Tag: football

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Amazing Flag Football Team Defense

Today we had another instant classic flag football game. The core teams remained the same, with some slight changes on both sides. I’ve really enjoyed playing with these guys every other week, and this week was no different.

It was very cold this morning in EHT. Warming up, I noticed that my cleats wouldn’t penetrate the frozen ground at times, shifting my ankles left or right on dig. I seriously considered playing in sneakers instead since the frozen ground felt more like street than dirt at times, but figured I’d warm up as we played on it. So stuck with the cleats today.

What really stood out to me this game, was our team defense. Early on we gave up some scores, but once we settled into our assignments we really clamped down tighter than any other recent game I can recall.

Chris continued to play great against Wes, Mike and Kraft both did amazing jobs working on Josh and their third option. I got the easiest task of handling the short slants and quarterback.

We make switches and picked up other teammates, it was great. A true team effort.

Despite being down 5-3 at the half, we stormed back in the second half winning it 10-8.

As good as we played today, the other team had some amazing plays as well. I can’t begin to even guess how many huge 4th down catches Josh came up with. Joe made a pretty amazing TD catch on a tipped ball, and Wes continues to log more miles than anyone else in the league (gotta find his battery one day).

Hall’s passes we solid most of the day too. I gotta admit he shows a great deal of poise in the pocket even when I was rushing him. He got some big throws even when we brought the blitz.

Every game’s been great, and I’m very lucky to play with a great bunch of guys. I will remember today for that second half defense. Good stuff.

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Sports

Amazing Flag Football Game

Played in arguably the finest flag football I’ve ever played in this morning. We all met up at the usual field in EHT at 8:30 am. All the games we’ve been playing have been a great time, but this one really took it to the next level.

It was four on four. Chris, two Mikes and myself against Wes, Josh, Mr. Yuk-Yuk and Geoff.

We played up to ten, and the game took tow and a half hours. It was just a highly contested game, with each and every play battled over. There were for broken plays the entire game, just a steady back and forth answer for answer.

We used some early corner blitzes from Chris that were very effective. We never blitz him, and it really caught the other guys by surprise for a while. Both our Mike’s were amazing, making some incredible catches and throws all day long.

I’m old and my nagging groin injury isn’t helping matters much, but I did my best to create space for my teammates running routes, and throw a few blocks to help us march down the field a few times.

On the final drives of the game the other team seemed to be driving plays specifically against me. I sensed this would happen, hobbled I was clearly the weakest member of our team this day. I may be old and beat up, but I have played in many backyard games and made several plays on passes on the last two drives.

I knew how hard my teammates had played all day, and how much they carried me early on. It was great that I was able to come through for them on those last few drives, guaranteeing us a hard fought win.

Easily on the the greatest, evenly matched games I’ve ever been a part of. So glad that I have some good friends who wake up early to play flag football. A great bunch of guys led to a great game.

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Thanksgiving 2011 Football Game

Easily one of my favorite traditions is our yearly Thanksgiving flag football game. This year we had the same core return. I knew it wouldn’t be one of my finer games, been shut down for a while with a really nagging groin injury that I just can’t seem to shake.

The morning was a little on the cold side, probably the low 30’s, but it was quickly heating up outside to a very comfortable game temperature. Josh set up the cones for boundaries and the rest of us had our pre-game warm up rituals. Many had a catch, a few stretched, I did some light running to gauge how fast my groin would allow me to run today (as it turned out, not very fast at all).

The first game was all big plays, with some very quick scores. It was almost comical in how fast the teams were scoring. Apparently I had also scored the first safety of the season and perhaps ever in out Thanksgiving tradition.

Unfortunately our QB for the day Mark banged up his knee and had to eventually sit out. He played on it for a little bit, but it was clearly giving him some trouble and finally had to shut it down for the day.

Luckily we had extra player and former MVP Dave in the wings and shuffled up the teams a bit.

I liked the new teams, thought both teams were fairly equal. We had a QB change and Mr. Yuk-Yuk really had a very solid day slinging the ball to us. I don’t believe he had any turnovers, and had some solid throws throughout the game.

Chris really carried our offense. Which was really great, I wasn’t moving nearly as well as I’m used to. Probably a combination of injury and just plain getting old slowing me down. I did get a chance to use a few stiff arms after making the catch, and still enjoy making several people have to take me down, even in flag somehow.

Our defense was especially solid as well. Gregg, Chris, Joe and myself all played consistant enough to give our team the win. I was especially impressed with how well we all played well together, it was a very solid team effort. Everybody picked up one another’s slack when necessary, and it was a very refreshing experience.

I did roll my ankle pretty good during the second game, slipping on mud a bit. But luckily it didn’t keep me from finishing and didn’t swell up as much after the game as it initially felt like it would.

All in all, another great game and a tradition that I really hope we can continue doing for many more years to come.

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Sports

Thanksgiving Football Game – 2010

In what is probably my favorite tradition I have, we played another Thanksgiving flag football game this year. We had a great bunch of guys playing this year, with some new comers added to the mix as well.

The team I was on:

  • Me
  • Josh
  • Mark
  • Dave

Other team:

  • Wes
  • Chris
  • Joe M.
  • Joe L.

On paper I really thought that the opposing team had the advantage, but I was lucky to be on the winning side this year. Everyone had at least one signature play it seemed, so that was great. The ball got spread around, with more short passes and trick plays than in years past.

I didn’t really do much offensively, but I always try to make sure to at least create working space for my teammates even if I’m not the one making the plays. Josh, Mark and Dave were making plenty of plays for us. Amazing job, especially for a bunch of “old” guys.

My personal highlight was my tackle on Joe M. and leveling block on Chris. Coincidentally the 2 gentlemen who trash talked me this week. LOL, honestly both instances were pure coincidence and no malice involved.

I must be getting old as my lower back is quite sore and a sprained finger is swelling up nicely as I type this. Nothing too bad however, but I’m really not used to feeling sore after our game.

Again this was a lot of fun, and a great bunch of guys. Competitive and fun, but not too competitive where people are acting like idiots. Can’t wait til next year.

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Thanksgiving Game 2009

We managed to get in a fine game of flag football in this morning. Thanks to Wes and Josh for rounding up enough able bodies to play as well as providing flags and cones for a respectable game.

A big surprise addition to this game for me were the Shepherd and a slimmed down Alex both playing. And they both played very well. Alex did burn me for a deep score, probably the longest play of the game. The Shepherd with a late QB switch almost lead his team to victory on this fine morning.

However on this day, I was fortunate enough to find myself on the winning side. Kyle gave us some very solid QB play. Wes played an extremely good 2 way day, with the most difficult task of guarding Josh for most of the game. The gunslinger Dave had some amazing catches, including the game winning TD. Very impressive.

Haha, I had a ton of drops. 2 or 3 of which were definite touchdowns. Oops, sorry guys.

Great game with a great bunch of guys. We’ll have to have a rematch next year if all of our bodies have recovered by then.

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Sports

What happened to football Sundays?

Today was the first NFL sunday of the 2008 season.  This used to be such a major event for myself.  Usually my friends and I would all get together rig up 2 TV’s in one room and make sure one of us had the NFL Sunday Ticket and we’d watch football most of the day.  Every weekend it seemed we were greeted by some special guest appearances.

We had many stadiums (aka: a living room) over the years, some great others not so (I always left with headaches from the TV bigger than the room).  The camaraderie always kept things fun, despite how poor the game on may have been.  

Slowly but surely the past several years there has been a steady decline in faces on Sunday.  No longer must you call fives if you must get up from your couch seat if you don’t wish to be banished to the floor.  Nor any singing of the Ford Truck Man song nor the Ring of Fire (popular commercials from a few seasons ago).  Or any of the other nonsense that was to be had.

This year I went to Charlies to watch the early games with Wes and Jared.  They’re both Dolphins fans and didn’t want to miss their game.  It was cool, to see all the games on the various TVs.  While the tradition is not as strong as it once was for me, it does survive. Â