Great Times in the Great Lakes

[MplsTom]

It's 8:45 am on Monday - back at work (kind of) after 3 of the most intense fun-filled days of Miniature Football at the Great Lakes League. Played eight of the 60 play games in a 3 day span (I'm used to 32 play games so that would equivocate to sixteen of those about) and I am TIRED!!!!!

Had an overtime classic in my opening game with Jimmy Davis, the defending champ. Tied it on a 4 yard pass to Finley on the last play of regulation and Jimmy D prevailed on the second to last play of OT with a 60+ yard blue stick pass to win it.

These guys are great coaches and more importantly great guys. They immediately took me in, Jim made some of his awesome shrimp gumbo, crashed at his place and we all were chatting, playing, and laughing until 4am the first night.

Lots of great games, a few times I was the pigeon and a few times I was the pigeon trainer (you know who you are "boo") but never was I anything but family which is why I decided to travel to take part in this league.

It's fun to keep learning in this hobby and challenging yourself and I encourage any of you who are on the fence about playing a "different style" or different ruleset or are nervous about joining a league to put yourself out there and give it a shot. The benefits of fellowship and seeing/learning what different coaches bring to the game far outweigh the getting out of your comfort zone.

As for a "shake the box critic" who has been outspoken about it in the past I will wait to fully weigh in on it until after the season. They say if you flip a coin 1000 times you'll get about 500 heads and 500 tails. Let's just say the box tooketh away a lot more than the box giveth (and it wasn't because I didn't shake it lots). My defense got 3 interceptions the first day - every one of them was taken away or negated because of a box shake. Can't say that scoring a tying touchdown against a top-notch opponent only to see it wiped out because of a dice shaken turnover or penalty is anyone's idea of fun, but it does happen in real football and does add excitement so maybe football karma will be on my side the next time around and I'll be able to benefit 85% of the time instead of 15%. Regardless, the results of the box isn't a valid reason not to like it so I'll do a more complete weigh-in after observing it the full season.

Much love to everyone in the GLEFL and a giant thank you for everything!!!!