My fall sport ended and I was lost. With nothing to do with my newfound free time, I decided to become a powder-puff coach. Technically I can’t be a coach because I don’t play football, but thanks to Mike MaClean and Tyler Mordas, I was able to join.

First, I just want to say that I love it. It is so much fun. I always wanted to be a coach, and it’s fun trying to teach people the absolute basics of such a complex game. But there are certainly numerous obstacles when it comes to describing the rules and how to play.

For those who don’t know, powder-puff is an annual flag football game played between the Wayland senior girls and the Weston senior girls. It is played the day before the Turkey Day Classic. This year, the game is in Wayland. It has been quite some time since the ladies have beaten Weston, but I’m hoping that this year we’ll change that. I would go into depth on how we’re going to do that, but I wouldn’t want to give away our secrets.

Back to the obstacles of teaching people how to play football. I have found that girls are fully capable of learning how to play, it’s just getting them to that point was the tough part. I never quite thought how I learned to play a sport; I’ve just always played it and learned as I played more and grew older. So stripping something down to its absolute basics was tough at first, but I got the hang of it.

First priority on defense is to find and stop the ball. If there is someone in front of you, then get around them, simple as that. Well nothing is as simple as that, so I explained to the cornerbacks that they could have to mark their men (women) first, then get the ball.

After a few plays, it was clear that the defense had a huge advantage on the offense, who had to learn formations and play calls. The defense didn’t have to worry about flags, because we didn’t have any yet. This is where I became picky.

My next test was the teach the linebackers discipline. Luckily for me, the two outside linebackers are my recycling buddies Jess and Jess. Turns out our communication off the field translates on the field. After a few plays, they both had it down, and we moved on to signal calling.

Yup, that’s right, we call our defensive plays with signals, something I’m very proud of. Jess relays the calls from the sidelines onto the field. She has been passing her signal pop quizzes around school, so I’m confident in her ability. In fact, I’m confident in all the girls, and I think we’ll come away with a win in a defensive showdown that’ll look a lot like the Alabama-LSU game. Final score prediction: 12-6.

The Dog House:

It’s back!

Chris Johnson: I missed his one good week, but he’s still in here because he had 12 carries for 13 yards, just over a 1 yard average per carry. Sick. Chris if I could with stand 12 hits from the Atlanta Falcons defense, I think I could get more yards, just with heart. TRY DUDE!

Darren McFadden: Apparently, the get well soon card I sent to him five weeks ago didn’t work. Heal already!

The winter season starts next week, continue training (or not). Happy Thanksgiving. Good luck football, take back what it ours.