The concept of adult kickball got its start in our nation's capital, where over-educated and underpaid young professionals used the semi-ironic playing of a children's sport to take out their aggression, hide their shameful post-college binge drinking, and find suitable hookups. Perhaps it's the gorgeous weather, or maybe it's the party atmosphere created by that boozed-up college in Tempe, but Phoenix is now one of the top kickball-playing towns in the country.

For better or worse, there are up to a dozen different leagues running around the Valley at any time, all of them offering some variation of the drink/kick/catch/cheer/drink formula that's slowly making the sport of softball obsolete. A squishy ball and lackadaisical pace make kickball safer than most recreational sports, and the gently sloping learning curve is novice-friendly, which is why your gym teacher had you play it as a kid. As we said, you have tons of choices — the city of Scottsdale even runs an odd league where you can drink beer on the field under the watchful eye of city-paid employees — but we prefer the original, WAKA, which offers less playing time than some leagues but is a lot more fun.