Recap Nov. 12, 2005

WEATHER: The National Weather Service says thunderstorms could cause snow to fall at a rate up to 2 inches an hour in some places. That was in Colorado. In Venice, it was sunny, clear, 70 and beautiful. Bo was upset that he forgot his sunglasses.

WELCOME: A big welcome to Pete, who flew all the way from Boston to play. Actually, there was a four-letter reason he flew out, but it was great having him. And more hellos to Anthony, Marco, Bo, Lou, Marc and Oren. You are all welcome back anytime.

GAME: White rallied to pull away from Dark, covering the spread, according to the Vegas line.

HIGHLIGHTS:

MVP: The award this week goes to Anthony. He drove all the way from Banning (near Palm Springs), then wound up with a bunch of catches and three TDs. He also played great defense. His best catch was a Chad Johnson-like effort on a corner fade, where he went up caught the ball and came down on his back with the catch. Well done!

HISTORY: Marco enters the record book as the Belgian with the most catches in LA Motion history. Of course, he got the record when he caught his first pass and added to it later. He works as a cruise director and is stationed in LA for a couple of months.

DISTRACTED: JP was supposed to be calling defense on one key goal-line play. But a company was doing a casting call near the field and JP’s eyes were glued to some guy who was auditioning. Zach had to wave his arms in JP’s face and Chad said, “JP, call a defense!” The defense worked, which proves that we are all better off if JP’s mind is elsewhere and someone else is doing the thinking.

NEWCOMER: UCLA Brian brought his friend Lou and said that while he was athletic, he didn’t really know football. Could have fooled us! Lou ran crosses, slants and outs and made almost every catch.

ZACH ATTACK: Nice having Zach return for his first game since injuring his hamstring in the Oct. tournament. He was back, it seemed, at 120%. He made a great catch on a deep slant, then outraced the defense for one score. On several other catches he made Barry Sanders-like moves, making tacklers miss.

TIMING: A cool play was Puff Daddy’s great long post to UCLA Brian. Zach had great coverage it looked like he was going to pick it off and take it to the house, but the ball was perfectly thrown, Brian made a great grab and wound up scoring. It is a game of inches (as Bubba is always saying about our group!).

IN A RUSH: Bill Walsh always said a late-game pass rush was the key to victory and that held true for White, with great pressure by JP, Peter (who had a key sack) and Jonathan in the second half.

BALL HAWKS: We had 84 points scored but only 4 turnovers. UCLA Brian led the way with two picks, JP had a great one he timed to take back all the way and Patrick also chipped in with one.

BEST CELEBRATION: JP doing the “Riverdance” after scoring a TD. He actually did a surprisingly good job.

MEASURING UP: I kept woofing at Brent for his marking the first downs at 12 yards instead of 10. I think he must be playing by Albanian flag rules. He then said my mark-offs looked like they were done by a Rockette.

CRAIGSLIST AD OF THE WEEK: Under "Activities/Los Angeles": Hey mid20s guy here looking to watch football on Sunday in the buff. Can host, real laid back nice guy...not looking for anything but a person to chill with. Be cool with being nude...happy to provide a pick. (JP, are you lying about your age again?)

WORTH NOTING: Craig seems to catch everything thrown his way and had two nice long TD catches. … Chad was a very vocal MLB, playfully taunting anyone who came in his area; he also scored on a direct snap from center. … Joe showed excellent concentration on a long pass that he caught while falling down. … Patrick was great on a short slant he took all the way. … Most comical sequence was White have two consecutive do-overs on what seemed to be Patrick TDs, then finally having it be third time the charm with Chad. …

Anthony made a great adjustment on one long pass that was first meant to be a post, but became more of an out by the time he caught it. … Mock salute was given by Team Dark to Marco for playing great defense and knocking away a pass to Pete (only problem was that Marco and Pete were on the same team on offense.) … Great leaping grab by Peter over the middle that left some wondering where he got that vertical leap. … Oren came late but it didn’t stop him from scoring a TD in his maiden game.

NEXT: We are back next week, Nov. 19, Penmar Park, noon.