The Warmup

On Sunday, the Commas incurred the wrath of the Swingers, a team that was much better than its losing record would suggest--more on that in a minute. It turns out that opening a must-win game with two straight interceptions is not a good idea. Who knew? As a result, the Commas found themselves down 20-0 with time running out in the first half. The Swingers employed a confounding zone defense that allowed Oxford to get close to the endzone, but stopped them cold over and over. In response, the Commas began firing the ball downfield in an attempt to break through, and finally connected with Brian on a long touchdown bomb.

The Swingers, using a quarterback with a howitzer-strength arm and several speedy receivers, piled on more points while the Commas pulled out every trick play they could think of to catch up. On a desperation play late in the game, Iain pulled off the catch of the season when he grabbed a ball that was thrown short. He had to contort his body to make the catch while keeping his feet in bounds for the score. (It was actually a good day for all of the receivers; there were only a few drops, and everyone made a solid contribution on the designed plays.) Brian added the two point conversion on the next play, but by then the game was over. The Swingers added another touchdown to make the score 44-14.

As the Commas packed up, they got to see the Swingers remove their gold jerseys and put on gray ones so that they could play a game in the competitive league. "Were we the warmup?" someone asked. Perhaps, but I'll bet those Swingers were really tired out for their real game. Right? Anyone? Oh, god...

Thanks go to Ebin for taking some photos, which you can see here.