April 2006

Busy Sports Weekend for the Hedgies!!

We are pooped...

It all started at 8am, with Karl's flag football game (#5) against the hapless Packers. Karl took the very 1st play, 35-toss sweep, to his 4th TD of the season. The Eagles ended up winning the game 28-0; it could have been much worse, except I pulled several of the "stud" players to let the weaker boys get some work at defense/offense. The next 2 weeks will be similar affairs, so we will use those games to hone everyone's skills. You can see some of the game pictures Here.

Later that day (12:30pm to be specific), Natalie had her first swimming time trials in all 4 strokes. This was to see how much improvement has been made, and who is ready to move up to the next level. You can see some of Natalie's pictures Here. She did an excellent job, especially in the breast stroke (my fav) and the butterfly. They did 50 yards of each, ending the day with the brutal 'fly! Natalie received three 1st place finishes and 1 second place ribbon. She was ecstatic, but the best news came as we were walking out to the car; she can officially move up to the White team, and her coach, Rene Piper (click here for her bio), said she is entering Natalie in the Morgan Stanley 2006 Invitational down in Ft. Myers! Needless to say, she is beyond excited!

As for us, we are finalizing our summer vacation plans, and it looks like we are headed back to our favorite place; North Carolina! We are getting a house on Lake Glenville again, and will rent a powerboat this time, to ski and fish. We love the peace and quiet the mountains offer, as well as the cool weather. I always lose about 10lbs. when we go there (but always put it back on once we return to Sarasota...). We also plan on whitewater rafting down the Natahala river. Let's hope gas prices don't climb too high!

Flag Football; Game 4 vs. The Broncos

Scouting the Broncos last week, it was apparent to me that they would pose no problem for the Eagles, and I would be able to let the weaker players run and catch, something they rarely get the chance to do in tight games. By the 4th minute of the 2nd half, I began the "rotation," shuffling in players and generally having fun. When the whistle blew to end the game, we generated 30 points to their 6, and had amassed almost 300 yards of offense (this on an 80 yard field). The particulars can be found here.

Good Friday Fishing!

With the kids out of school today, what better way to relax than to go fishing? Ahh, but we did that a couple of weeks ago and came back with nothing to show for our efforts; NOT THIS TIME! A few minutes after arriving, and with hooks baited with dead shrimp, little nibbles were felt. POW! I got the first catch, and boy did he fight! It took nearly 5 minutes to reel him in, and Natalie was right by my side, barking out instructions; "Pull him in, Dad! Oh no, he's running again, {my reel was whirring like a blender!}, Daddy, he's getting awaaaaayyy!" Not to worry:

Not to be outdone, Karl snagged his Redfish not 5 minutes later. It gave Karl all he could handle, his pole bent over like a giant question mark (?).

All in all, a great end to an absolutely beautiful Good Friday. No...I take that back. I got stuck cleaning the fish!

Flag Football Game 3!

I always use a loss to refocus the team, and to correct the mistakes made. Because of poor pass defense, we spent nearly half of the Wednesday practice on CB/Safety pass coverage, and the all-important pass rush. Yesterday, all that work paid off with a solid victory over the Spartans, 23-13. The full monty can be seen here.

Karl had another excellent day, scoring 2 TD's via the pass. We moved the ball at will, and the defense stopped the Spartans on 4 occasions, including 1 INT. We were able to give the backups some work because of the scoring cushion, and it was evident that some of them need more "seasoning!" We move into the weak part of our schedule, so we can concentrate our practices on the last 2 games of the season; the Raiders and the Rams, both of whom are undefeated and very well-coached...but so are we! Go Eagles!

Flag Football, Game 2!

It hurts when you stub your toe, and that is what happened to the Eagles today. You can read about it in detail here, but allow me to expand a bit on what happened. The Vikings had a player (Tommy Keal) while only 12 y.o., still towered over everyone else by 8 inches. He was their main receiver and it was Karl's job to cover him on pass plays. Unfortunately, on two of them, he allowed Keal to get behind him and it was good night Gracie! Karl did get even by returning the kickoff 75 yards for the TD, but it was too little, too late. We lost 24-32. Make no mistake; Karl was not the reason we lost, as other players had breakdowns on defense as well. I now have to consider moving Karl to a different position, or allow him to work his way out of his bad habit of playing the QB instead of the receiver. Next week is the Spartans, loaded with speedy runners.