Sunday, November 25, 2007

Flag recap Nov. 24, 2007


WEATHER: Perfect for football – 72 and sunny and calm.

PHOTOS: Me scoring a TD. More also at the bottom. Thanks to Brent.

SCHEDULE: We are back at Playa Vista, Dec. 1. I will send a reminder.

WELCOME: A big welcome to Brent, who had been living in San Diego. A big welcome back to Dan, who works most Saturdays. And a big welcome as a player to Chris Sauers, our favorite ref who played for the first time.

GAME: One of the most bizarre we had in a long while. In the SEC this week, Arkansas beat LSU 50-48 in 3 OT and Tennessee beat Kentucky 52-50 in 4 OT. At Penmar Park, White came back from deficits of 26-6 and 38-20 to win 58-56 in 2 OT, our first OT game in years.

White, on its last possession, scored to make it 44-42, then converted the 2-pointer to send it into OT. In the first OT, each team scored and did not convert. In the second, White scored and converted to go up 58-50. Dark scored a TD, then missed the 2-pointer and we all finally went home. Whew!

CREATIVE: Dark certainly ran more inventive plays. Shaun was usually QB, but he often did faked it to Brent (new Brent) and tossed it back to Dan, who became QB. They made a ton of big plays off that formation.

BEST CATCHES: A tie – Patrick sent the game into OT with a beautiful catch for the 2-pointer that tied it. Toby threw it a bit high in the back of the end zone but Patrick stretched as far as his 5-9 frame would allow, secured the ball and tapped his toes in before falling down.

I, yes that is not a misprint, scored White’s last TD when I went up in the back of the end zone for a pass from Patrick and held on despite being jostled and semi-somersaulting to the ground. My hamstring is still pissed.

SACK MASTER: Bubba played like a rusher reborn, sacking me three times for losses. He called himself Gilbert Brown, but played more like Dwight Freeney.

TD MAKER: For a while, Toby was White’s entire offense and he did it on defense. He made two great picks that he ran back really long for TDs. In addition, he had several big catches and some nice passes.

DAN THE MAN: Dan was maybe the best player in the game. He made a ton of catches and had several TDs and also had two interceptions.

BLAME GAME: Patrick got, shall we say, “toasted” a few times and each time we would hear White team Brent scream “Chainsaw!” (Patrick’s nickname). So on one play Brent was awfully quiet when a pass hit him in the hands and was intercepted. We were all hoping Patrick would scream, “Brent!” Brent made up for it by catching the game-winning 2-pointer on his knees (a preferred position).

HUSTLE AND FLOW: Two plays illustrate why it is important to keep playing. On one, Brent (new) was racing for a score when Brent (photog) kept chasing him, finally tackling him at the 2. On the next play, Toby picked off the ball and ran it back for a score.

Later, Dan picked off a fourth-down pass in the end zone and White all just stood there. Dan just started to run and kept running for a TD.

BALL HAWKS: In addition to two picks by Toby and Dan, Shaun also got two and Patrick one.

FACE: Patrick lined up to throw a 2-pointer and Bubba laughed and said “pick.” Patrick then threw it over his head to Toby for the score.

NOTABLE: Hinders made a nice pylon run for a successful 2-pointer, then got wide open for a long gainer later. … I made a catch over my shoulder and amazingly outran the pursuit for a 50-yard gain. My Achilles is not happy. … Chris scored twice late on nice routes in the end zone, and also threw for a 2-pointer. … Dark team Brent consistently got open and turned short passes into big gainers. … Chris had his first penalty called on him when Bubba flagged him for offensive PI. … A nice sideline grab by Jeff on a key late drive. … And how did Patrick get so open on that one pass from Toby? Was Patrick covering himself? ... Best flag grab was Hinders twisting grab of Patrick's flag that saved a huge gainer. ... Ouch -- Dan bet $400 and laid 38 with the Patriots at 8-1 odds.

Click photo for larger view:


Sunday, November 18, 2007

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!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Back Nov. 17 at Playa Vista

Hey Everyone:

We are back this Saturday at beautiful Playa Vista Sports Park (directions below).

All you need to do is bring a white and dark shirt, cleats and water. We are not charging a field fee.

Directions:
6200 Playa Vista Drive, Playa Vista, 90094

From LA, this is a good shortcut and will avoid the 405:

-Take La Brea South, top of the hill in the oil fields Right [west] on Stocker.
-Deadend shortly - left [south] on La Cienega.
-First exit right [west] on Slauson.
-Past Fox Hills Mall, just past Sepulveda, a slight left [west] on Jefferson.
-Just past Home Depot, left on Playa Vista Drive, off of Jefferson for 3 blocks until you dead end. Don't be fooled by the smaller field right on Jefferson by the entrance.

We played Nov. 10 but since I did not do a writeup right after, I've forgotten most of what happened. Kudos to new player Ray, though.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Flag Recap: Nov. 3, 2007

(note: click on photo for larger image. MORE PHOTOS HERE. All taken by Brent)

PROGRAMMING NOTE: We are playing back at Penmar Park Nov. 10 since Playa is not available. We are back at Playa Nov. 17.

WEATHER:
It will snow in the high sections of the Eastern Anatolia in Turkey and northern side of the Black Sea region. But in Playa Vista, it was sunny, calm and 75. Perfect for football.

WELCOME: We had a great turnout and game and a lot of new players. We had Andrew (tall), Andrew (red shorts) and Andrew (lawyer), to go along with Andrew (Urlacher). We also had Mike (from NYC, just moved here) and Mike (from NBC). And Sean, who played for the SD Sharks in the tournament (his fakeout of Toby was a classic). And Jeff and Angel and John.

GAME:
A back-and-forth thriller that saw White pull it out 42-38 on the game's last play.

FIELD: A big thanks to Brent for securing us Playa. It is very hard to find field space in LA on Saturdays and this was a beautiful field to play on. Playa will only let us reserve one event at a time, so we will be week to week depending on how busy Penmar is. (Note: If anyone knows of any available fields in the LA area, let me know).

QB SHUFFLE
: We had five guys play QB; Andrew (tall), Dave and me for White; Toby and Sean for Dark. By my count, all threw TD passes.

BEST TATTOO: Hard to beat Angel's "O" for Ohio State on his upper back.

GUTTY
: The heroic performance goes to JP, who played with a painful case of planter fasciitis (or is it Planters Roast Nuts?). Doctors are talking amputation, yet he was out there with nary a complaint (roll eyes). He so inspired us all that players were weeping. After the game, Bush announced he was awarding JP the Congressional Medal of Freedom along with Alberto Gonzales, another failed lawyer.


TRICKERY
: There were several cool plays called. Dark did a backwards pass from Toby to Sean, who then threw a 2-point conversion to Peter(?). White did them one better -- Jim to Dave to Drew (tall) to ?? for the conversion.
Drew (tall) also called a nifty play, recalling Jay Novacek, the Cowboys tight end. Mike (NYC) dropped to his knees as if he had fallen, then got up and was open in the end zone for a score. Of course, Mike almost forgot to get up. Patrick called his own number for the game-winner, recalling Wes Welker of the Pats. He ran a route along the line of scrimmage, then turned up the sidelines. Drew (tall) hit him in stride and the game was over.

BALL HAWKS
: There were 2 picks in the game -- Mike (NYC) caught one off a tipped pass and took it back 50 yards to set up a score. Drew (red shorts) caught one off a long pass attempt.


SACK MASTERS
: John had a sack of me that was a great flag grab; Mike (NYC) had one as did Patrick off a corner blitz.


HIGHLIGHTS
: Peter had several nice catches, including one TD. The best was his grab over the middle for about 20 yards. … Angel did a great job catching passes off the center spot, grabbing about five in that formation. … Jeff got totally open on two long bombs for scores and he had a couple of other nice long-gainers. …
Toby hit Sean on a great strike across the middle for a TD, throwing a laser that Sean hauled in. … Dave was clutch all day and he had one TD where he got lost and I basically just had to shot-put him the ball. … Andrew (lawyer) showed great concentration hauling in a tipped pass in the crowded middle for a conversion. … I hit Drew (tall) on a nice deep slant that he hauled in for a long gainer. … JP had a nifty catch and run along the sidelines, though I am not sure playing in a walker is allowed. … Brent even got into the scoring circus with a catch from Sean in the back of the end zone. … Mike (NBC) is no longer a virgin after catching his first pass. … Andrew (Urlacher) had one of those catches where he stopped thinking his flag was grabbed, then slid into the end zone.

Thanks everyone
for playing and looking forward to next week. Our plan is to play through the winter and then have a league.
MORE PHOTOS HERE.