One of the many perks of Megan's job is the little card that gets our family into any high school sporting event free of charge. We used her card during basketball season last year, but Leah was too young to stay awake through the entire varsity game. Now she's old enough to enjoy football, which means we get to spend some quality family time watching sports. Don't think I don't love it.
The first thing I noticed at my first Pima football game (aside from the fact that the home stands are pretty small, and the visitor's section is laughably small) was that Pima, being a 1A school, plays 8 man football. If you are a member of my immediate family or a member of Megan's family, you are probably asking yourself, "How many players are there on the field normally?" The answer to that question is 11.
In my last entry, I bored you to tears with comic book minutae. Now I'm going to take a moment to bore you with sports minutae. The thing I couldn't figure when I started watching 8 man football was this: what positions do you get rid of? Off the top of my head I figured it would be the tackles and a wide receiver. Then my brain started wondering how you could tell if the quarterback was outside the tackles (you know, for grounding purposes) if there were no tackles. Well, I did a little research and found out that I was indeed right when I guessed that they got rid of the tackles and a receiver. So how do you call intentional grounding? I have no idea.
Despite being a little odd, 8 man football has its perks. "What perks?" ask those of you who bothered to read this far. Well, I've watched three games so far and have yet to see a field goal. I don't know if they just don't have kickers or if the coaches just play a lot of Madden(tm), but I have never seen the kicking team brought out on a 4th down. Not only that, but I haven't seen a lot of punts. They have a punter, but he only comes out on 4th downs inside the Pima 40 yard line. What does all this mean? It means that more often than not, teams go for it on 4th down and they always go for the 2 point conversion. It makes the games a whole lot more exciting. Why? Because normally going for it on 4th down or going for the 2 point conversion is a gutsy call. You see way more gutsy calls in 8 man football than standard football.
Entertainment value aside, football has turned out to be a great family activity. Megan enjoys watching her yearbook photographers at work as well as the game, and Leah enjoyes being adored by everyone who sees her. All in all it's a good time for everyone.