Flag Recap Nov. 17, 2007

WEATHER: Serbia's Euro 2008 soccer encounter with Kazakhstan was postponed due to heavy snow in Belgrade. Wimps! But in the real "football" played in Playa Vista, it was 72 and sunny. A perfect day on the best field we have ever played on.

WELCOME: A big welcome to Bryan, and a big welcome back to Matt, Mike Karsh and Ruben (one of my all-time favorite players).

GAME: White made a few early stops and wound up winning going away. Can't recall the score but White did cover.

NEXT: We are playing Nov. 24 (enough people said they are in town) and are at PENMAR. There is no youth events that day and we wanted to reserve Playa for Dec. 1.

PLAY OF THE GAME: I had underthrown Patrick on two previous streaks, and was not going to let it happen again. He ran a great pattern down the right side and I threw it as high and hard as I could. The ball hit him in the stride in the end zone. (Click photo left for larger view of the play).

BAD BREAKS: Drew completion % suffered when he had some great passes fall into, then out of, receivers' hands. People who had Drew as their Fantasy QB are not happy. And most of these happened when Drew was throwing downhill, so there (the field is flat but Dark insisted we switch sides so they could go downhill).

DRIVING NEAR MISHAP OF THE DAY: Coming off one of the off-ramps onto Slauson, I was too busy reading the driving directions and looked up to see traffic stopped ahead. Thank heavens for ABS brakes! At the field, Mike (Brent calls him "Beefcake") said, "Was that you that almost rear-ended me?"

SURPRISE RECEIVER OF THE DAY: Brent is having a hearing issue with his right ear (we all hope it's temporary), so we are not sure if that's why he ran such crisp routes and made several terrific grabs. Someone suggested it readjusted his sense of balance, ie, giving him one!

GREAT GRABS: Loved Drew's catch down the middle deep on a pass from Sean. … Ruben made a superb catch on a deep corner pass in the end zone for a score. … Ditto to Toby on a sideline TD grab. … Bryan scored in his first game on a nice crossing pattern from Drew.

NICE MOVES: Patrick made some nifty cuts after he caught a shovel pass and weave his way into the end zone for a score. … Matt also showed some wheels after catching a dump off and getting a nice gain.

DEE--FENSE: Gator Mike made a nice play to sack me early in the game … Patrick, Matt, Angel and Beefcake Mike made a great tandem in the White blitz scheme. … Best interception was Patrick, who caught the ball seven yards deep in the end zone and ran 87 yards back for the game's last score. "I'm done" he moaned as he lay on the turf after the run … Ruben, Sean and Drew also had picks, and Drew caught his as White was going uphill, so it was easier.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!