You Are Looking Live…

You Are Looking Live…

Each winter the glorious but all too brief period of time we know as football season concludes.  Some teams celebrate a championship, with months of hard work vindicated and a strategy of not playing a single decent opponent until the playoffs, ensuring a well rested squad, validated.  Other teams face the long, arduous offseason with bitterness and disappointment, dismayed over an offensive coordinator who inexplicably stops running the ball.  The winter, spring, and summer march on, but in the back of the mind there is always a yearning for the promise that a new season will bring.  The summer days drag by with a lethargy baked of heat and humidity, but finally, finally the temperatures dip slightly below inferno level and autumn appears on the horizon.  After eight long months, right at the moment we are about to hit the breaking point,  the most glorious morning of the sports year arrives, the opening Saturday of the college football season.  It is a day unlike any other, when everyone (save UNC, Michigan, and a few others) is undefeated and full of hope.  To celebrate this most blessed of days, fourteen gridiron warriors gathered to put foot to leather for the first annual Area 51 Kickoff Classic presented by Olympus.

To begin the festivities captains Gummy of Team Rock and Hairball of Day Zero completed a pregame run in a show of solidarity and sportsmanship.  The players gathered in the parking lot of Elizabeth Lane Elementary and ran as a unit to the field at Carmel Baptist where the Golden Kettlebell, perhaps the most prestigious trophy in all of sport was unveiled.  To determine who would have the first selection of players, a contest was held to see which team captain could perform ten burpees the fastest.  About halfway through, Gummy decided to let Hairball win and gamble that the first pick was a small price to pay for letting the opponent tire himself out on burpees.  Truly a savvy, veteran move that would make the legendary Clemson coach (hang on, have to do some quick Googling…) Danny Ford himself proud.  At the conclusion of the draft we had Team Rock: Gummy, Strawberry, Pele, Sony, Ickey Shuffle, Sparkplug, and Thin Crust, and Team Day Zero: Hairball, Chanel, Mighty Mite, Deep Dish, Chum, Southpaw, and Gullah.

A spirited game ensued, and the quality of play was high enough that YHC believes that the sainted Coach Bryant would have approved.  Some highlights included:

• Thin Crust’s performance as quarterback of Team Rock.  The kid throws frozen ropes and commands the offense at a breakneck pace so expect him to see him at Oregon in a few years.
• Sony patrolling the defensive backfield, batting balls like King Kong swatting at airplanes.
• Chanel’s cleats.  They were quite bright.
• Pele’s emergence as a sure handed slot receiver who always made a catch to keep a drive alive.
• Team Day Zero’s playcalling, which though didn’t yield many points, was entertaining and featured several razzle dazzle plays that would make Boise State envious.
• Zero injuries.

At the end of the day Team Rock triumphed over Team Day Zero by a score of 49-14 and the new season began anew.  The Golden Kettlebell was presented to Coach Gummy, who swelled with pride as he passed it on to his quarterback, Thin Crust.  Since Deep Dish and son had to depart before the run back to Elizabeth Lane, Thin Crust was named at COT by Gullah in a moment of brilliance.  Thank you to all who joined us in joyous celebration of sport and camaraderie.