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Undertoad · 10-26-2009, 04:08 PM

There's something about having played pick-up football as a kid.

If I have any toughness in me, it's from those moments.

== Six on six, neighborhood kids, everybody pretty much go out for passes, nobody's blocking on the line but you can rush on five mississippi. We got three plays to get to the tree, then we get a first down and we get three more plays to get to the end of the field.

Sammy got cut on a rock.

Is it bleeding?

A little

Sammy let me see that. Oh that's nothing. That's through your jeans. You walkin OK? OK, spit on it, clean it out a little, limp real bad on the next play, and the play after that they won't cover ya, and we'll throw it to you.

== This one time, there was another guy named Tony, on the other team; and he was not a big guy, but he was a little older and taller than a lot of our guys. You play neighborhood ball, you know, a lot of different age guys will come out for that.

Well this Tony took the ball on a kickoff, and he decided to see what would happen if he just busted down the middle of the field at full gallop. Instead of running it back by dodging, he would just barrel down, arms flailing, big war face on. And it worked; once he was at full run, nobody wanted to do the simple job of being the tackling dummy. Just putting your body in his way and taking the force of that full-on. (and nobody was smart enough to take him low...)

So, the next kickoff he decides to do his galloping run again. and I realize, I'm gonna have to do this: I have to step up to duty, and hit him, because if somebody doesn't stop him he'll just keep doing it.

I put my shoulder down and hit him at a slight angle. B-O-O-M. I don't know what it looked like, but to me, and to him, it was one of those highlight hits. He went down in a heap. The ball rolled away. I got up. Two minutes later he got up.

There you go: that's what's manly about American Football.

10-26-2009, 04:08 PM	#2
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	There's something about having played pick-up football as a kid. If I have any toughness in me, it's from those moments. == Six on six, neighborhood kids, everybody pretty much go out for passes, nobody's blocking on the line but you can rush on five mississippi. We got three plays to get to the tree, then we get a first down and we get three more plays to get to the end of the field. Sammy got cut on a rock. Is it bleeding? A little Sammy let me see that. Oh that's nothing. That's through your jeans. You walkin OK? OK, spit on it, clean it out a little, limp real bad on the next play, and the play after that they won't cover ya, and we'll throw it to you. == This one time, there was another guy named Tony, on the other team; and he was not a big guy, but he was a little older and taller than a lot of our guys. You play neighborhood ball, you know, a lot of different age guys will come out for that. Well this Tony took the ball on a kickoff, and he decided to see what would happen if he just busted down the middle of the field at full gallop. Instead of running it back by dodging, he would just barrel down, arms flailing, big war face on. And it worked; once he was at full run, nobody wanted to do the simple job of being the tackling dummy. Just putting your body in his way and taking the force of that full-on. (and nobody was smart enough to take him low...) So, the next kickoff he decides to do his galloping run again. and I realize, I'm gonna have to do this: I have to step up to duty, and hit him, because if somebody doesn't stop him he'll just keep doing it. I put my shoulder down and hit him at a slight angle. B-O-O-M. I don't know what it looked like, but to me, and to him, it was one of those highlight hits. He went down in a heap. The ball rolled away. I got up. Two minutes later he got up. There you go: that's what's manly about American Football.