Flag Recap Jan. 17, 2009

Hey Everyone:

We started our winter pickup following a holiday break. Our fall league was a success (details here), and we are gearing up for a spring league. We are always looking for new players, so get your friends to come out. We will play pickup the next several weeks and get the league details out to everyone.

WEATHER: Bitter cold kept its grip today on the Northeast. ... But in Venice it was 75, sunny and beautiful. We all had on shorts and wore sunscreen.

CATCH O' THE DAY: By Brent, no that is not a misprint. He ran a nice slant pattern and Ray put the ball over the LB and it sounded like a giant sucking sound when the ball hit Brent's gloves and stayed on. Cyd threw him the TD on the drive that was all Brent all the time.

HE CALLED IT: The day was getting late and people had to go. On what turned out to be the final play, Brian picked it off and said, "I wanted to get it over with." Yes, he willed the QB to throw the ball high and for the receiver to let it bounce off his hands right to Brian.

DEER, MEET HEADLIGHTS: Brian did QB for four plays, if you want to call it that. White blitzed all four plays and Brian basically kept backing up and up until he threw up a zeppelin. Amazingly, his team caught two of them.

DEEP BALL OF THE DAY: I threw a pass for the first time since tearing my biceps tendon Nov. 1 and it felt good. Had a nice deep pass to Patrick, a great deep route runner, for a TD.

DEEP THOUGHT: Did you all know our flags are gay?

QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY I: Christophe had to leave to play in a touch football game on an adjoining field. His team color? Pink!

QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY II: Duffy wore a green turban that matched his green shirt and his green eyes.

TRICKY: White caught Dark with the old quick snap, as Cyd ran it in. It almost fooled me since my hike to Cyd was a bit off.

NOTABLE: ZS had a terrific catch and run on a slant he took down the sidelines. ... Austin showed some nifty moves on a couple of catches where he juked defenders. ... Ray ran a nice fade route to the corner for the score. ... Jake walked the tightrope on a catch he took to the house. ... Best pick and run came from ZS, who showed great hustle all day. ... Great pump fake by Christophe that allowed Patrick to break open on a sideline route for a TD.

NEXT: We are back at Penmar Park, noon, Saturday Jan. 24. The touch league has a permit for 3 fields, so we need to make space near the baseball field. It's long enough but about 5-7 yards more narrow than the league rules. We will make do for now, but will have a better field at Penmar or elsewhere for the league.