A year and a half ago you would never have heard me say this but..... competitive dodgeball is the finest sport.

About a year and a half ago my buddies (a group of college aged day camp conselours) and I had the idea that we should compete in local and national dodgeball tournaments. We were all former athletes but are only true dodgeball qualifications include hurling rubber balls at 10-year olds during work.

So there we were the first saturday of August 2004 in a field of over 35 teams competing in the adult male division with two 16 year olds and a girl. With our clear disadvantage in age we became an instant fan favorites among a crowd of curious people who weren't eager to root for the hungover, the cocky, or the outright conceited who showed their faces.

After doing battle with over a dozen teams we finished third in our first ever competitive match. Month after month our team, and the others that we faced in the innagural Detroit dodgeball tournament would square off in a match of strategy, strength, athleticism and guts.

Now as  stand here and write this you probably think I am crazy. You probably think football is the greatest sport or basketball, baseball or even, dare I say hockey?

I know thats what I though too. Until we started getting good.

We started winning tournaments, we started shutting people out, and before you knew it the month was May and we were eyeing the first ever official Michigan State Indoor Dodgeball championship.

Eight months into what became a random Saturday tournament became a monthly tradition and our team became synonomous with dodgeball domination.

Now this isn't the sort of dodgeball domination you would think about. This isn't like the movie - I am not Vince Vaughn and the guys we play don't make love to pizza - it's actually far from it.

Our league followed National Amatuer Dodgeball Association rules using foam covered balls on tight courts and outlawing headshots to create a more strategic version of the playground game we grew up with. The last thing you see in our dodgeball league is the little skinny kid getting tormented by a team of gumpy jocks. In fact there were numerous games we watched where 8th graders we're taking out teams of grown men.

It was games like that which made me realize that dodgeball is truly the greatest sport we have. It is not a sport of degradation rather a test of perseverance. At any given time the worst athlete could face the most monumental task of knocking out six opposing players with time running down. Something you don't see in high school basketball games or high school football games. Believe me, it has happened too.

The real greatness in dodgeball really stems from the people who play it. You don't need to be Johnny Football Hero to win a game. As I said none of our team members had superior talent to anyone in any sports, ranging from cross country to football to basketball, yet when we stepped on the dodgeball court we were Barishnakovs.

As our dodgeball season wound down we ended up taking the State Title in a dramatic come from behind win in the playoffs where we defeated the #1, 3, 4, and 7th ranked teams in the state. Afterwards we traveled to Chicago to place 9th at Outdoor Nationals.

Tomorrow our team gears up for its first tournament of the second season and with indoor nationals approaching we are happier then ever. See because of dodgeball, our usual group of athletic misfits have something to call our own. We have a state title and were working on one more. But our State title isn't in degradation its in teamwork - a lesson that isn't always easily seen in say a basketball game.

Anyway before I bore you with any more stats or anecdotes I must go. We start our quest for a two peat in 12 hours. I haven't been this excited since I won a little league baseball title.

Jon Gunnells is a journalism junior at Michigan State University and a damn good dodgeball player. He led his team Sal Dodgeball to a 36-20 overall record which included two tournament wins and a state championship ina  field of 76 adult male competitive teams. Sal Dodgeball finished 9th at the NADA nationals in July and has since combined forces with the Weekend Warriors Dodgeball program in metro-detroit to continue the Michigan dodgeball dynasty and hopefully claim a nationals crown.Dodgeball has lately been pegged as the fastest growing sport in America with leagues and tournaments popping up all across the nation at rec centers and college campusesFor more information on competitive dodgeball vist dodgeballusa.com