Flag Recap: Oct. 29, 2005

WEATHER: Snow and rain showers continued into the evening. Ooops, that was New England. In Venice it was sunny, 70, no wind; yawn.

WELCOME: A big welcome to David1 (we’ll call him Marino because of his jersey), and David2 (known as David), and Kevin. They are were terrific guys and players.

HIGHLIGHTS

GO DEEP: The game started like a marathon and wound up like a track meet. We had long bombs for scores on the first play in 3 of 4 drives. And the passes were thrown by three QBs: Jim, Dan and David/Marino. Plus, Will got in the act later with a great connection to Dan. And Dan returned the favor with a bomb to Will.

CALCULATIONS: Marino came in to QB and went 2 for 2 for 130 yards and 2 TDs. I found a calculator for the NFL QB rating and that will get you a perfect 158.3. His next pass was intercepted (not really his fault) and that dropped his rating to 109.72.

JP came in and quarterbacked a two-point conversion, which had the other team so stunned that he actually completed it! He would have a rating of 147.92.

GREAT HANDS I: Rory was able to play only for a short time but he made the most of it. He had the catch of the day when he went deep on a post and I led him a little too far and assumed the ball would be incomplete. But Rory kept running, extended fully and snagged the ball a few inches off the ground and the TD. Impressive.

GREAT HANDS II: David had some great catches all day, using his height and skills (he attended a spinning class before the game and was going to play softball after, while I headed for ice for my knees).

GREAT HANDS III: Kevin also impressed with his skills, making several TD catches and conversions.

MAN'S BEST FRIEND: They say dogs know their masters well and this was true when JP caught a slant pass and ran 50 yards for a score. Patton, tied up on the sidelines, barked loudly and JP claimed he was "cheering." Hah! That was a bark of amazement since he's never seen JP move so fast.

MINI-SUBS: There were 2 kids (maybe 10) who were waiting for their team to show up and practice so we let them play it was us; they were both cute to watch. The one caught a pass, then promptly thought he was Barry Sanders and wound up losing yardage. The other actually called his number twice and both worked; a future Bill Walsh!

A CROSS TO BEAR: Crossing patterns were effected all day. Doug caught one on the run and managed to weave his way for a score. Will and David also got into the act. I must say that were a few picks thrown, so much so that Patrick Fitzgerald is preparing indictments for obstruction.

Speaking of the special prosecutor, he’s in his 40s … single … likes cats. Yeah, I thought the same thing!

NOTABLE: Brent had a bunch of good catches, yet had this funny way of running (or not) after the catch. He would catch a pass, then thrust the ball high above his head and stand there, assuming his flag was being grabbed. Only cries of “Go! Go!” got him running. … JP had a sweet catch in the back of the end zone for a TD (we call it the “$5 play” because he bet me $5 once in a tournament that he would be open on the play and damn if he wasn’t. We all know how money motivates him! … I had a nifty grab on a pass from on a crossing pattern. … Dan made a great defensive play on an out, where he was able to tip the pass, grab it and run it back for a score. ... Brent had a heads-up pick where he defended the pass, got a tip and grabbed it like a center-fielder. (Note: Brent whined that this last entry didn't capture the true flavor of the play, since after tipping the pass, then picking it off, he avoided tacklers on the return and wound up lateraling it back to JP, who gained a whole extra two yards. Duly noted!)

QUOTABLE I: Not from our game, but saw this quote again from former Tampa Bay coach John McKay, whose team started their history 0-26. After one dreadful loss, a writer asked McKay what he thought of his team’s execution. “I’m in favor of it,” McKay said.

QUOTABLE II: WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes came out as a lesbian this week. Bill Maher quipped that a women’s basketball player said she was a lesbian, “and this came out in the latest issue of ‘No Shit’ Magazine. It was also reported that Yao Ming is Chinese.”

NEXT: We are back Sat. Nov. 5, Penmar Park at noon. Have a great week!

Flag Recap: Oct. 22, 2005

WEATHER: Perfect football weather—cloudy, cool (in the 60s). All we needed was a little rain for a mud bowl.

WELCOME: A big welcome to first-timers Will, Rory and Cory. They all played well and are welcome back any time.

A great start to our season and we wound up with Dark and White playing to a 32-32 tie. We played one round of OT and were still tied, then too many people had to leave so we called it a draw. I need to call Vegas to see what the line was.

HIGHLIGHTS

GAME BALLS: First one goes to Rory, who dropped his first pass (he blamed it on my girly-man pass) and then caught everything in sight. I counted three TDs and a conversion. On his one TD, he caught a short slant and made some nifty moves to score.

Second ball goes to Brian (the tall Brian, not to be confused with QB Brian, whom we call Puff Daddy). Brian had about a zillion catches and two picks and was all over the field. But he does get one demerit for wanting to go for 1!

TRICK PLAY OF THE DAY: I threw it back to Will at wide left, who then threw it behind to the far right to Shon, who threw to a wide-open Rory for a 2-point conversion.

FAKE TRICK PLAY OF THE DAY: Puff Daddy made a terrific fake handoff to Dave, which caused the rusher to go after Dave. PD then made an easy throw to Shane for a score.

BEST JUMP PASS OF THE DAY: It was the only one, but it was pretty cool. Shon ran the option and tossed it to DuJuan, who jumped about 4 feet in the air while throwing a perfect strike for a score. I would need a ladder to get that high.

SPEED IT UP: For future games we will institute some sort of play clock. There were times when the White defense had time to paint still-lifes as Dark drawing up plays.

BEST USE OF BODY (For Football Purposes): Peter, who did a great job of using his body (somebody said booty) to shield the defender and make a catch.

WORST USE OF BODY: On a hard, low pass from PD that was just out of the reach of Joe, the ball was slightly defected and hit Peter in spot that makes one sing soprano. That's taking one for the team!

GOOD HANDS: Top catches were Brian’s slide along the sideline that was first ruled out. It was reversed when we went to replay. … Craig’s great over-the-shoulder grab that set up a touchdown. … Bubba going high to grab one in traffic. … Cory made a terrific catch for a TD on a key drive. ... Will had a great catch and run for a TD on the first drive, then set up the tying TD on a long catch down the sideline.

DEFENSIVE STAND OF THE DAY: Dark stopped White on four tries from the 1. It didn’t help when Bubba slipped while wide open. We made him get cleats for the tournament we played in, and he forgot them Saturday.

NOTABLE: Nice to see Lisa back and she had some nice grabs. … Brent continues to be the smartest defensive player and always has to be accounted for. … Mike had a nice sack and also a bat down of a pass while rushing. … Shane started slowly but it was nice to see his pony-tail flapping in the breeze as he zig-zagged on several catches. … Dave dropped one long pass, then came back a few plays later with a nice catch down the sideline.

NEXT: We are back next week, Oct. 29, noon. A plea to get there on time.

Pics From LA Motion at the 2005 Gay Super Bowl

Brent took these pics during the weekend. LA went 3-1 and had a great time!