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Naked Christmas in the Basement
Kidle Lakehouse Basement -- Mears, MI
December 28, 2008

We'll clear this up at the beginning: no participant was naked. The "Naked Christmas" just happened to be the reoccurring theme during a weekend's worth of activities at the Kidle Lakehouse: there were multiple naked children running around the house, there was the naked Santa ornament, and there were a couple of 15-0 victories that would have required a naked lap around the house if we were with different company.

The Naked Christmas in the Basement was a tournament of firsts. It was the first sanctioned indoor tournament, taking place in an unfinished basement because it was cold, wet and way too windy outside. It was the first one-way tournament since there was only enough room in the basement to throw one way. It was the first (of many?) Kidle Family tournaments - we often have 8 family members together, but have never done anything official. Unfortunately for Dan Kidle, however, it did not mark his first 2008 tournament championship over Andy Frushour. After falling to Frushour in the final match of the Green Acres Open and Mormons Suck invitational earlier this year, young Kidle once again fell to the commissioner in the Kidle basement.

Truth be told, the Dan v. Andy matchup was much closer than the scores suggest. Andy did top Dan handily in the winners bracket final (15-2) and Dan did steamroll Andy (15-4) in the first game of finals, but the "if necessary" game was a doozey. Each baller threw some mad, high-point racks to start the match, cancelling each other out on six straight epic rounds.   When two heavyweights go at it, though, the first to take the foot of the gas - if only for a round or two - typically takes the loss. And that's what happened as Frushour switched gears and turned his 1-0 lead into a fast-break blowout.

The Kidle women also highlighted the Naked Christmas action. Jo Kidle may have been the most eager competitor, as the long layoff since Worlds had given her the Monkeyball Itch (this needs to be added to Wikipedia, right?). She didn't disappoint herself with a solid showing, losing only to the two finalists. The longest match of the tournament also provided optimism for the future: Marykay Kidle topped Emily Frushour in a match that featured Marykay's natural Monkeyball form (in need of only slight fine tuning) and the long-anticipated return of Emily to MB competition (she will win a match someday). And Katie McFadden just can't catch a break -- like when she wrapped her shot around the wrong pipe -- but with a summer's worth of practice in Indy she could surprise at MB5.

The elder statesman of the Kidle ballers, John Kidle continues to perfect his modified pinch (first displayed at MB3) and would battle for the championship of the world AARP division is such a thing existed. Perhaps Under Armour could produce some sweat resistant Monkeyball socks which would have helped Andy Kidle maintain balance while playing. Andy lost a gudge match to wife Jo, but didn't lose much ground in the world rankings.

At the end of the day, Monkeyball once again proved to be a great way to spend time with the family. And maybe more importantly, we learned that the Lakehouse basement can host a MB tournament just as well as the Lakehouse beach. Monkeyball is a now a year-round sport in Mears, Mich.