While adult kickball may not be near the top of the sports pecking order, it makes up for it in team spirit, style and organized chaos.

A throwback to elementary school, kickball offers a second sporting life to several thousand Seattle-area residents who hit local fields each week.

“Everyone’s like: ‘You play kickball? I haven’t played kickball since sixth grade,’” said Steve Motes, a devoted kickballer from Lynnwood who plays on a team called B.I.G. T.A.B.

At Underdog Sports League’s Red Rubber Showdown at Lower Woodland Park last month, B.I.G. T.A.B. and dozens of other teams decked out in T-shirts of every imaginable hue filled the complex.

B.I.G. T.A.B.’s players take the field in light blue shirts that have been artfully cut up with scissors. The men on the opposing team, California Superpants, sport black T-shirts emblazoned with a California Superpants logo while the women wear yellow T-shirts with a beer insignia.

Getting on base means kicking the ball where there are holes in the defense, much like baseball. When a player gets on base, the goal is to pressure the defense to make mistakes.

“Our guys keep running because they throw the ball around the bases,” team member Jessica Grau said.

B.I.G. T.A.B., a top team from the Mountlake Terrace League, with players ranging in age from 22 to 30, is stymied early but finally breaks a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth.

Pitcher Nick Reynolds, known as Ranger Dick, steps to the plate with runners on first and third and boots a grounder to third. The infielder has no play as Danny — known as a white, long-haired version of Seattle Mariners star Ichiro — scampers home for the go-ahead run. B.I.G. T.A.B. wins the game 2-0, but California Superpants comes back to win the tournament.

Between blowouts and nail-biters, a shuttle takes teams to local pubs while some teams tailgate in the parking lot.

Several thousand people play kickball in the Seattle area — some who are highly competitive and others who are just out for a good time. An evening on a softball diamond marked by chasing a bulky red rubber ball around often ends with opposing teams hanging out at a sponsor bar.

“It’s got a huge social aspect to it,” umpire Luke Lutovsky said.

Kickball means business

While kickball gets people off the couch every week, it’s also a burgeoning business.

Belltown-based Underdog, a for-profit company that offers other sports such as flag football, softball and dodgeball, is the biggest sponsor of kickball locally with about 2,000 people signed up. Underdog, which has more than $1 million in annual revenues, started its kickball program in the summer of 2003 with four teams. It grew to 40 teams in 2004 then to 150 teams this summer, Underdog’s director of kickball Lawrence Martin said.

Many people see teams playing and want to join while other teams organize through workplaces.

“Most of it’s word-of-mouth,” said Martin, who helps run a family business in Lynnwood when he’s not running kickball leagues.

Underdog runs kickball leagues throughout the Seattle area, including Mountlake Terrace and Everett. The company also runs leagues in Portland, Ore., where plans are to expand into the suburbs. Kickball is starting to get big enough that traveling teams could start popping up soon, Martin said.

It costs about $500 to $600 to start up a kickball team with the cost per person ranging from about $20 to $50.

“We actually turned away quite a few teams this summer because we ran out of space,” Underdog founder Shawn Madden said.

Retro-recreation

All of Underdog’s leagues are growing, Madden said, but the largest growth is in sports like kickball, which he calls “retro-recreation.

“It’s the general trend of people wanting to play sports they played when they were younger,” he said.

“In general I think the pro-sports atmosphere tends to play into the retro-recreation idea,” Madden said. “I feel pro sports has been falling on its face.”

The sports pages are filled with controversy: the Barry Bonds steroids accusations, the Sonics’ likely move out of Seattle, the doping allegations against Tour De France winner Floyd Landis, Michael Vick’s dogfighting indictment.

“It seems every time I read the sports page it’s some strange soap opera,” Madden said. “People get turned off by that. It used to be that sports was an escape when they got away from that stuff.”

Then there’s the cost.

“For $60 or $70 for a seat to watch the Sonics or Mariners they can play a season with us,” Madden said.

Madden doesn’t believe the popularity of pro sports is going away but he believes more people will gravitate to sports like kickball in leagues like Underdog. People can make the choice to play on their own team rather than watch wealthy athletes whose experiences are far removed from their own.

“The idea is instead of rooting for someone else you root for yourself,” he said.

Underdog plans to continue to expand in a measured way, Madden said. It added an Everett kickball league in May.

“Our hope was to get kickball in the North End,” said Cory Rettenmier, an athletics supervisor for the Everett Parks and Recreation Department. “It’s one of those sports that people don’t think is typically out there.”

The city of Everett advertised the league in its parks guide and attracted seven teams. Underdog pays a $60 field prep fee each week to the city. It’s easier for Underdog to come in and partner with the city and run the program than for the city to start its own.

“Our involvement is just basically field space and a little bit of maintenance,” Rettenmier said.

An eight-week, late-spring season kicked off May 24 and a late summer season started on July 26.

Underdog divides its kickball teams into three divisions: hardcore, for the competitive serious teams; midcore, the division where 95 percent of teams play; and softcore, a division for rookies.

The basic rules are the same for all divisions but there are some restrictions on pitching in midcore and softcore to give more of an advantage to the kicker.

Hardcore pitchers can put spin on the ball and throw curveballs over the plate, but midcore and softcore pitchers have to roll the ball straight.

Each co-ed team puts 10 players out on the field, with men and women alternating positions. Underdog requires players to be 21 years of age. Women can bunt but man-bunting, as it’s called, is not allowed.

The rules are similar to softball. On a ball kicked on the ground, a fielder must throw to first or hit the batter below the head or tag them out. If a fielder catches a kicked ball in the air the batter is out. Force outs apply and runners can tag up on fly balls.

Two strikes or two foul balls equal an out and three balls results in a walk or a reset of the count.

The Red Rubber Showdown is now Underdog’s big kickball event of the year, but in 2004 and 2005, Underdog held the Red Rubber Bowl at Qwest Field in December.

Underdog teams played a flag football tournament at Qwest in 2003, and kickball and dodgeball were added in 2004 and 2005.

“It was an awesome experience to offer everybody,” Madden said.

However, Underdog’s relationship with Qwest ended in 2006. First &Goal Inc., the Paul Allen-founded organization that manages Qwest Field, decided to raise rates after the Seahawks went to the Super Bowl in 2006. Underdog paid $4,600 per day plus staffing costs to rent the field in 2004 but the price went up to $10,000 plus costs in spring 2006.

One reason for the increase was to curtail demand, First &Goal spokeswoman Suzanne Lavender said. If fewer groups can afford to use it there will be less wear and tear on the FieldTurf and it will last longer. Also, the increase brought Qwest Field’s rental fee up to par with other stadiums such as Safeco Field.

“It’s unfortunate they raised the rates to price us out,” Madden said. “But we’re very thankful we had the opportunity to have our players play in an NFL stadium for three years.”

Despite that disappointment, Underdog has proven to be a successful business.

Madden moved to Seattle about seven years ago to work for a Chicago-based company called Sport and Social Club that ran adult sports leagues in 18 U.S. cities.

The club got bought by an Internet company that went bankrupt and the bank foreclosed on 15 of 18 cities, including Seattle, Madden said.

After the club went out of business, Madden bought a $75 business license from the city of Seattle, hired a couple of people he was refereeing with and Seattle Sports Leagues was born. It eventually changed its name to Underdog Sports Leagues. Madden has about 10 full-time employees right now.

In tech-savvy Seattle, Underdog’s Web site, with its team pages, updated scores and standings and photos makes it stand out among recreational sports leagues.

“We’ve been building it for five years,” Madden said. “The name Starbucks comes up in our office. We didn’t invent the sports we do. We’re trying to revolutionize the way people experience it.”

For kickball and other sports Underdog posts photos from games online and picks a player of the game from each matchup.

No longer a mere childhood pastime, kickball continues to be a force to be reckoned with in the sporting world. It’s even got a pro sports-like controversy. A Washington, D.C.-based kickball organization filed a federal copyright lawsuit against a rival club over the use of its rules. Indeed, kickball has arrived.