Last Recap of 2005

We wuz rained out!

Enjoy the start of 2006 and the NFL Playoffs and we will see you back Jan. 21.

Brent will soon post some more pics so keep checking the blog!

Jim

Recap: Dec. 17, 2005

Big holiday greetings to everyone, regardless of how you celebrate it. It’s been great having all of you there this year and we can look forward to a terrific season of football in 2006.

We will be playing New Year’s Eve, so come out and catch the last pass of the season before you pass out a few hours later. Our first game in 2006 will be Jan. 21.

WEATHER: Heavy snow fell along the Sea of Japan coast and other parts of the country Sunday as the coldest air mass so far this season hit the archipelago. Meanwhile, in Venice, it was perfect football weather – 65, partly sunny, little wind.

WELCOME: A big welcome to Rodger and Jeremiah, both who fit right in immediately and are welcome back anytime.

GAME: A week after a defensive struggle, an Arena Football game broke out, with White winning 56-44. The over/under was 98, which made all the over bettors in Vegas happy when Bubba got that last TD pass.

HIGHLIGHTS

PLAYER OF THE GAME: I’m giving this one to John (aka Trojan Man, aka JB), who had about a thousand catches, most of them for key first downs or touchdowns. He’s incredibly reliable and has become my security blanket at receiver. Not that wild about the new beard thing (I’m a clean-shaven fan myself) but as long as he catches like that he can look like King Kong’s cousin for all I care. :-)

PLAY OF THE GAME: Brian Rubin (not to be confused with Brian Puff Daddy) made an amazing catch on a fourth down with the scored tied. Just like it was called in the huddle, I deliberately first had the pass hit the linebacker, then bounce off a defensive back and land in the waiting arms of Brian, who wound up going for a TD.

PLAY OF THE GAME II: It looked like just a short swing pass from David (Marino) to Tommy (back in Pirate Boy garb). But Tommy evaded tackles and made a great athletic play by keeping his balance, supporting himself on one arm without having his knee touch, before straightening up and running for a score. Puff Daddy’s wife (Christine?) was taking pics and has a great sequence that Brent will post later this week.

CATCH O’ THE DAY: This one goes to Rory for his exceptional grab on a deep slant. He went high, snagged the ball with one hand, brought it in with his second, secured the ball and scored. Very Marvin Harrison-like.

PEACE IS POSSIBLE: We had a UT grad (and former player) Jeremiah and Trojan Man on the same team, and nary a discouraging word was said.

ELUSIVE: Marino was hard to sack all day and consistently bought himself time. My favorite was one where he eluded the rush, scrambled to his right and threw a nice pass to Anthony who had run a good route in the back of the end zone. And Marino somehow ran 10 yards for a TD against a four-across zone.

BALL HAWKS: Brent led the pack with two picks, including one where he made a great play on the ball. … Puff Daddy had a nifty one on a play where Brian got a great rush. … Joe had a good one, wrestling the ball from the tight end. … JB had one, but to be fair it was such a duck that Knute Rockne could have caught it, and he’s been dead 74 years. Speaking of Rockne, I looked up his bio to see when he died and discovered he was born in Voss, Norway, a place Brent and I visited once on a trip. I had an incredible hamburger at this place and Brent ordered their veggie burger, which in Norway meant a bun, canned corn, lettuce and ketchup. Yum!

GO LONG: We had a lot of long plays, either for scores or to set them up. Mike made a nice grab and go on a TD on the first drive. … Pirate Boy did the same on a play where he went in motion. … Lisa managed to get open by about 20 yards on one play for a catch. … Anthony also went over the middle for a short pass he turned into a long gain. … Jeremiah was terrific on two deep posts for TDs where he really turned on the burners.

NOTABLE: Elia had to leave early but not before making several really nice catches. … Oren ran a perfect route on a crossing pattern that he took in for a score. … Rory made a great adjustment on one pass in the end zone that I threw as hard as I could and he still snagged it. … Lisa’s pooch looked so cute in his holiday getup, one of three dogs who kept us company. … Bubba’s TD catch was cool since it surprise even him when he held on to Anthony’s bullet.

See you soon!

Link to Dec. 10 Pics

Click here for the photos from the Dec. 10, and there's actually one of Brent! Of course, you can click on any image for a full-frame view.

Flag Recap: Dec. 10, 2005

WEATHER: Clear and sunny, high 70. Contrast this with the headline from the New York Times: “Snow, Winds and Misery From Plains to Northeast.”

GAME: One of the best in a while because we had a real defensive slugfest, a nice change of pace. The mud from Thursday night’s rain (it did rain in some places, Venice being one of them) slowed people down and we had tons of great D plays (drops did help), with Dark prevailing 26-20 (a low score considering we played more than 2 hours).

WELCOME: Big hello to Dave (nickname, I’m told, Meggett after the former Giant and Patriot running back). Big welcome back to Walter, who’s disappeared these last few years, and to Toby (in his first game since hurting his groin in the tournament).

MVP: Let’s share the honor with Brent and JP, the 2 defensive coordinators, who designed some effective formations. Of course, JP and I jumped Brent after for his habit of eavesdropping in the huddle (who is he, George Tenet?) His justification? Nobody listened to me anyway!

PLAYER OF THE GAME: We’ll give this one to Tommy, who had three TDs on some great catches and routes. He was wearing a shirt he picked up somewhere that said “Roover, national champs,” (we liked the Pirate one better) and no one knew what a Roover was. All I could find on the word on the Net were websites in Dutch.

BEST DRESSED: Shon was stylin with his red Undergear shirt, red shorts and red socks, though the black leggings didn’t do it for me. He should have worn green ones and looked like one of Santa’s elf.

CATCH OF THE DAY: Patrick made a brilliant grab on a slant pass that went slightly behind him. Without breaking stride, he reached back, pulled the ball in, secured it and had a long gain.

DROPSIES: We had a lot of dropped passes and my theory is the low humidity (20%) and the mud on the ball that may have made it slick. Either that or else people simply had butterfingers.

BEST OF THE O: Marino (David) played terrific with 4 TD passes. My favorite was one where Tommy faked the in, Marino pump-faked, Tommy took the out and they had a score. … Brian’s TD was also cool, on a hard slant and run into the end zone. … White’s first score came on a fourth-and-goal when Shon kept running his pattern and I led him in the back of the end zone. …

Patrick had a great catch and run on his TD on a ball that Shon was throwing to me, but Patrick ran the underneath route and snagged it. … Meggett had a nice 2-point conversion in the back of the end zone on a tipped pass that he caught low. … Toby showed his usual great instincts on a deep post that he caught in stride and took down to the 2. … Joe excelled on a short dumpoff where he made two guys miss before finally being tackled. … Walter had a couple of nice grabs in heavy traffic over the middle.

BEST OF THE D: Two nice pics by Toby, one where he jumped an out route and the other that was a carom off of Brent. … Patrick also had a superb pic that he caught while falling backwards, no easy feat. … Anthony seems to always get one pic a game and today was no different.
Marino did a good job pass rushing, recording two sacks. JP also got into the sack festival with a great rush and grab. …

Puff Daddy had one of those cool blocks as a rusher where the ball thudded against his body and fell to the ground. … Peter was solid at LB all game, especially on two balls he batted away. … Tommy made a terrific cornerback play on a key fourth down, where he managed to knock down the pass from behind without contacting the receiver.

SCHEDULE: We are playing Dec. 17, taking Christmas Eve off and back New Year’s Eve. We are not playing Jan. 7 and 14 since we can’t compete with the NFL playoffs, but are back Jan. 21 until we stop (usually in May sometime).

Link to Nov. 26 Pictures

Had a little problem posting the pics directly to the blog, so I set up a Flickr account.

Click here to view 2 pages of great pics from Nov. 26.

You can view a picture in several different sizes and leave comments if you wish.
Below is my favorite from the bunch, a great action photo:



Also, Brent has posted them with his unique commentary on his Mac page.

Flag Recap: Dec. 3, 2005

WEATHER: A tad blustery with some strong winds, but otherwise a beautiful 65 and sunny.

GAME: For all of those who stayed home to watch that thrilling, down-to-the wire, nail-biting USC-UCLA game, at least at Penmar, both teams showed up unlike at the Coliseum.

HIGHLIGHTS

WELCOME: A big welcome to Brian (loved him saying “merde” when his team would do something wrong), and to Blad. Of course, Blad is too difficult for Brent to remember, so he called him “Armani” in honor of his wearing a snazzy Under Armor jacket.

PLAY OF THE DAY: It actually occurred after a play when Anthony and JP were kidding around after JP made a catch and a first down. JP’s plan was to playfully toss the ball at Anthony’s chest. However, given JP’s aim, the ball wound up traveling harder and lower at Anthony, causing him to double over and talk like a Munchkin. It prompted this e-mail from Anthony:

“HEY MR. HIT-YOUNG-GUY-IN-THE-NUTS:

WELL, IT WAS FUN PLAYING FOOTBALL … EVEN THOUGH YOU HIT ME IN THE NUTS. BY THE WAY, THEY STILL HURT LIKE HELL. HOPE YOUR BF HITS YOU IN THE NUTS OR SOMETHING. (editor’s note: that would be more action than JP got all week).

PAYBACK’S A BITCH: Later in the game, JP caught a pass and was heading out of bounds when Anthony gave him a love tap from behind, causing JP to go sprawling. I was asked by someone whether it was legal to push someone out of bounds. Normally no, I said, but in this case the court ruled justifiable retaliation. No jury would convict Anthony.

GO DEEP: Best long passes were David’s (Marino) to Anthony on a deep post, and my long bomb to Zach, who ran a nice stop-and-go route and got by his defender.

BALL HAWKS: Anthony had two nice picks, and Brian (Puff Daddy) had one on a tip. The best was Blad, who baited me and jumped the route (went after the rookie once too much). Of course, if Blad had worn cleats he would have scored instead of tripping on his runback.

A STYLE ALL HIS OWN: Every pass thrown to Brent is an adventure. On one, we couldn’t determine whether he had possession when David wound up with the ball (a strip is illegal, but it would be an interception if Brent had possession). On several others, Brent would catch the pass, extend the ball past the first-down marker and stop, even though his flags were still on.

CATCHES ‘O THE DAY: Oren had several nice grabs, but none better than the one he held onto in the end zone on fourth down with David playing great coverage. …

Marc has great body control and had one especially great catch down the middle for a TD. …

Zach made a great inside fake move that he took outside in the deep corner of the end zone, catching the pass and getting his feet inbounds.

JP, in the shocker of the day, beat Anthony for a TD. The funny thing was, I saw JP had a step and threw it up. JP, of course, wasn’t looking and his eyes got big when he saw the ball, but he held on. …

Peter had a couple of nifty grabs coming across the middle, and uses his body well to shield the defender.

NEXT: We are back Dec. 10 and 17. We are off Dec. 24, but back Dec. 31.