Recap, May 14, 2005

WEATHER: Portions of the Southeast and Ohio Valley were hit with heavy rain storms Saturday, while other parts of the country saw scattered showers. … In Venice, it was 75 and sunny (clue Nelson Muntz taunt).

MIDSUMMER CLASSIC: Saturday was our final regular game until the Fall, but a lot of people expressed interest in a July game. I am looking at July 9 or 16; a couple of weeks out I will send an e-mail and we will play if we get at least 12 firm RSVPs. The weather in Venice is always great for football.

LOST AND FOUND: Memo to Trainer Mike: I got your white “Iron Mike” football shirt, will wash it and get it back to you whenever.

THANKS! To everyone who played this season. It was a bit of an adjustment moving from our longtime home in Hollywood, but the past weeks have been terrific and it’s cool to see so many people eager to play.

SPECIAL THANKS: To Brent, who was able to get us Penmar Park. Getting a field big enough to play football on a Saturday in LA at reasonable rates is not an easy thing.

HIGHLIGHTS

MVP: I’m calling it a 3-way (not THAT kind of a 3-way!) tie, between Toby, Julian and me (cue the boo-birds!). I threw about as well as ever (must be the Bledsoe jersey), while Toby and Julian were stellar on both offense and defense. Julian is a sophomore at Palisades High and plays linebacker and safety on their team; he happened to be walking by with two friends, Jerome and JR, who also played. Good guys.

TIP DRILL: Brian was involved on two of the wackiest plays. On defense, he caught an interception that bounced off a receiver, then off one of his fellow defenders. On offense, he made a great play on a pass I threw behind Kevin, who tipped it and Brian caught the rebound.

THE STREAK LIVES: Demond kept his long TD streak alive with a nice catch over the middle in traffic on a pass from David.

GOOD HANDS MEN: Al and John both had a bunch of nice catches, short, medium and deep. Al is not afraid to go for the ball in traffic, while John kept getting consistently open. And Kevin was aces, catching three TDs and a conversion. He has this way of just getting open.

WHAT’S IN A NAME: With multiple Mikes, Johns, Brians (given the week), Brent has a habit of assigning nicknames. When Cyd played with us, he was “Crackhead,” still one of the best. Now, we have Foxy (for Al, who works at Fox); Trojan Man (John, a USC alum) and my current favorite, Puff Daddy (for Brian, who enjoys a pregame smoke). Bubba gets into the act by calling Al “T-Mac” (for not being able to get out of the first round).

SHOVEL THIS: Team Dark ran the shovel pass to perfection numerous times. The best was Mike getting the ball and following great blocking by Brian, Julian and Kevin.

NOTABLE: Pass of the day was my hard slant to Toby for a score (“Like Montana to Taylor,” John said). … Mike and John get my award for best flag grabbers of the day. … Jesse often arrives a bit late but always delivers on offense and defense. … David did a nice job QBing the other side, with some terrific throws to Al and John. … A big welcome back to Mike Scusy; love the Mohawk!. … Another great rushing job by Jonathan, who had one bat down of a pass and made me always aware of what side he was coming in from. … Bubba made some great defensive plays, including a key stop on a conversion. And he went 1 for 1 passing for 1 yard.