Bottle Football

The kick is up . . . .

As has been well-documented many times in this blog, the guys in my house will throw or kick anything. Especially if there’s a potential breakage possibility.

Sidebar: C.J. once said to me, “Why do you have frames out when you know I’m just going to break them?” Sigh!

Last weekend the Mister finished off a one-liter bottle of Diet Coke and decided to have some fun with it. So, naturally, he placed it on the carpet and kicked it.

Walking sticks apparently make good goalposts; the bottle goes wide left.

His somewhat-willing field-goal target? Our younger son, who was standing in our entryway near the front door holding up makeshift uprights.

Of course, I had them stop the action so I could grab my Nikon dSLR. This was too good not to document.

First, the Mister got in his attempts, which were at times woeful. But occasionally he was able to boost the bottle over C.J.’s head (when he wasn’t hitting him or the surrounding walls with it).

Rearing back for a mighty blow

Then C.J. took over. And he got to see how difficult it was to kick a plastic bottle field goal within the narrow confines of the front hallway.

Three points!

But eventually he was able to split the uprights and put points on our invisible scoreboard. After that, the father-son field goal-kicking team kept trading spots until they tired of the sport.

This was fun!

I’m happy to report that no photo frames were harmed while the bottle was bouncing all over the family room.

This time.

Battling Expectations

Our tickets

The last time I wrote about Sam Houston State football, the Mister and I were not watching the SHSU Family Weekend game. The weather had conspired against us, unfortunately, and we opted to spend more time with our younger son instead of sitting on the wet bleachers after a long lightning and storm delay.

Still wanting to see the Kats in action as well as, hopefully, our beloved personal Bearkat, I bought two tickets to the annual Battle of the Piney Woods clash last Saturday at Reliant Stadium (home of the Houston Texans). This time any rain would be a moot point due to the retractable roof.

Reliant is an impressive stadium.

Fortunately, it was a spectacular fall day, and the roof was open. The Mister and I settled into our seats near the end zone and prepared for a shootout. Before this season, we didn’t know much about the intense rivalry between SHSU and nearby Stephen F. Austin State University, home of the Lumberjacks (as in “axe ’em, Jacks!”), now in its 88th year. We may be hicks from the sticks, but our sticks are bigger than Huntsville and Nacogdoches.

Big head or little hat? Or both?

I had read that when these two teams meet, the scoreboard operator is busy. No kidding! SFA quarterback Brady Attaway (great last name!) is the nation’s second-best passer. In this game, his impressive stats included 505 passing yards and five touchdowns. Add about 240 rushing yards, and you’ve got a boatload of offense.

Brian Bell makes the handoff.

However, the Bearkats aren’t too shabby when they have the ball either. Quarterback Brian Bell accounted for 339 passing yards and four touchdowns. The team gained 218 yards, too.

Sammy dances for the crowd.

In the end, the Jacks’ four turnovers in their first four possessions in the fourth quarter doomed them, despite an impressive, late rally. The Kats won 56-49 and lead the series 51-35-2. Way to eat ’em up, Kats!

The kid should be somewhere among the orange.

And what about our son? For some reason he decided he’d rather sleep late and stay on campus rather than root for his team and see his loving parents. He missed out on a thrilling victory, while the Mister and I didn’t get the chance to spend time with him.

Guess you can’t win them all.

Tenacious Defense

The receiver catches the pass despite (the faceless) Travis’ defensive efforts.

One thing I love about high school football is how dedicated the players are. Especially the undersized guys.

This series of photos highlights an epic battle between the taller receiver and the smaller defensive back. I snapped them during the boys’ former high school’s homecoming game last Saturday, a fine 39-41 victory over our rival.

As you can see in the top pic, our scrappy defender, Travis K., can’t quite stop the receiver from catching the ball despite his perfect position.

Don’t let go!

As the receiver turned and tried to head up field, Travis was bound and determined to stop him.

Juggling act

Travis’ hands on the football caused it to pop out of the receiver’s arms.

What goes up, must come down.

The result? An incomplete pass! And that helps win football games!!

A Brief History Lesson

Nicely done

On our way home to Houston after visiting our older son in San Antonio last Sunday, the Mister and I stopped in Seguin for awhile. We wanted to watch the second half of the Houston Texans-Kansas City game (new quarterback Case Keenum is a University of Houston grad, just like the Mister), and the Garmin indicated that a sports bar and grill was close to I-10.

After we were done yelling at the nice, flat-screen TV (it’s hard not to get worked up when it comes to our poor Texans, even in public . . . hope we don’t see any of those people again!), we walked around to the Honda Odyssey and saw the above mural painted on a building’s wall.

Very informative

We figured that Seguin probably was pretty historic, seeing how it’s named for Juan Seguin, a prominent player in Texas’ drive for independence from Mexico. His remains are buried in the town.

But we were surprised to learn that the very street where we had parked our minivan once was a stagecoach route. I could just imagine the dust, dirt, passengers, and horses. As well as an Indian or two.

It seemed almost apropos that we watched a battle between the Texans and the Chiefs right there!

Pool Football

Jared begins a new round.

Float flipping wasn’t the only new sport introduced to our family’s swimming pool last Sunday. Say hello to pool football!

It starts with one boy out of the water tossing a football high in the air to two awaiting opponents. The object?

The brothers battle.

Grab the football first. This, of course, involves a lot of jumping and bumping. Boys gotta be boys.

Big bro wins this time.

But eventually someone is victorious. After each round (usually a best-of-five catches), the thrower rotates in, and another game starts.

My younger son holds on tight to gain a point on Jared.

There were plenty of thrills and spills during the lively contests. Sometimes you never knew who was going to end up with the ball.

Will Jared hang on?

Plus it wasn’t enough just to get your hands on the slippery object. The guys had to make sure to show they hit the water with the football still in hand.

Jared is triumphant.

Pay dirt!

Football Fun

The kid launches the football.

There are few things in life that my younger son likes better than football . . . well, except sitting and watching it on TV. When a game is on, he’ll be running around the family room, football in hand (he got a new one from the Mister for Christmas), quarterbacking his imaginary team.

It always makes me smile . . . except when he won’t pass me the ball (put me in, coach!).

Ricky about to make the catch.

One of the kid’s favorite activities is to play football with his pals. Usually he meets a group of fellow high school seniors on the Club field near our house. However, a few weeks ago, he and his buddy Ricky decided to throw the faux pigskin around in our cul-de-sac as they waited for their friend Jared to come over and play a videogame.

What goes up, must come down!

I really enjoyed watching them burn off some energy. Plus they didn’t mind showing off for my Nikon dSLR (always a plus!).

Ricky finds his inner lefty.

Despite being a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan, Ricky is one of my favorites among my younger son’s friends. He’s well-spoken and polite and is never afraid to speak his mind . . . especially when it comes to trashing (good-naturedly, of course) my beloved Cubbies. I forgive him his trespasses.

Jared finally arrives!

Our association with Jared goes back about five years to the kid’s Little League baseball days. Little did we know way back then that the two would become such good pals in high school. Hopefully, Jared will join my son at Sam Houston State this fall.

Jared hauls in a pass from my son.

Speaking of which, I know that every time I snap pics of the kid and his friends that before long they’ll be off to college. Many, many miles away from my Nikon dSLR and my oft-full tear ducts.

The kid actually hung on to the ball!

Which makes me appreciate all the more these little athletic sessions in front of our house among the parked cars. I’m sure I’ll miss them almost as much as I’ll miss my beloved baby boy.

A Fun Homecoming Game

Josh K. is about to catch what will become a touchdown pass.

I’ll cut right to the chase: My sons’ high school won its homecoming football game last Friday night 31-14 in front of a huge crowd!

The end result—floating into the end zone!

It was sooooo exciting to finally win the big game! And get this . . . we vanquished the Houston area’s No. 7 team (in Class 5A), Bush High School, which had been 5-0 before meeting our mighty, mighty Bulldogs.

Vic hopes Nick will give him a key block.

Now our high school is 3-0 in our district for the first time since 1999 (4-2 overall).

Reggie (left) and Josh R. show down the quarterback.

Of course, we don’t dare rest on our hard-won laurels. We play our biggest rival (half the kids in our master-planned community attend it) Saturday night.

The cheerleaders do a mini wave.

Still, it’s fun to dream about a possible playoff berth that could be achieved after four more regular-season games. Our team has a great offense that features three talented halfbacks, a mobile quarterback, and sure-handed receivers, to go along with a fierce defense.

The band shows its support by raising its instruments on kickoffs.

No matter what happens, though, it’s always fun to be rooting for the boys of fall under the Friday or Saturday night lights!

One-Word Wednesday

A youth football ref shows great receiver form.

Catch!

Little Guys Strut Their Football Stuff

Bryce is ready to rumble.

When my neighbor Sylvia told me that her younger son Bryce was playing youth football, I immediately wanted to watch him in action.

Of course, when I say “watch,” that means snapping a couple hundred photos with my Nikon dSLR.

Sam battles an opposing lineman.

Once I reached the field at a nearby high school and got in position close to the action, another neighbor, Tish, called my name from the stands and got my attention.

“Sam is number one,” she said. That gave me a second shooting target.

The opposition kicks off.

Bryce and Sam play for a second-year youth football league called GridIron in a division with third- and fourth-graders. It was started by Bucky Richardson, who was a star quarterback for Texas A&M and endured a so-so professional career. The kid teams (through sixth grade) are affiliated with the high school squads with the hope that some of these players one day will wear the same colors as freshmen. Which is why the little guys’ uniforms look like the big guys’.

Running and pursuing is the same as with the big kids.

I hadn’t shot youth football since my younger son went on to play in middle school after the sixth-grade age limit; I’m now used to the bigger high school kids. But even though there’s a size difference, football—Texas’ state religion—is football no matter what level.

Runner and defender size each other up.

The sport is still about offense and defense, although there are few passes at the younger level. And the blocking can be a little spotty, because sometimes the little kids aren’t sure which way they’re supposed to go.

Players tackle with passion.

But the younger set plays with as much emotion as their older counterparts. Winning still is more fun than losing, and all of them want to score a touchdown.

Of course, there is one thing that the small fries have over those bigger lugs:

Bryce trots onto the field.

They’re so darned cute!

History in the Making

The view from our up-high seats at the Alamadome

Oh, how we were looking forward to seeing my older son last weekend! But he had trouble getting a ride home, so instead the mountain went to the collegian.

It’s hard to take photos of your kids in cramped quarters.

Off we drove to San Antonio Saturday morning knowing a bonus awaited us. While we were visiting with our boy at the University of Texas branch there, we got the chance to be a part of history: We attended UTSA’s first-ever football game (coached by University of Miami legend Larry Coker) at the Alamodome!

UTSA’s offense (dark jerseys) was rockin’ and rollin’.

Not only were we a fragment of the largest (and possibly noisiest) crowd to ever see an NCAA inaugural contest (56,743), but we also were rewarded with a win. A BIG win—31-3 over Northeastern State (the Division II independent is from Oklahoma).

A lot of the surrounding students would immediately snap photos as they sat down.

The Roadrunners scored touchdowns on their first three possessions, which was great for our sports ADD-inflicted family. Sad to say, we’re not much for sitting through sporting events. We can make it to the seventh inning of a Houston L’Astros game and possibly even the fourth quarter for the Houston Texans.

Members of the band walk past the rabid student section and cheerleaders.

But we knew going in that we would leave at halftime. We were tired from the drive, and lunch along the nearby River Walk was beckoning.

That’s the state of Texas . . . upside-down.

But, hey, our tickets already had counted. We had helped make history!

And then we were out the door before the band stopped playing, on our way to Tony Roma’s. Delicious!