Barracudas

Here are some of the Daytona Beach Barracudas in Tampa before the Super Bowl in 2001. From L to R: Kahs Sky-Deer, Tango McCall, Shatoya Coogle, Major and me.

Not Enough Hours in the Day

I keep wanting to post & don't have time or I just plain forget. Practice has been moving along fine. We don't have 45 people every night but I don't think many have dropped out. We finally finished the first month's conditioning! I do feel in shape, altho sore from kicking on Sat. (I practiced kicking half the day Sat even tho I'm prob 3rd or 4th string kicker.)

We had some good conditioning down at the beach in Long Beach. Running in the sand kills your legs, but I'm sure it builds them up too. Nothing like a day of football at the beach.

Now we're doing football-like stuff. The QB's are handing off & throwing, the receivers are catching. The LB's are doing linebacker drills but we're also put in with the O-line & D-line occasionally. I don't mind it, but sometimes I don't feel we get worked out enough. I guess cuz it's less running.

We had a coupla nights in the drizzle & rain. More fun to do that in pads, but we'll be gearing up Mar. 17. Can't wait. That's when it gets fun.



Here's Harold "hiking" the ball to Slash at a recent beach practice.

Saturday Practice - Bixby Park

IMG_0101.JPG, originally uploaded by lnav21.

Here's a link to some pix by Lisa taken at last Sat.'s practice at Bixby Park. Check out the whole set. I'm in the white t-shirt on the right.

MLK Day Parade in the LBC

Last Saturday the team met in Long Beach for the Martin Luther King Day parade. We waited around for almost 2 hours before it started. Lots of high school bands, ROTC, churches, police & other odd things. There was a collection of llamas, people on stilts, classic cars... This one high school had a leopard mascot in a cheerleaders outfit that later started dancing w/ a cow from Chick-filay. They were damn good.

Practice Makes...

(pic from last season)

It was freezing down in the LBC last night! I had 3 layers on plus tights, hat & 2 pairs of socks. Nothing compared to the rest of the country I guess, but it's all relative.

I carpooled w/ McNutty & Slash. We met in Los Feliz & zoomed down there. It's great when I'm not working, but as soon as I am there will be no way to meet them in time. I wish I could just retire...sigh...

This little group kinda dashes the female football player stereotype. I'm the straight one, but they're both easily as girly as I am (which isn't much, lol). They're also both skinnier than me. Slash is a hardcore vegan, anti-Bush & occasional partier for medicinal reasons only. McNutty is a comedian who's been to Iraq twice in the last couple of years. The most recent trip within the last couple of months. She said she definitely noticed a change for the worse in this last trip, esp. in the number of casualties that occurred while she was there. I find it fascinating to hear about.

The turnout was a little less than on Tues. More sore muscles, plus the cold. Wonder Woman was there this time. It was weird cuz she must've told the coaches she wanted to talk to the team w/out them so she talked about how players shouldn't take offense at what the coaches say. I don't think there are that many "shrinking violets" on the team that anyone cares any more, but apparently one of the rookies was somewhat offended by Coach Sharod. He was talking about injuries & excuses & said something to the effect that, "if your ankle hurts get out there, if you're muscles are sore, get out there, if you have your period, plug it up & get on the field."

Gross yes, but offensive? Whatever, we've all heard worse. Last year our defense coach, Pain, told us to, "knock the tampons out" of the other team. He was also trying to get one of the straight girls to get in the backfield faster & told her, "Pretend there's a bag of dicks back there waiting for you!"

So Wonder gave this big speech that most of us thought was unnecessary. It wasn't a big deal but I'd just rather not stir up drama where there is none.



We pretty much did the same as we did on Tues.--warm-up lap, stretches, a "1 mile" run then we went to 4 stations as separate groups & did exercises. Coach Harold led the stretches. He was an offensive coach for the Aftershock & is a really good guy. I think he played QB in college.

They said the run was a 1 mile & it didn't seem like it while I was running. (We're on a baseball field as opposed to a track.) When I got my time I knew it wasn't--4:30. Then last night they said they made it a little longer & I got 4:20. I'd be surprised if it was even a 1/2 mile.

I don't remember everyone who was in my group, just Hyper & Mojo & Bus (on Tues) & a few rookies. We went to Coach Omar first where we did high knees, butt kickers, duck walk. Started at 10 yds then just got longer. At the end we held squat positions. Our quads were killing us!

Next was Harold & Sharod where we did bunny hops, bounds & lunges further killing our quads & hams.

Then we went to Coach Josh who was easy. Did some shuffles & carioca then those "chicken wing" jumping jacks to 10, clapping & shouting, "Quake!" at the end. Wee.

Finally to Coach Love who was the hardest. Push-ups--all the way, halfway, holding it--, regular crunches, side crunches. Then 6 inches where you lay on your back then put your legs 6 inches in the air then open them, close them & put them down, all of which can be done slow or fast, but usually slow for the maximum amount of torture. Plus they feel goofy & slightly sexual. Coach Pain of course used to say rude things to me under his breath when we'd do them. Fortunately he's no longer a coach. Then our last thing was up/downs. Do high knees in place then when Coach blows the whistle, drop to the ground on your stomach then immediately pop back up & continue w/ high knees till the next whistle.

On Tues we kind of lucked out because one of the rookies, Nicki, passed out in one of the other groups when we were w/ Coach Love so he had to run over there & take care of it. Ambulance was there so she made sure everything was cool. I guess Nicki had an irregular heartbeat but she's gotten that before. All was well, though.

On Sat. we're going to be in the LBC MLK parade. Should be fun.

Tryouts

(from last year's practice. later in the season when we were in pads. that won't happen this season till March.)

Didn't write about the tryouts on Sat. Pretty standard stuff. They started at 8 am so I set my alarm for 6:30 am & I am not a morning person. I go to bed then the next thing I know I feel a wet nose on my elbow & it's Max. I roll over all sleepy, "hi, Papa" & think how well-rested I feel then allofasudden, "Oh fuck!!" I look at the clock & it's 8:21. I let the dogs out, run to the bathroom & start getting ready meanwhile I'm trying to call someone to let them know I'll be late & even see if it's worthwhile coming cuz it takes 45 min to an hour to get to Long Beach w/out traffic.

Finally I get Sandy, the owner, on the phone & she says no biggie, come on down. She said the coaches said, "Get your butt down here. Don't bother to brush your teeth!" Too late for that.

So I get ready & James makes me some instant coffee (what an angel!) & drive on down. Only had time to eat 3 lil cookies I had made the day before.

I got to LB Poly right as everyone was starting the mile. Coach Love told me to just put my cleats on & stretch, then warm-up doing high knees, shuffle, carioca, back pedal & all that.

When everyone finished the mile, we just did all the usual drills--shuttle run, box drill, the 40. I ran the 40 in 6.1 which for me is fast. I did better than I thought on all the drills w/ minimal preparation. Nice.

After all that we went to the weight room & did bench press. It's always different. Sometimes it's the bare bar or a set weight & they see how many reps you can do or they keep putting weight on to see how heavy you can lift. I'd rather do reps since I haven't lifted much lately. And also my left shoulder has never been the same since I separated it the season before last. Just feels kind of weak, but I haven't had any problems with it.

That said, I gave a big disclaimer before I lifted. I think it was 85 lbs & they had us do reps. I think the max they wanted was 20 but I'm sure they'd let people go further if they could. Don't know if anyone went over, but I did 10 which really surprised me. It also surprised me that a lot of people did less than that.

So I got away without doing the mile. No big deal--I'm not super fast but they want at least 12 min., preferably under 9. I'm pretty sure I can get under 9.

The cool thing about Poly is that since they know Coach Love they're letting us use the bags & sleds. He kept the defense after so we could practice some rips & swims & hit the bags. Pretty fun.

We had a great turnout. Bigger than I expected. A lot of rookies but most of them look good. One kinda big/heavy girl was really fast. Usually the big girls just lumber along. Unfortunately it's not like the NFL where you get people who are huge & fast. Maybe someday...

It felt really good to see everyone & work out. Made me much more psyched about playing this season. It's just gonna start sucking when I have to work too. Then between that & 3 classes my time will be down to 0.

More on the first practice we had last night later...

Here's Charlie pimpin' hard.

Sissy Flies & Charlie Flips

Sissy Flies & Charlie Flips, originally uploaded by cloudasmoke.

This is a still from a video on Salon.com's Video Dog of a short Charlie/Sissy chase scene. Charlie does a nice flip in it.

8th season?

(photo by Rick Rowell. me on former team, the Aftershock.)

I think this is my 8th season playing women's professional football. Professional should be in quotes, I guess. I think I got paid $10 or $20 once from shareholder money on my last team.

It's not that I'm complaining, though. A lot of the younger women who grew up with ESPN have no idea how lucky we are. Just to even get on the field. There were a couple of leagues in the early 70's when I was too young to play, but women playing tackle football was just unheard of. I remember I begged my parents to let me play Pop Warner & they were like, "no way!"

I wonder what my mom would think of me playing now. She died a year or two before I first started. My dad likes it. He just says he doesn't want me to get hurt. I'm with him there, but I've had my share of injuries.

Anyway, I didn't think I was going to play this year, just like I didn't think I was going to play the last 2 years but it keeps sucking me back in. Originally I did say I'd play until I was 40 and I just turned 40 so there you go. I'm trying to go back to school, take some classes in graphic design & photography so it's really hard to make practice. Plus I live near Glendale & the team is all the way down in Long Beach. I don't mind driving, I just hate doing it during rush hour. Last year the main reason I decided to play was because they were practicing closer. Just south of the 10 off La Brea.

I hadn't gone to any of the team functions since the season ended. Not even the end of year banquet because my email was so filled with stupid shit people were writing to each other cuz they were bored. I couldn't even check my email so I didn't RSVP to the banquet & no one even bothered to call me. Lame. Finally Deb called me to see if I was playing cuz the last tryout is this Sat, Jan 6. I told her I'd see. Then a few days later Coach Love called me & said, "I need you as my Mike Linebacker this year. You gonna play?" He pretty much promised me the position. I wasn't too worried about at least being one of the LB's. I've started just about every game since halfway thru my first season in Daytona Beach.

So I said I'd go this weekend, but I'm not in that great a shape. James & I have been doing tons o' hiking in Griffith Park w/ the dogs every weekend, but that's not the same as running & lifting. For the last 2 or 3 weeks I've been going to the gym & this week we've been running at the park w/ the dogs. I was sick right after Xmas, then some friends from college came out & I did a little partying with them so I feel like I'm still not over it. We'll see...