Home of the Pocket Rockets

Coin toss says ‘rematch’

Yo, PRs.

By virtue of a coin toss, we’ll be the No. 1 seed in the D-1 tournament. Our reward: a rematch with the most dangerous No. 4 seed in the history of indoor flag football. We face Elbow Skin (0-0) at 11 a.m. on the long-turf field. If we win, we’ll face the winner of the JHB-Uncle Rico game at 1 p.m. on the long-turf field.

I expect everyone will be at the game. I’ll also ask that everyone be there by 10:30 so we can warm up and go over some things. I have some new plays that I had better explain before we take the field… just so we’re on the same page. This will be a great challenge for us… but it’s one that I welcome. If we’re going to win a championship, we should face the best teams. We’re the team wearing the bullseye this time… so we’ll find out a lot about what kind of team we are. Elbow skin wants this one bad. They have nothing to lose, so we need to be ready for anything and everything.

Please be ready to play. We don’t have a curfew, so you’re on your own to get enough rest the night before. We should expect to play two games, and we’ll sub accordingly.

Someone bring a camera so we can take a team pic!

Check this space later this week for some other notes, motivational clips, etc.

That’s it for now. Have a great week, everyone.

January 29, 2008 at 4:22 pm 1 comment

PRs outgun Elbow Skin, set high-score mark

Yo, PRs.

For those who missed Sunday’s game, we defeated Elbow Skin, 60-54, to close the regular season at 5-1 in a tie for first place. Dan has not released the playoff brackets as of this post, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Everyone played very well yesterday… Freddy had 3 TDs (well, maybe only two but Kevin’s never wrong, right?), Danny had a long score and an interception, Uncle Ron found the end zone and Jackie and Keith came up with some big catches and defensive plays… inclulding the big sack on the Skin’s last drive (way to go Sackmaster Keith!). The game ball, though, goes to Stepha who played a great all around game… didn’t drop a pass, caught a couple of key scores and tossed the game-winning TD to Fred.

I’m very proud of the way we played… the big difference, in my mind, is we MADE PLAYS! Anyone can catch a ball when they’re wide open (except, perhaps, Murph… zing!)… but I had to throw the ball into some tight spots and you guys not only made the catch, but did something with the ball afterward. We need to keep doing those things if we’re going to win a championship.

Three criticisms:
1. Even though we scored a team-record 60 points, we need to sharpen things on offense. Part of that is my making my wishes more explicit in the huddle. Formations matter. Routes matter. Spacing matters. Timing matters. Technique matters. We need to keep ALL of these in mind when we’re on offense.

2. We stink at 2-point conversions. I need to call better plays… maybe go to more isolation stuff against man-t0-man. I’m open to suggestions here.

3. I think after getting burned for 30 minutes, we finally figured out how to tweak our zone for the indoor game. Just in time for the playoffs. We need to be disciplined… err on the side of caution (in other words, don’t get beat deep) and make plays. We did all of those things during the final 10 minutes or so of the game, and it paid off. Let’s try to get off to a better start next time.

Some other notes:

• Danny asked for a running update of my weight loss, so I’m happy to report that after 26 days I’ve lost 10 pounds. Next official weigh-in is Wednesday. Thanks for your encouragement and support. Just 10 lbs. to go before I can leap off the wagon!
• Bear with me while I pump up the content on the site. I need to create a spot for our Off the Field activities, bar/restaurant reviews, Stepha’s Diary, and so on. Send me your ideas. Or, even better, post them on the site! Click on the Comments link and have at it.
• I’m really sore after my close encounter with Stan. My jaw is loosening up, but my shoulder still hurts. I’ll list myself as “probable” for Wednesday hoops… rest assured, I’ll be ready for the playoffs on Sunday.

OK. That’s it for now. I’ll update the site once the playoff pairings are announced.

January 28, 2008 at 2:04 pm 3 comments

PRs drop Uncle Rico; await Elbow Skin in season finale

Yo, PRs.

Nice work against Uncle Rico’s Destiny. The 16-point win put us back into a first-place tie with John Harvard’s Brew House at 4-1. This week’s game ball will be shared by Mere (offense) and Chris (defense). Mere was simply ridiculous on offense. After dropping an easy pass on the first play of the game, she recovered to snag several BBs from my hand and a spectacular one-handed, one-footed catch in the back of the endzone from Stepha on the last play of the first half… best girl-on-girl action I’ve seen since Vagablonde (don’t ask). Chris, meanwhile, locked down the defense with blanket coverage on Uncle Rico’s receivers, which ultimately led to a tipped ball that Danny intercepted (picked off?). We scored on that drive and essentially locked up the game.

This week we play Elbow Skin (2-3) at noon on the short turf field. This will be a good test as we enter the playoffs (we can finish no worse that 2nd). These guys have underachieved all season and they pretty much need to win to get in the playoffs, so expect a tough game.

I guess that’s it for now. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to organize this site/blog. I figure we’ll have an On the Field section for the games and an Off the Field for the after-game festivities, parties at Mere’s, Y-hoops and other non-football related things. Please let me know what you think. I am going to do some design work later this weekend and add some new static pages (including Stepha’s diary).

January 22, 2008 at 7:48 pm 1 comment