2005 Pittsburgh Tribune Electric Football article

[WEIRDWOLF]

What's the buzz all about? It's electric -- football that is

By Regis Behe TRIBUNE-REVIEW Thursday, January 27, 2005 It's a sound that almost every kid who grew up in the 1960s and '70s remembers: a warm, metallic buzz. That noise will echo through the corridors of the Embassy Suites Hotel at the Pittsburgh International Airport this weekend at the 11th annual Official Electric Football Super Bowl & Convention. Yes, that frustrating game with the miniature players who tended to go around in circles is being played again after a spike of interest in the late 1990s. Rob Dalmasse of Carnegie Mellon University's chemistry department has been playing the game since childhood. "It wasn't really a passion until the Steelers won the Super Bowl for the first time," says Dalmasse, who grew up in Point Breeze.

After the emergence of the Steelers dynasty Dalmasse became hooked. Since 1997, from his home in Edgewood, he's hosted the Pittsburgh Electric Football League, which has 10 members. Most are colleagues of Dalmasse's in Carnegie Mellon's chemistry department, but no one has yet come up with a super polymer to make the figures move faster.
It has been tried, however.
"Enthusiasts have gone to the lengths of boiling the bases to make them faster or stronger," he says, noting other methods of "tweaking" include using pliers or tweezers on the bases.
There are other changes for those haven't played the game since childhood. The newer boards are slightly larger and some of figures have dials in the bases that allow players to send them off tackle or run end sweeps instead of the old-style prongs that caused the figures to loop, veer without warning or even stand still. There are even miniature leather footballs available that far surpass the old white felt versions that were the cause of many controversies. On pass plays the quarterback would flick the white footballs at receivers; without instant replay, it was almost impossible to tell if there was contact (which stood for a completed pass).
"We use the leather footballs, so there's no denying if the guy's been hit because he falls over," Dalmasse says.
The local league includes teams playing as the Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots and, of course, the Steelers. But for a lifelong Steelers fan, Dalmasse certainly has a strange choice of a team: the Dallas Cowboys.
"Everyone hates the Cowboys," he admits. "But I figured what better way to ensure that teams will play their best game. Everybody wants to beat the Cowboys."
For those who think electric football is just a silly pastime, Dalmasse has proof the game can change lives. Or at least one life.
A few years ago, a Carnegie Mellon undergraduate who was a league member interviewed with the pharmaceutical company Merck in New Jersey. He'd listed his membership in PEFL on his resume under extra-curricular activities, and during an interview with a man who had the reputation for being a vigorous and intense interrogator, he was asked "Is that the game that vibrates?"
"They talked for 20 minutes about electric football," says Dalmasse, laughing. "And he got the job." At the convention, Damasse and his cohorts will be showcasing an electric football version of Heinz Field. Other activities include vintage and hand-crafted electric football memorabilia, collectibles, clinics for beginners and experts, friendly competitions, the Super Bowl of Electric Football for adults and the Spark Bowl for children.