Dec 22 Recap

Winter cheer was in the air (as was a winter chill) on the semi-green gridiron at Glencoe as the SMFL wrapped up 2007 with a low-numbered but high-energy turnout. Thank you to the guys who showed up even with winds gusting up to 70+ mph and temperatures hovering around 30. Since the league does not allow running plays, every pass became an adventure and a virtual playground game of "500."

Also, this week marked the debut of flags used by the SMFL. It created a big play environment, as players struggled in consistently grabbing flags. This seems to be a good fit with the SMFL, as it allows playmakers to do their thing and at the same time penalizing lazy defense.

In Game 1, the teams shook out like this:

Team A

Peg Leg Casey
Baylor Dave
B-Ruby
Ryan

Team B

Romo Farrellio
Chris P
Favre

We all got a glimpse of how good Chris P. can be two weeks ago during Tournament Week 2. He joined forces with the reigning champs and carried them to a repeat title. This week was no different...he put on a show in Game 1 that rivals some of the past great individual performances in the SMFL. He accounted for 5 of his teams 7 points enroute to a quick 7-3 victory, catching 4 and 1 house call (a pick returned for a TD). "He's approaching nickname status in the league," gushed an exuberant Romo Farrellio after the game, who also had his usual solid game with 2 TD passes and 2 TD catches. "It's nice to have a player like Chris with soft hands and speed with elusive moves to throw it to all game," remarked Favre about the receiver of a couple of his TD passes.

So, it should be no surprise that the MVP award for Week 9 in the SMFL goes to Chris P. Congratulations Chris, and we look forward to you continuing to show up.

As it is the practice of the SMFL to only hand out the MVP award based on the premier game each week other than Tournaments weeks, we will simply call Peg Leg Casey the Impact Player of Game 2. Playing on the man-down team with Romo Farrellio and B-Ruby, Peg Leg accounted for 5 of his teams 7 scores, including a couple under the unique category of throwing and catching the same TD (throwing it then after a few laterals running it in). This was what everyone thought he was all about prior to the devastating hamstring of last season. It was good to see an SMFL Legend performing at full strength and ability.

A note from the Commish's office:
Please have a safe and happy Christmas break, enjoying time with friends and family. Remember that your actions away from the field reflect not only on yourselves but also on the league. And on a serious note, Casey provided a very thought provoking pre-game devotional: What if God's gift of Christ (birth, ministry, death, resurrection) and the salvation he offers was the only gift and/or good thing you were given? Would that be sufficient for you? Merry Christmas players, and we'll see you all January 5, 2008!!