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Very special.
It was really special to me for my team to win this
tournament. Every one of the players poured their hearts and
bodies into it. Last year, in our first tournament, we lost
in the semifinals to the Chicago Flames in a shootout,
32-27. We retooled the team a bit, cut down the number of
players, and showed up in Dallas with a tight team with tons
of talent and heart. To run the table, 6-0, and beat the
team that knocked us out last year, was pretty cool. What I
particularly liked is that we won our last four games each
by one score. That tells me we were ready to dig deep and
fight in the trenches, something I take pride in.
Amazing Molly.
The singular thing I am most proud of from this tournament
is having Molly Lenore on my team. She was the first female,
and the first transgender person, to play in the tournament.
Her contributions both on and off the field were
extraordinary. In the championship game, her interception of
Chicago on their first drive made our whole team realize
that we could win the game, and that set the tone for the
best 90 minutes of football we played all weekend. I've
learned a lot from Molly in the last year, and I hope many
of the 200 other men in this tournament have as well. And
besides being a great football player and an inspiration,
she's a ton of fun, too!
Big kudos to Jered
Becker and all the people in Dallas who put this tournament
together in just eight months. It was also so great to see
Jered's mom helping out every day, and even teaching
linedancing lessons to us all Saturday night.
Getting better and
better. The level of play in the
tournament has gone up every year, and this year was no
exception. Not only has the athleticism increased to a
higher level, but the smarts and the play-calling have as
well. In my estimation, there were seven teams – New York
Warriors, Chicago Flames, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San
Diego, Salt Lake City, and Atlanta – that all could have won
the title; each edged out the other by the slightest of
margins.
Coincidence or
indication? The two cities with
two teams in the tournament played in the final game. Last
year, the two cities with two teams won the Championship and
the Rec Championship. Also, in the last two tournaments, the
champion of the Rec Division was the home team.
Best uniforms.
This award goes to the Chicago Crew, even if their yellow
and red looked more like Flames (the nickname of the other
Chicago team). Runners-up: Michigan, who looked classic
(even if they looked like North Carolina) in their blue and
black.
The rules.
No sport that I know of has more intricate rules than
football. The rulebook for the Gay National Football League
is a dense 31 pages. Unfortunately, leading up to the
tournament, every city plays with a different set of rules:
Some allow rushing from the line, some don't; Some allow
downfield blocking, some don't; Some penalized flag guarding
with yards; some don't. Over the next three months, it will
be crucial for the national board to come up with a set of
rules; and it will be crucial for local teams and leagues to
adopt those rules. Only when we're all playing with the same
rules will the officiating be able to be the best it can be.
The QBs never get
the credit. For some reason in
this tournament every year, the quarterbacks simply don't
get the accolades they deserve. There are some EXCELLENT QBs
in this tournament. I feel lucky that I had one on my team:
Alon Hacohen, who threw 26 TDs and only 4 INTs in six games.
It's tough for teams to beat their opponent when the
quarterback is putting up those sick numbers. It was nice to
see Jim Buzinksi, LA's quarterback, finally get recognized
on the all-offense team. Tony Stewart, Washington's QB, has
been, in my opinion, his team's offensive MVP every year,
and should have been named on the all-offense team. The
guy's super smart and actually a lot of fun to strategize
against, since he'll show you so many different looks.
A change-up in Chicago.
Before the tournament, I was a bit surprised to hear the
Chicago Flames' quarterback, Will Ward, who was the MVP of
the whole tournament last year, was replaced at quarterback
for this tournament by Gil Minor. Though I'd heard from
several people that Minor is a very strong quarterback, Ward
had been the face and the field general of the team for a
couple years. Having faced Ward in the two previous
tournaments, I had nothing but respect for his game at QB.
However, the shift changed their offense from the last
tournament; not a bad thing, as it gave defensive
coordinators something different to think about. I thought
last year that Ward was incredibly strong at running an
offense; he knew very well how to read a defense and keep
the chains moving. Minor throws a very pretty ball (he
throws one of the nicest balls of any of the QBs in the
tourney) and ran his offense against us quite well, even if
we did get the best of his team in the end. The X-factor,
from what I could tell: Ward is a VERY good receiver. With
two strong quarterbacks on the team, maybe it wasn't a bad
idea to have Ward, who can slice a defense with his legs,
catching the ball. I'll be really interested in seeing what
happens with this offense next year.
The play of the
tournament, from what I saw, came
in our win over Atlanta in the quarterfinals. We were up by
7 points and Atlanta had the ball at midfield with about 10
minutes to go. Tim Hughes on the Warriors was rushing. It
was a direct snap to Vance Doherty. Atlanta had run this
play a couple of times and, as in those previous times,
Doherty tossed the ball forward to quarterback Chris
Whitlow, who had just broken the line of scrimmage. But just
as Doherty released the ball, Hughes tipped it up in the air
back toward Atlanta's goal line, ran under it, and hustled
40 yards for a touchdown. It happened so fast, none of the
Storm even tried to chase after him. "He ran like he just
got shot in the ass," Warrior Wade Davis said after the
game. "Not even I could have caught him."
Punting backwards. For
those who missed it, my team's start in the semifinals was a
scary one. Our kicker (and quarterback) Alon Hacohen punted
the opening kickoff out of bounds and was pushed back to the
20. The second attempt also went out of bounds, and he was
left kicking from the 10. The third attempt followed suit,
and our team's fourth kickoff attempt was from our own
5-yard line. Luckily, fourth time was the charm, though
giving the Washington Monuments possession of the ball in
our territory wasn't the best of ways to start a game.
They have arrived. A
couple "surprise" teams served notice that they will be a
force to be reckoned with from here on. The Salt Lake City
Avalanche struggled in Chicago at the Gay Games. Yet, in
Dallas, they won their pool (which included two-time
champion Los Angeles and former runner-up Boston) before
falling in the first round in a tough match-up against Los
Angeles. Also in the same pool, the South Florida Category
Fives were impressive, showing some athleticism and, as the
tournament wore on, more and more smarts. I also heard that
Michigan was very solid, but I didn't get to see them play
at all.
Quite a final four. Now,
in retrospect, the only four teams to have won the Gay Super
Bowl - Los Angeles Motion (1 & 2), Washington Monuments (3 &
4), Chicago Flames (5) and New York Warriors (6) were all in
the semifinals. |
Outsports
invited team captains to submit notes on their team's
experiences during the Gay Super Bowl. If your team was not
included here please send notes to:
mail@outsports.com.
Los Angeles Motion
By Jim Buzinski
LA reached
the semifinals before falling to the Chicago Flames.
Overall, it was a terrific tournament and each of the 12
Motion players had plays to remember:
Toby
Washington:
The starting safety made a phenomenal interception against
Boston, diving for a pass and making the grab inches from
the ground.
Rory Ray:
Mr. Hands caught virtually everything thrown his way, short,
deep or in-between. His best came against Salt Lake City,
when he went up high to secure the ball while at the same
time being knocked to the ground and hanging on.
Brian
Wilburn:
Mr. Hands II was a terrific possession receiver. His best
came against Boston, when he ran an out, saw it wasn't there
and adjusted to a go route down the sideline. He caught the
pass while keeping his feet in bounds for a 40-yard gain.
Cory
Chambers:
The center caught a ton of passes and he had only one bad
snap in six games. He was clutch on the final play of the
half against Boston, when he shook off the middle linebacker
to make a tough catch for a score.
JP Motley:
His best came on what turned out to be LA's last play,
against Washington. He caught a 15-yard slant, then preceded
to weave his way down the sideline. As three defenders
converged, he saw teammate Jeremiah Phipps racing by for a
lateral. But, being the crafty lawyer that he is, Motley
faked the lateral, and suckered the DC defense. It took a
sundial to time him, but he finally scored.
Anthony
Madred:
The wideout had several clutch catches, but none better than
his two-point conversion against Salt Lake City. He went up
high in the corner of the end zone, secured the ball, then
was able to get one foot in while falling on his back; a
big-league catch.
Cody:
LA's rushing machine had at least a half-dozen sacks and
provided constant pressure.
Patrick
O'Loughlin:
The speed burner had an insane average-per-catch. His best
came against Ft. Lauderdale, with LA at its own 15 and
having only two plays left. Lining up wide, Patrick blew by
one defender, then another, and caught a deep ball with the
sun in his eyes; he kept his feet and scored on a 65-yard
touchdown.
David
Strasberg:
LA's middle linebacker was a flag-grabber extraordinaire and
terrific blitzer. He had several key sacks in the 28-0
shutout win in the quarterfinals. For good measure, he
played quarterback in the consolation game and threw five
touchdowns.
Jeremiah
Phipps:
A quiet player, you would never know he was on the field as
he lets his play do the talking. He anchored the secondary
and made a brilliant interception against Boston, making the
pick while racing across the middle.
Demond
Adams:
LA's MVP, Demond lined up wide, at flanker and in the
backfield on offense, and was dangerous from all positions.
One of his many highlights was his taking a 5-yard dump- off
pass and going 40 yards to set up a touchdown against
Chicago.
Jim
Buzinski:
I threw a bunch of touchdowns but my favorite play was a 10-yard
touchdown run against Chicago. I called a pass play in the
huddle but knew I was going to run. All the motion went to
the left, I pump-faked and ran right, beating two defenders
to the corner. For one play, at least, I felt sort of like Michael
Vick, only much slower.
Washington Monuments
By Patrick McIntyre
Washington entered this
tournament determined to reclaim its crown and prove to
the other cities that we have a lot of excellent
football left in us. And while we fell to the eventual
(and deserved) champs in a hard fought semifinal matchup,
we're convinced that this was our best prepared and
performed effort to date. Our four-year record in the
Gay Bowl is 16-4, and we have every intention of
improving upon those results moving forward.
Our team MVP was Joe
Chapin. Joe was new to our team this year, but not new
to representing DC in various and sundry gay sporting
events. While we knew Joe's athleticism and smarts
would be a perfect compliment to our defense, and we
also knew that he'd be a secret weapon on offense should
he be needed to step up in the event of injury (and we
had lots of 'em). Other staples of our success were
Tony Stewart's steady hand at QB, Adam Strasberg's and
John Williams' balls-to-the-wall intensity on defense,
Jim Connolly's big plays, the reliable versatility of
Jay Maroney and Patrick Tangney, and before he got hurt,
the incomparable hands and moves of John Burton. That
said, every member of the Monuments contributed
substantively to this year's success, and it's those
on-the-field results and our off-the-field camaraderie
and antics that make our team so special.
While New York was the
smartest and best-prepared team we played (Alon and Wade
were on fire), San Diego and Atlanta are two teams
nobody should ever take lightly. We were impressed by
their determination, talent, and fun and respectful
interplay, both on and off the field. We also predict
that Michigan could be next year's Salt Lake Cinderella
- they have the talent, and now the experience, to make
the adjustments necessary to win some games and shake
things up.
Overall, it was great to
observe and experience the level of play to continue to
improve. We love watching the newer teams get better,
and we enjoy the continued chess matches we play with
the established, veteran cities. This is one of the
best weekends of the year, and thanks to all of you for
making it happen.
Chicago Crew
By Shawn Albritton
This was the 2nd Gay Bowl
for the Chicago Crew Crushers team. Our team is a mix of
players from the Chicago MSA football league. And just
like last year, we ended up finishing in 2nd place in
the B Division. However, the final game was played with
heart and we lost by 2 yds on the final play of the
game, going for the 2-point conversion and the
win instead of playing for the tie. Congrats to Texas
Bulls, they played tough.
Our team played with pride
and respect for others and we really enjoyed hanging out
with other teams, making many new friends along the way.
Our team MVP and quarterback
Monte Moody probably played his best ever during this
tournament, and Brandon Fogel and Anthony Micelli (first
time player) were chosen for the All-Tournament team for
offense and defense respectively.
We look forward to coming
back again in New York next year for more comraderie and
competition.
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