GAME TIME!

Well, another Saturday morning was here and gone. Saturday mornings are by far the best mornings of the week, with Sunday morning a strong second and Friday morning a slightly distant third… but I digress. I awoke early to get in a quick weight lifting session before the regular 10am football game. The cool morning of spring is very pleasant to jog in and the quiet time in the morning allows you to enjoy nature in peace. A nice change from the semi trucks and road rage drivers that drown out the pleasant sounds with revving engines, horns and squeaky breaks. My wife, who always enjoys the outdoors, was trying to sleep off some allergies, so I was flying solo this morning.

After the workout, I drove downtown to the Glencoe Park, in great anticipation for this week’s game (how many people would show? How many times would I intercept Sandman? Or would I be able to catch Avery today?)… All these questions were circulating in my head, and all would be answered in a very short time!

The SMFL survived for another week! We had a great showing today with 7 total players and one new addition, Tyler. Shout out to Hunter who loves playing in the league so much that he left his new born son with the first hobo on the street that he could find for baby sitting in order to play (and when I say hobo, I mean his sister… not that his sister is a hobo or anything… I don’t even know his sister… is she cute? Is she single? Not for me, I’m asking on behalf of a friend… Schremmer is looking for a date!).

Anyway, so we had seven guys this week which lead to a classic battle of 3 on 4, probably the best battle we had seen in the league in quite some time. Hunter, Ricky and James (Team Red) v.s Schremmer, Tyler, Holland and Farrell (Team Farrell ehh.rrr. I mean Team Blue).

Team Red took the ball first and scored somewhat easily on 4 plays.

Team Blue had Schremmer at the helm for the first drive and HE (notice HE; Schremmer) did not complete a single pass in the first five downs! That includes a play that had me WIDE OPEN in the End zone… never mind that the ball he threw, came down just over my left shoulder, and through the hole that my arms had made, very beautiful to look at, but still no completion… seriously Schremmer, learn to throw a football!

Ok, so maybe THAT one was my fault… and possibly the other four throws were not Schremmers fault either… ok so really none of it was Schremmer’s fault but I want to blame someone and that someone isn’t going to be ME!

Alright so after five and out, Team Red gets the ball and scores on 2 plays this time…. Great, down 2-0 and we have only been playing for 10mins… Now I know that your thinking that we are getting whipped because its 4 on 3… well it is, but Team Blue has 4 players and Team Blue is getting whipped by a team with only three players! Slightly irritating… but those guys are good athletes! I mean I think Ricky has “thrown a football over them mountains” before… and Glencoe Park has a lot of mountains nearby so that’s a pretty good throw! And when I say mountains, I mean the mountain of dog poo that is scrapped off the field before every game. So actually, Ricky throwing a ball “over them mountains” really isn’t that impressive at all…. Yeah he’s a scrub, I said it… but he is better than me. (So what does that make me!?).

Ok, so Team Blue goes another series at five and out and the ball goes back to Team Red.
On the second play in the series, Hunter completes a pass to Ricky who attempts to lateral it back to James… the lateral is dropped and rolling around on the ground. LIVE BALL!!!!!!! Schremmer quickly scoops up the ball and runs the other way (with me as lead block). He cuts across the field and takes off down the sideline, hurdles Ricky and out runs James to the end zone for a score for Team Blue!!! WOOWHO!!! Ok, it didn’t really happen like that, but it would have been cooler if it did…. In stead, after cutting across the field, Schremmer lateraled it back to me and I barley made it to the end zone.

This marked the FIRST time a fumbled lateral, had been returned for a TOUCHDOWN! Schremmer kept the ball and took it home with him since he recovered the lateral and really got the play going, I was just in the right place at the right time. IT WAS A TEAM EFFORT!

OK, fast forward a little bit because I’m getting slightly carried away and I’m running out of time.

The score gets tied up at 6 a piece, eventually. The south wind, which was quite cool, started kicking up and making playing condition very tough. Team Red and Team Blue both had game winning drives that were thwarted by good defense. Team Red started the drive on their own goal line and with one laser beam strike from Hunter to Ricky, Team Red was within 10 yards of the end zone. Team Blue, in desperation, huddled and called a two man blitz on the second play to try and force a turnover.

“We knew our defense wouldn’t last with 4 plays within 10yrds of the end zone… we needed a break” (anonymous Team Blue member).

Team Red, anticipating the blitz, called for a half back pass, which confused team Blue and left Hunter wide open for the winning touchdown!

“It was the right play at the right time,” all members of Team Red said together in unison.

With everyone shaking hands, another week of the SMFL comes to an end.

Stay tuned for the weekly e-mail, but until then:

-Stay classy America