Grown-Ups Drawn to ‘Lame Games’

In the 1990s, adults “grinded” on inline skates and “shredded” on snowboards. They were extreme.

These days, many are kicking red rubber balls, swinging plastic bats and jumping rope just like ... well, kids.

Move over extreme games. Wiffle ball, kickball, dodge ball, even jump rope are becoming increasingly popular with adults.

Darby O’Brien calls them “lame games.” The Massachusetts advertising executive predicted they would be the next trend in adult recreation after the extreme games craze. He should know; he predicted that trend too.

Lame games, he said, are providing a simple, much-needed break from complicated lives.

Angus Durocher of San Francisco started a kickball league of primarily dot-com workers almost two years ago. Before the industry’s bust, the league had about 20 teams playing on a weekly schedule.

“We were all working 80-hour weeks,” Durocher said. “It was an exciting time, but we were definitely all spending way too much time at our computers.”

Kickball, he said, gives his players simplicity in their changing business.

“It was just something fun and stupid to do,” he said. “And it doesn’t technically require you to put your beer down when you’re in the outfield.”

Lame games also allow adults to forget the uncertainties of the economy and the war on terrorism, O’Brien said.

“People aren’t as open to looking forward, especially now,” O’Brien said from South Hadley, Mass., where he publishes “The Gut,” a quarterly trade publication that predicts national trends. “There’s some comfort in playing kickball.”

That’s why Ervin Reynoso started a kickball league in Seattle this spring. Four teams, made up mostly of 20-somethings, played the first season at a neighborhood elementary school.

“It’s not threatening at all,” Reynoso said about the sport. “I think most people associate it with good memories from elementary school.”

In Schaumburg, Ill., dodge ball has become a way for adults not only to remember but to relive their childhood. More than 300 adults played in the third-annual National Amateur Dodge ball Assn. championship tournament in early August.

The league’s first championship team, the Bexley Reckers, even have a children’s attitude about team uniforms. The men wore bike shorts and tank tops the first year of the tournament, Speedo swim trunks and cutoff tank tops the next and white sports bras and short shorts this year.

But for all the silliness, lame games are competitive.

The United States Amateur Jump Rope Federation had to create an adult division after so many expressed interest in competitively jumping rope. About 80 adults compete in the league’s 30-years-and-older division. Some are in their 60s. They jump for speed or complete tricks, sometimes while jumping double-dutch.

“They’re still doing practically all the events,” executive director Bud Pickett said. “They’re jumping to win.”

And while their scores are lower than their younger counterparts, they can still compete. Although the sport, especially the speed events, are dominated by youngsters, a few of the grand national champions from the USA Jump Rope National Tournament were from the over-18 division.

For many, participating in “lame games” is the last chance to be competitive. Maybe they’ve lost some speed after years with a softball team. Or maybe they haven’t played organized sports since high school and are out of shape.

In Wiffle ball, experienced athletes can be outplayed by couch potatoes. The game is played with a plastic ball designed to twist and curve. It’s similar to baseball, except the batting team has ghost runners who advance according to where the ball is hit.

There’s no running, so players don’t need speed, and no deep center fields, so the weakest player can hit home runs. And Wiffle balls can’t be thrown as fastballs, so there’s no need for arm strength.

“We realize it’s not baseball,” said Jeff Delma, commissioner of the Washington State Wiffleball Assn. “It’s Wiffle ball, a stupid plastic ball. Games are real competitive, but it’s so ridiculous.”

For Delma, that’s the true beauty of sports like Wiffle ball. There’s a perfect balance of competition and silliness, seriousness and laughter.

“We want to win,” he said, “but we’re going to bring a big cooler with us and a lot of grilled meat.”