Recap April 22, 2006

WEATHER: For the 7th consecutive Saturday, rain was forecast. For the 7th consecutive Saturday, it was dry in Venice. Peter woke up in cloudy, drizzly Burback, ignored sunscreen and wound up a nice shade of pink.

SCHEDULE: We have three weeks left this season – April 29, May 6 and May 20. We are off May 13 (field not available).

GAME: Hard to tell who won since people kept coming and going (insert double entendre here). So we'll call it a victory for all!

MVP: Gotta give it to Dan this week. He gets traded from Dark (0 passes thrown his way) to White and promptly scores on his first play, He scored twice more, threw a TD pass (to me, of all people. You should have seen my spike!) and snagged an interception. Payback's a bitch.

EDWARD SCISSORSHANDS: This applies to a lot of us today. We dropped the ball more than Donald Rumsfeld planning Iraq. Doink! One sequence summed it up: Dan went into QB. His first pass hit me in the hands in the end zone. Drop. His second hit Jeremiah in the hands in stride. Drop. His third hit Toby in the hands in the end zone. Drop. Toby smartly blamed me, saying my moving to WR disrupted the receivers' mojo.

MARATHON MAN: Toby's training for the San Diego Marathon, so he ran 18 miles before playing. "My legs are gone," he said at the end.

MEDICAL REPORT: Patrick wound up with terrible blisters after the game and everyone gave him their favorite remedy. Brent suggested slathering his feet with Vasaline before playing, prompting Patrick to say: "OK, Brent, I want you to rub Vasaline on my feet the next time before we play." Brent's eyes lit up.

BLOCK OF THE DAY: Marino hit Patrick with a short slant pass and he began motoring. Over from one side came Peter, from the other JJJ. The two met and JJJ knew what a 7.9 earthquake feels like. "Illegal pick!" he screamed, until he realized he had been drilled by his own teammate.

BALL HAWKS: Some nice picks today. Marino got one on a nice read on the ball; Dan had his as mentioned; Mike made a nifty grab of one as linebacker and Toby wrestled the ball away from Brent on another.

MAKE SOME NOISE: It is funny to hear the sound Brent makes when he drops a pass; JJJ says it's his "Southern Belle" coming out but it's more like it's the air being expelled from his lungs since he tends to catch the pass with his chest. So, after being needled by JJJ, Brent enjoyed going over to him after he dropped a couple and needling him back. Snap!

GO DEEP: Best long pass was the Jim to Mike connection on one of the first series. A nice route, good throw and catch and the score.

NOTABLE: Peter had two nice TDs, including one on a deep slant made a possible by a nifty play fake by Marino. … John made a superb grab in the deep right corner of the end zone, getting body position, going up for the ball and setting his feet in bounds. … Some of the Dark defense was curious, especially the "no-rush" version. I'll take 8 seconds to throw any day. … Lamest block was by me on Mike's interception. It was my Southern Belle moment. … Toby made a nice move on a fake corner then slant for a TD. ... John said JJJ looked like Donna Summer in juking and jiving after one catch.