Flag Recap March 22, 2009

WEATHER: Another great day, which means I should stop with the weather report each week. Why do LA TV stations spend so much time on something that seldom changes?

GAME: White jumped out to a 12-0 lead, Red then scored 24 in a row, then White took over and won by 12.

NEXT: This is the last pickup game of the spring. League starts Saturday at Penmar, all players report by 11:30 a.m. Pickup resumes in September as a lead-in to the Fall league. Thanks everyone for playing this winter!

PICK SIX: We had three passes returned for TDs on nice defensive plays – ZS, Pete and George.

GOING DEEP: Some terrific long passes for TDs, also – Zach from Juan and Marc from Christophe stand out. The best deep pass of the day by Bradley was unfortunately dropped in the end zone by a player whose initials are Z and S.

CATCH O' THE DAY: By new player Ryan who focused on the ball while still dragging his first foot in along the sideline.

PASS RUSH GAMES: It was fun watching Juan as QB being pursued by the likes of Hector, George and Brent. They each got the best of each other at times and each play seemed to take 10 minutes to finish.

HIGHLIGHTS: Congrats to Cyd for catching a TD pass, his first in three years and first from me in years. … Alejandro continues to improve on defense and came up with a couple of nice defensive gems. … Great foot control by Zach on a pass at the back of the end zone. … Welcome to Sky, who scored his first TD on a direct snap. Of course, he almost was tackled right before the goal line when he stopped inadvertently. … No such problem for Marko, who ran into and out of the end zone at full speed after his TD. … Duffy had an awesome sack of me that both of us discussed after the game.

It’s been a highlight for me to write these every week and hope you all enjoyed reading them!

Flag Recap March 14, 2009

WEATHER: Like a broken record – mostly sunny, mid-60s, great for football. We haven’t had a rain game in two years.

NEXT: We have one more week of pickup and this is the last week to sign up for the league, either at Fubar Tuesday night or next Saturday at Penmar Park.

GAME: Since I went on a jaunt to check out a new field, I missed a chunk, but know that Blue rallied to beat Black, something like 49-36.

BEST CELEBRATION: Jeremy, who high-stepped it in on the last 10 yards of his second TD of the game. He then saw David with his video camera lying on the ground:

Jeremy: “You didn’t get that on tape?”
David: “Battery ran out.”
Jeremy: “Motherf---er!”

AFTER FURTHER REVIEW: Ben tried to suspend the law of physics after we awarded him a 1-point conversion catch that looked to me that it hit the ground. “It hit the blades of grass, but not the ground,” he said. I had forgotten that Penmar grass hovers above the dirt in an unattached state.

On the other hand, Ben had a great catch for a TD pass from Shaun that he juggled first before securing with his feet in at the back of the end zone.

BEST USE OF PYLON: Patrick caught a pass from Drew and raced down the sideline. As he was going out of bounds, he reached the ball at the goal line and hit the cone, which meant it was a TD.

BEST TOUTING OF HIMSELF: When I asked what happened while I was gone, Christophe said, “Juan got juked out of his ass!” By whom, I asked. “By me,” he said.

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS: I forgot to credit Drew with a pick a week earlier and Duffy with a sack. I also forgot to mention Duffy got a good penmanship gold star in the first grade.

BEST HUSTLE: Brenton chasing down and grabbing Marc’s flag at the 2 after a long catch and run. I love the way Brenton screams any time he makes a play.

BEST OPENING GAME STATEMENT: Hector, in his first game, was still learning the finer points of our rush rule. So it caught Jerrod a bit off guard when he was knocked flat on his back by Hector while rushing. But they shook hands and all was well.

HIGHLIGHTS: Brent had a nice long pass and run on a throw from Drew, then added a TD catch on the same drive. … It was fun watching the other Brent (T.O.) guard Ben all day. … Alejandro made a very nice catch over the middle for his first reception in a couple of weeks. … Eugene had a sweet over-the-shoulder grab that helped set up a TD. … Happy birthday to Patrick, who celebrated #33. … Nice pick by Marc on the first drive. ... Terrific quick slant TD pass from Christophe to ZS. … Nice crossing pattern TD pass from Drew to Will.

Flag Recap March 7, 2009

WEATHER: Hard to complain about 65 and sunny, except the sun did get in my eyes all game.

NEXT: We are back Saturday March 14, Penmar Park at noon.

LEAGUE: There are only two more Saturdays to register for the league, plus our March 17 registration night at Fubar from 6-8 p.m.

GAME: Here we go again. For the fourth week in a row, one team jumped out to a two-TD lead. And for the fourth week in a row, the game suddenly turned and became a nail-biter. Dark beat White, 40-38, on a walk-off TD pass from me to new player Ben (known by his friends as “Paul.”)

SAFETY IN NUMBERS: We had our first safety in memory when Brenton sacked Marino in the end zone. Or at least, Brenton said he sacked Marino, who saw things differently. And since the five of us on the sidelines weren’t watching and the receivers were running routes, we wound up taking Brenton’s word for it. Because he would never, ever, ever stretch the truth (cough).

RARITY: Speaking of Brenton, he caught a TD pass from Marc. That is not a typo! Brenton caught (as in, held on to the brown oval object hurled in his direction, which he normally swats away like it’s an angry wasp) a TD pass. In other news, snow is forecast for Santa Monica late Tuesday.

BALL HAWKS: Had several nice interceptions. Toby made a great break on a pass that he picked off and took back for a score. … Dave Sobel (or Meggett, as we used to call him) had two, including a nifty over-the-shoulder grab. … Marc had a heads-up off a deflection. … and Duffy made a fingertip grab at the goal line inches from the ground.

GO DEEP: We had several deep passes for TDs. I hit Ben twice and Christophe once, while Marino and Demond hooked up for a beauty for White.

MOST INCONGRUOUS LINE OF THE DAY: “I’m going to buy some fruit!” So said Brian on the sidelines during a series as he walked to a street vendor. Fortified with watermelon and unripe mango, he then had three nice catches on the next drive.

LINE I WISH I KNEW WHAT IT MEANT: “I might start loving me some chocolate!” So said Demond after he deflagged Toby. I assume he grabbed some part of Toby that caused him to utter that, but I’ll leave that to your interpretation.

HIGHLIGHTS: Great ball fake and juke by Drew running in for a TD. … Derek made several nice grabs; having a 6-8 guy with hands is hard to stop and it was quite a contrast watching Christophe guard him. … Duffy wants everyone to know that he pitched his softball team to its first win in 18 months. … Head’s up catch for a 2-pointer by Brian on a deflected pass in the end zone. The two teams were a collective 2-12 on conversions. …

Great body positioning and grab by Toby on a high hard pass from me for a TD on fourth down. … Alejandro played his best defense we’ve seen, always being in position and knocking one pass down. … Brent was terrific on the rush, forcing a lot of early throws for incompletions. … Eugene was the main man at center, catching a ton of balls for key completions. … Dark ran a nice quick snap for a score on a direct hike to Ross. … New player Jason started slowly but wound up with several key catches as White mounted its comeback. … My doofus moment came when I called an audible in the huddle, then forgot what the audible call was when I came to the line. Fortunately, Eugene was paying attention and straightened me out.