend by posting a video of themselves hitting each other with a plastic ball on the internet? Sorry but in the event that they actually like girls yet, it's highly unlikely that this video will result in any romantic endeavors. If anything it saves a girl a lot of time from trying to figure out if you're a moron. This video clearly indicates that you are indeed a moron and therefore does not have to go out on a ice-cream date with you and your parents to figure that out about you. But why do this? Everybody knows that the ball does not cause much, if any, pain to a person. It's the bat that can leave a nice bruise or cause a broken bone if put into capable hands. But throwing a ball at a speed of perhaps 23 mph? Give me a break. When I was a kid we threw knives at each other and didn't bother to put it on the webernet or whatever crazy doo-dad these kids are using these days.

21-Year-Old Wiffleball Video

Happy August everyone! Hope you are enjoying your summer...what's left of it anyway. Slim pickings for good videos today so I picked this recently uploaded video that was originally taken sometime in the year 1990. Nice! While the action in the video really isn't anything special the true entertainment rests with the clothing and hair cuts. There's even a dude wearing suspenders. Yowza! Wouldn't be surprised if someone was wearing some British Knights in this video. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're too young. It appears that the only thing featured in this video that hasn't went out of style is the Wiffle Ball itself.