Not the Hammy

After a disappointing start to the flag football season, in which we lost three games by two points of fewer, the team has finally starting winning. The games have still been tight, but now we've been finding ways to close them out, rather than letting them slip away in the final minutes.

Today was our first playoff game, and we won--40 to 0. It was nearly a flawless victory, and personally, it would have been one of my best games of the season if not for one small thing.

I was playing cornerback (in flag football, almost everyone plays both offense and defense) and the quarterback threw a deep ball to my guy. I jumped up and made the interception, but I landed a bit off balance. As I looked up, I saw one of the opponents sprinting straight towards me. Because I had landed a little awkwardly, I didn't have much time to evade the tackle. In fact, all I had time for was a little sidestep to the left.

Not a good idea.

The opponent was barely within reach when I made the sidestep, so as I moved, he furiously grabbed for the flag. More accurately, he grabbed toward my left flag. But I had made my move to the left, so he ended up grabbing the middle of my body--about belt high where the flag would have been.

Without going into too much detail, let's just say I wish I would've been wearing a cup.

Needless to say, I sat out a series or two.

(I was able play later--making another interception and throwing for a touchdown. I alternate at quarterback every other series. Mitch, our regular starter, stays in the pocket and makes deep, accurate throws. I scramble a bit more, and either dump the ball off or run for first downs. The different looks we can give defenses has greatly contributed to our recent success.)

So, I was feeling a bit ginger after the game. (what does "ginger" mean, anyway?)

But as grumpy old sports men say--"a 'W' is a 'W.' "

At least I didn't pull my hamstring again. Randy Moss--I feel ya, man.