Saturday Night Lights (went out, whoops)

Our season opener went remarkably well as we defeated the Corvallis Pride, 34-0. Corvallis won the toss but deferred, so we got the ball to start the game. After the opening kick off, we ran one play up the middle 66 yards to score a touchdown right off the bat.

We played well and executed well, though there are still lots we need to improve on. Unfortunately Maddox got hurt shortly after the game started, and Stella got hurt later on. Another unfortunate issue was the personal foul penalties our team was called for.

I eventually got to get in and get a few snaps in the 4th quarter, during which Steph's leg hit me in the ankle and it's bruised and swollen again.

Also a minute and a half from the end of the game, the stadium lights went out and we all got to wait an exciting 10 minutes for them to turn back on. Real cool.

This Saturday we'll be in Portland to play the Shockwave and the Saturday after that we'll be back home to play the Sacramento Sirens.

What time is it? GAME TIME!

Tomorrow is GAME DAY.

The Majestics kick off our season at home in Kent against the Corvallis Pride. We've gotten our uniforms and helmet decals and we've been practicing hard to get out there and beat them.

I'm excited, even though I don't know how much of the game I'll get to play. Hopefully I'll get some snaps even just towards the end of the game.

The Fightin' Newsies!

The West Seattle Herald has an article on the team this week.

Oh look who's next to Steph in the picture.

Oh look, I think I need more air in my helmet...

Sack Sack Goose.

The scrimmage in LA went really for our rookie-filled, rag tag squad. We took around 17 players; less than half had played before and we almost none of our starters. We did luck out and manage to get our starting wide reciever and starting defensive tackle replace two of other vets at the last minute. They didn't really add experience to the squad, but they did add size, which we desperately needed.

I didn't get to play receiver at all and was having a terrible time with warmups before the game. On defense though, I got to play a lot of defensive end, especially in the first and third scrimmages.

The first game against Tucson went well. We scored 3TD and held them to none. On the last play, the defensive line broke through at the last second and leapt at the quarterback who threw the ball away before we all collided on her at once.

The second game didn't go as well, as the team we were playing had just finished a game and were already in a rhythm and we had just taken a short rest and lost all of ours. We managed to hold it together and tie them 1 TD to 1 TD.

The third game was against the other Tier 1 team at the tournament, the California Quake. They were the team hosting the tournament and had their entire large squad there. We ended up winning 2 TD to 1 TD and feeliing really great about ourselves. They had a reverse they liked to run that managed to bite me in the ass the first time near the goal line. I overpursued and when they brought it back in me, I wasn't in a position to do anything about it. Later in the game, they were near the goal line again and I thought myself "watch for the goddamn reverse." The quarterback was calling the plays at the line, yelling things like "TOKYO SPAIN FOLLOW TODD." I'm listening to her when I hear her yell something and my brain just KNEW it was going to be that reverse. The ball snaps, running back takes the hand off and runs away from the side of the field. I stay where I'm at just working at getting off my block because sure enough, that running back hands the ball off and it's coming back my way. She goes to run outside me and I'm right there waiting. She tries to turn it back inside and there's Maddox waiting right for her. BAM tackled.

A few plays later it's 3rd and goal for what seems like the 3rd or 4th play in a row. I think those refs were drunk. But we're still holding strong and no way are we going to let them score. We line up, ball gets snapped and I'm shoving my way to the quarterback. Suddenly she sees me, almost in a position to sack her, and takes off running. I dive for her and manage to grab...her towel. I am on the ground. Pulling on her towel. Thinking "Someone come and hit this woman, goddammit." Mere seconds later, a teammate was there hitting her. I wish I'd had gotten the sack myself, but I felt pretty good about how close I got.



Afterwards, my arms were covered in bruises, my feet were sore from getting stepped on and my thumb had been bent and smashed in the wrong ways multiple times. But it felt good to win.

On practice the next Monday, I got to play tackling dummy against the first defense and got even more bruises on my arms. And Saturday we played Duck Duck Goose at practice! I ran down Cole after she uh...goosed me? and maybe a little to aggressively shoved her to the ground when I caught her. What can I say, I was upset and Coach yelling "GET HER FOR DOING THAT TO YOU!" got me a little fired up.

Practice last night was exhausting and involved way too much running. We're getting our uniforms and helmet decals soon. Pictures once I do!

Getting Ready to Leave for LA

Well, we leave tomorrow afternoon for LAX to play in the Jamboree in Downey, CA. It's almost entirely rookies going. There's, I think 6 vets going and only 4 for sure that will be playing. My black bag is packed full with all my gear, and I'm waiting for a load of laundry to dry so I can finish my packing.

I ordered a couple Majestics t-shirts for me and Ben that I'm hoping Camille can bring to us on the trip this weekend. Ben needs something to wear so he can look awesome watching us from the stands.

I'm crazy excited and super nervous and I can't wait to be on that field playing my ass off.

Pop 'n' Lock

The fundraiser on Saturday night was a blast. we didn't get down there til after 10 but there were still lots of people there having fun, and I still managed to sing two songs at karaoke. I even got in the second to last song of the night, Come Sail Away. It was fun to see everyone outside of practice, and they all seem impressed with my singing skills.

Practice tonight was rough again. The first tackle I attempted to make resulted in my shoulder getting knocked out of its socket. It slid back in after a few seconds, but it was pretty painful experience. One that I've gone through before, but it sucks every time. Later in the night, I was on scrub offense and uhhh playing guard for some reason? I'm not exactly a uh...a guard. The other o-line people were telling me what to do like I was going to need to know how to play guard in a game. If we're ever at the point where I am playing guard in a game, lord help us. I wanted to make them go run receiver routes. Run a hitch! NO YOU HAVE TO TURN OUTSIDE! TURN OUTSIDE! AUGH!

Speaking of receiver stuff, I'm really frustrated by a lot of it lately. I feel like I get very few opportunities to do anything and that, despite always being one of the first receivers running routes at practice, it feels the coaches have somehow decided that I don't know what I'm doing. Perhaps one of the most annoying things about this is that I see them coaching and helping other players. So do you they think I do know it and they just don't care to give me any reps? Or do they think I don't know it, and they just don't give a fuck? It's incredibly frustrating, because I know all the damn plays. So I don't know what to do. I've heard from a couple players that the coaches have "favorites" and it certainly feels like that some days. Maybe this weekend will give me the chance to do something.

Ow, Fuck.

We practiced today at a rainy field in Seattle as our usual field in Kent was booked by what I assume was soccer players. I suited up to practice for the first time since last Saturday as my ankle was feeling pretty good. We warmed up with some routes and I felt pretty good.

Coach Talley informed me that he would be putting me in at DE today. The offense went through some drills without a defense on the field and after a while a defense was added with me at end. It was hard and frustrating and I got knocked on my ass more than once. I was particularly annoyed at the idea that Coach said he was going to "see if I could play end" even though I was then just thrown and really had no idea what I was doing. At the end of things, I don't even know if I did a mildly good job or not. I know that my body fucking aches and the Jamboree is next week and that I need to study more of the offensive plays and what the augh, I don't even know what I'll be doing on defense for sure.

I've got a fundraiser to go to tonight. Hopefully I can relax a bit and have some fun there.

End Game

As usual, the field in Kent last night was far colder than it has any right to be. CC and I got there early, put in our vote for player reps and then proceeded to watch the rest of practice as we're both laid up with an injury. My ankle is feeling a lot better though, and I'll be suited up on Saturday.

I got a chance to ask Coach Talley about playing defensive end at the Jamboree on the 21st. Our team only has one DE going, and it's a position I've been wanting to try. He gave me sort of a "ya serious?" look and then told me to go ahead and watch the DE's practice and to be suited by next practice. I'm studying up on defense tonight and will work on my pass rushing skills more this weekend.

I'm really excited to try this while simultaneously nervous about doing it well. If I like, I'd like to stay at DE, but I think for me to truly fit that position, I'd have to put on another 15-20 pounds at least. It's ridiculously hard for me to gain weight.

At any rate, the Jamboree should be an excellent opportunity for me.

My other goal right now is to start regularly going to Local's Gym for workouts with Jesse. I e-mailed him yesterday regarding the cost, now I just need to man up and do it.

And man up and find the damn time! Damn...clocks. Stupid. Hate them.

Butts and Ends

Looks like I'll be sitting out practice another night, as my ankle is still giving me pain when I walk, and especially when I go downstairs. It feels more bruised than anything else, and there's certain parts that my shoes and cleats rub up against that's definitely painful. I did go to the gym after work yesterday and put in some time on an exercise bike, to try to keep my legs in shape during all this time when I can't run. I have a hard time riding a bike for a long time, as after about 10-15 minutes, my ass fucking huuuuurts. I've not done a lot of science as to why, but I believe it's a combination of three things:

1. Sitting on it while using my legs for intense exercise.
2. Inadequately padded bicycle seat
3. Inadequately padded butt.

We're now 10 days away from the Jamboree in LA. I assume my ankle will be ready to go by then. We only have one defensive end going so the team needs people to step up and fill the other spot and I think if we do defense tonight, I might ask Coach Talley if I can watch the DE's practice and learn their position and maybe by Saturday take a few reps with them.

I know I shouldn't push it with the ankle but damn I want to play.

We're voting for player reps at practice tonight. CC, my carpool buddy, is in the running along with a few other players. There's gonna be three reps, but I'm not sure if we each get three votes? I know I would like to vote for CC and Crystal Brown. My last vote, I'm torn on. I guess I'll decide at practice. SWING VOTE, LADIES.

The Really Real 81

In January, we had a four hour mini-camp where we went over player fees, practice schedules, team rules, and all the fun stuff, before having a 2 hour practice with the coaches. We put down our three choices for numbers from the ones available, and took pictures for the website. A couple days later, our player profile was up on the roster page of the website, and we found out which number we would be wearing for the rest of year, and most likely, the rest of the time we play football.

I had put down three choices, but got my first choice: 81.

So why 81?

In the IWFL, lineman have to wear numbers in a certain range. Outside of them, players can pick any number they'd like, especially given the fact that most people play multiple positions on any given team. With that choice though, I knew I wanted a number in the usual given spectrum for NFL receivers: the 80's. In recent years, NFL players have started wearing numbers in the teens for receivers, but eh, I'm a traditionalist.

As a Vikings fan, growing up in the 90's, I was naturally a huuuuuuuge fan of Cris Carter. Unfortunately, 80 is already taken on the team. There was another Carter on the Vikings though back in the day. He's not a future Hall of Famer or anything, but I was still a fan of Anthony Carter.

There were some others available. I crossed 87 off my list right away. A prime number? No thanks.

I'm glad I got 81. Some FUN FACTS about it:

(From Wikipedia)
Eighty-one is the square of 9 and the fourth power of 3. Like all powers of three, 81 is a perfect totient number. It is a heptagonal number and a centered octagonal number. It is also a tribonacci number, and an open meandric number. 81 is the ninth member of the Mian-Chowla sequence.

In base 10, it is a Harshad number, and one of three non-trivial numbers (the other two are 1458 and 1729) which, when its digits are added together, produces a sum which, when multiplied by its reversed self, yields the original number:
8 + 1 = 9
9 X 9 = 81

(although this case is somewhat degenerate, as the sum has only a single digit).

While relatively unimportant, an interesting fact about the number 81 is that its inverse is 0.012345679 repeating. While this has no mathematical use, 1/81 is seemingly the closest fraction possible to a repeating set of all the numbers 0-9 placed successively. The exact value is 13717421/111111111.

I later texted my mom to let her know what number I had gotten, only to find out that my brother had worn the exact same number in high school. Weeeeeiiiiird.

My second choice by the way was 88 (how fast you have to get a DeLorean to go to travel back in time).

Playing Catch (Up)

It's snowy in Seattle, and even snowier at our practice field in Kent so practice is cancelled. This seems like a good time to study my playbook. And get this blog up to date on things so far. Tryouts were in October, followed by weekly workouts at Local's Gym with a crazy man named Jesse. The workouts are intense and exhausting.

I have epilepsy, but don't really consider it a concern for football, as I've not had a seizure in nearly two years now. The real issue is that due to a seizure a few years ago, I have a partially torn/separated labrum in my right shoulder, along with a small piece of bone uuuh, rattling around in it. I try not to let it hold me back, but sometimes it makes lifting weights a real challenge, and pullups are the worst.

Formal practices started in early February, after a short mini-camp in late January. We practice Monday and Wednesday nights, and Saturday afternoon. Our field is in Kent, and is always blistering cold even if it wasn't cold in Seattle when you left for Kent.

I currently have a sprained ankle and have sat out the last few practices because of it. I also got the remarkable luck of being diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma, though I think a big problem there is the cold air on the football field.

My current position on the team is wide receiver on offense, and free safety on defense.

I'll be playing with the team at the Jamboree in LA on March 21st, and continuing to prepare for our first game on April 11th.

All right, time to get after that playbook.

Welcome to Welcome to Turf

Last December, I started feeling like I needed to get out of the house more, be more active, and get in better shape. This sounds like some stupid New Year's resolution, but really it was just a desire to do something. And that something was football. I don't know for sure what started it; if it was the months of watching NFL games building up to December, or the feeling building in me that knew the season would soon be over. Football is easily my favorite sport, but every year it feels over with far too quickly. Thus my new idea was to play football.

I started looking around on google for flag football leagues thinking that was the only option at my disposal. I found a few I could play, a few mixed flag leagues, I found some options for reffing peewee football that I pondered for a bit. I just really needed my fix!

And then somehow I came across the Seattle Majestics, a woman's tackle football team. I knew immediately that I wanted to do it. I started working out, started playing catch with my husband. I bought cleats and gloves, I went to their home games to watch them, all to get ready for tryouts in October. And now, over a year later, I'm a Majestic, working towards my first game and keeping this journal to write about the experience.

The title, if you don't know, is a play on the Will Smith line from Independence Day after he punches the alien and says, as it is oft quoted "Welcome to Urf." I've said that if I ever get a sack, that's what I'm saying to the QB at the receiving end.

I hope this season is loads of fun.

Welcome to Turf.