I haven’t recapped a Bowl Game in a bit and I’m only up to recapping Week 5 with Week 9 in a few days…..so…to recap today’s game, which was neither a Bowl Game (officially) or regular game, seems a bit frivolous. But it’s a long weekend and today was special. If not for the game itself, but for what it represents. It was nice to see the chat post-game as some people were talking about their first Jewball experience, and how for Kut, his was the Jewball Turkey Bowl. What that meant to him find us. I mean, talk about something to be thankful for. Kut is every single thing that Jewball aspires to be. It was even nicer to see that – despite the pretty terrible weather – how many people were playing football today. There was a time, not too long ago, where I would have sworn and knew, that on a day like today, Jewballers would be the only ones out there. So – what does this mean? That Hewlett was taken. That other local fields were occupied (per Kill’s crew). That we split LHS. Had to turn people away who wanted our spot. That there was a game after ours even as the weather got worse. That everyone out there came home drenched. Does it mean that Jewballers are less special? I don’t see it that way. To me, it means that there are more Jewballers out there than we thought. That all these kids are our kind of people. Now, all we need to do is convince them that…what you do on Thanksgiving….is what you do every Sunday. And then convince them of about a hundred other things. But the key element – the love of football – the dedication to the game – it’s there. This next generation – we give them a lot of sh*t about being soft and on their phones all day – but they were out there today. It’s a great sign.
So, how did this game happen? Well, nothing gets the Jewballers up for a game like the Commish canceling. Today starts with Jewballers staring at their phones at five to 7am. Unbelievable. The rain had begun and I had some cancelations last night. I would bet that even more people were hoping for a cancel. But….the rain wasn’t that bad at 7am. It wasn’t bad at 8am. It was kinda bad at 9am. It was a monsoon at 10am. The move was to make the Turkey Bowl on Friday because the weather was clear (still need 6 more!) and have a pick up for today. For those who love football and understand that after football in the elements….the turkey hits different. The stuffing is a reward. The yams and green beans and cranberry sauce are wages paid for a job well done. For those who came out – and we will get to naming you – you won by showing up. And hopefully you will soon reap the benefits in the form of a plate heaped high. Then seconds. Then thirds. For the rest of you….yeah….you’ll watch football. You’ll eat. But you won’t feel as good about it as we do.
Prime took the lead because he needed to clean his palate of Tuesday night. He’s in and he signs up for Justin (we will get to this). The die hards jump in. MK, Bert, Logic, DK….Prime calls it beautiful. Zinn goes back to sleep. Yaron then says in. Then realizes that reading is fundamental and takes it back, but is ready for tomorrow. The semi-hards sign up as Dave-o, Steve-O, and Jordan say IN with the weather permitting caveat. Tom is gonna give us some time. Feit is gonna give us some time. Pray is In obvs. The rain keeps coming down. Zinn wakes up. He’s IN. Bin is heading to shul and says….just let me know where to be. The Prince of Persia hasn’t missed a Jewball Thanksgiving start since 2001. Pray promises pie. I head out to get some coffee for us. This is Jewball! A combination of commitment, synergy, and insanity. The feeling that it’s coming together. There is nothing like it. Something to be extremely thankful for. It gets better…for a second.
With the Box of Joe in the car along with a tent and the gear, Mighty is on the line saying Socks and Froglicker are looking to get in. Not only do we have a game….we have BIG GAME – with Vets coming out. The field is ours because Dom messaged that the Turkey Bowl was canceled. We know everyone worth knowing. Zinn pulled up and got to work. Dude operates at a different level for Bowl Games. He takes ownership. It was decided that we would play full length of field with 4 first downs – every 20 yards. Worked out pretty well. Meanwhile, Pray and Rabin chose up teams and the canopy kept our stuff pretty dry. Now, the problem was we were odd numbers. Because we had 13, not 14, not 15, and certainly not 16. Prime greeted me with a not gonna lie. And it was that Justin wasn’t in, but sometime you are gonna lie to make the game happen. So we never had 14. But the Frog brothers were on their way, but the Frog brothers became the lost boys because neither showed. But, have no fear – Zinn gets on the chat looking for one and Kid – who was signed up for the Turkey Bowl – says IN. We’re saved. But Kid doesn’t come out. More about that in a second. The game starts as a 6 on 7 with Bert – who else…God bless this guy – standing on the sidelines in the rain. Teams are the Praygrims v. the BinZinndians. Pray with Dave-o, Steve-O, Logic, Bert, Prime, and Kut, and Rabin with Zinn, MK, DK, Tom, and Jordan. Of course Rabin is grinning ear to ear as no one is happier to run a huddle and signal call for a team. And with Zinn at his disposal, he’s practically giddy. Everyone is tired, soaked, and the opposite of warmed up…..and Rabin knows it. So the play is hand-off to Zinn with DK lead blocking. Zinn starts in left slot and on ready jets behind Rabin and gets the ball….Pray screams NO and practically laughs because he knows that even with 95 yards to go, that’s a TD play. But while he screams No….he flies to the right sideline and crosses Zinn at the 15, and with a smooth slide of the hand, he comes up with Zinn’s flag. Looks like Zinn is stoppable after all. I mean, we all know he has very limited field awareness. Two plays later Rabin runs the same play to the other side and Zinn dekes every single player on the Praygrims, reverses the field, makes everyone cry, and scores a TD – 80 yard run. BinZinnidians up 1-0. About this time, a few guys start showing up to play some Thanksgiving football in their own traditional games. Old friends. Annual rites of passage. Very nice. Jewball approves. So that no Praygrim will have to sit, one of the dudes comes in. He told us he lives in city, is in finance, and is fast. Well on a 4th and short, Pray did that thing where he acts like he’s running so you come at him and right before he crosses the line, he throw it to the receiver you just left. In this case, that receiver was Logic and the catch is made. Finance is right there on him, but doesn’t make the play, doesn’t get the flag, and doesn’t catch Logic. The score is tied 1-1. At this point, Feit arrives and Finance slinks away. Now, it was awesome that Feit came and made us even, but I want to just sat to the Kid….I’m not gonna judge anything about what happened other than this: Read the situation better. Starting with the chat. We really were short one. Saying IN and not coming….isn’t a joke. You said you thought we were joking, but if you read the chat leading up that, it was clear we weren’t. And then once you realize that the joke wasn’t a good one – because we really were there waiting for you – don’t defend the joke…Just say two words and only two words: My bad. Done. Clean.
But, thankfully, Feit not only showed up, but he came earlier than expected and on fire. Big energy on offense and defense as he rotated with Rabin at QB for the rest of the way. Now, I can’t go play for play through the rest of the game. A.) I have the memory of a 46-year-old B.) I’m getting tired and I promised myself I’d get this out tonight (i.e. 46). So let’s just do some highlights: Rabin to Zinn again and Zinn runs all over the place and scores. Pray deep ball to Kut, caught. Pray deep ball to Kut, broken up by Jordan. Prime with a TD where Feit said he got him, but didn’t. Feit to Zinn TD, perfect pass over the middle. And of course, the goal line stand by the Prayrgims as Prime gets DK’s flag just as DK falls into the endzone. It was first called a TD, but we had to send it to the replay booth (which is located in PJ’s basement). Upon further review, the call was no TD1! Neither foot crossed the plane. No problem. The football clearly crossed the plane. Good start. Two balls to go. But after watching the play enhanced and in slow motion, it was evident that only one other ball crossed the line. The other one was left dangling over the green turf. No score. In the end, it did not matter as the Praygrim fell to the BinZinndians by a score of (I think) 4-2. For all I know, Zinn scored all 4, but I have to mention MK. Zinn got all the glory, but MK made every big catch to keep the chains moving and pulled a lot of big flags. I guess that brings this recap to an end. I had higher hopes for it, but…again…this day is fading fast. The point is…I didn’t have to write this. I guess in a way…I don’t have to write any of them. But I’m moved to write them. I’m compelled to write them. I want to write them. And today reminded me why. Because I’m thankful. And the recaps are and have always been a small way to give back. Thank you, Jewball. Been the ride of my life.