Jack the Intimidator

Okay, so yesterday was game 2 of Jack's football season. We played the team that the other boys from his school are on. They played together last year, but I get the impression from talking to the other mothers, that several are new. The way the teams are put together, is based on skill. At the beginning, the kids have to go out and go through several skill assessments, and then based on that they're put on teams.

So here we are, and the weather is definitely the other extreme than last Saturday. Last Saturday we were experiencing the back end of Hurricane Ike, this Saturday we were experiencing extreme humidity. We were using our umbrellas for a totally different reason. There was absolutely no shade, so our umbrellas provided the respite necessary from the heat and humidity.

Back to the game. Apparently, last Thursday the boys started learning the art of "rushing the quarterback". The referees place a red bean bag on the ground where the middle linebacker can stand and count to six after the ball has been hiked. If the quarterback still has the ball after the count to six then the ML can rush the quarterback and try to yank his flag from his belt. If that happens then it's a "sack" of sorts. Jack played his usual position of center when he was on offense, and played outside linebacker when he was on defense. On several occasions, his coach had him assume the position of middle linebacker. You should have seen the intensity on that boys face when he knew he would be able to either a) rush the quarterback or b) chase down the running back. He was FOCUSED.

The first time he played ML he counted to six and rushed the quarterback when he was able to. He chased the poor kid down and yanked that flag right of the belt. A few plays later, he was able to do the same thing. But this time, he didn't have to chase him down. He ran right up to him and yanked the flag off again. I mean, the poor quarterback didn't know it was coming. All of a sudden there was Jack holding the flag that used to be on the QB's belt. My father-in-law looked at Jdhteach and said, "Can you imagine what that would have been like if Jack had tackled him?"

After that, Jack caught the running back twice after he'd gotten past the defensive line. It's almost like it's instinctive to him, like it's flowing through those little veins of his. It's kind of scary a little bit.

The final play that Jack participated in and got him the best effort star for the day (I thought it should've been the star for best defense man of the day, but hey I'm biased) was kinda funny. Jack's coach had told him to play ML for that play, and Jack assumed the position. After counting to six he ran through the boys that were in his way (he dodged and ran around them quite deftly for a kid whose 4' 6'' and 96 lbs) and headed for the QB. Now here's where the viewpoints differ: Right as Jack was running towards the QB, the poor QB looked and saw Jack and dropped the ball. I say the ball was wet with dew on the ground, but Jack's coach told him, jokingly, that the QB saw Jack coming across the line and dropped the ball.

So now he's known as the Intimidator on his team. He's thrilled.