Youth Flag Football and Today's Politics

Watching my son's team of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders play flag football this morning, I was struck by the similarity between the game in progress and our current political party styles and struggles.

On the one hand is my son's team, the Killer Bees. Seven lads of differing levels of pre-teen awkwardness, tossed together behind a rookie head coach, playing mostly for the fun of it in a league that stresses teaching fundamentals, sportsmanship, equal opportunity, and a good time.

Opposing them this day were the boys of TNT, somewhat more skilled and athletic, with coaches who seem to take early Saturday morning flag football quite seriously, judging by the way they yelled at their kids and physically moved them into position.

Killer Bees were pretty disorganized, bumping into each other in the backfield, dropping passes, and playing the worst air defense since London circa 1942. But all of the kids kept at it, played with heart and a smile, and managed to score a TD in the first half.

TNT was aggressive, razzle-dazzle football, with most of their plays designed to somehow get the ball into the hands of number 11, obviously their most talented player. In a league where each boy is supposed to get equal playing time at each position, number 11 managed at least half of the carries, throws, or catches.

11 grew more frustrated as the game wore on, as he cut back and forth, chased by these gawky, grinning adolescents, and more often than not number 11 gained minimal yardage before having his flag yanked off. This only served to make the opposing adults coach harder (instead of maybe smarter), and their mistakes grew as it became less about having fun and more about winning.

TNT scored twice, once before halftime and once in the 4th quarter to take the lead 12-6 going into the last six minutes. But still our posse of unpolished youngsters soldiered on, managing to score on a long, arcing pass that caused parents from both sides to hold their breath while awaiting the outcome. Tied at 12-12, our coaches decided to go for the two point conversion, which was successful, putting Killer Bees up 14-12 over TNT with two minutes left.

TNT had one final drive, and they were quite focused (and grumpy), as they missed pass attempts, got tackled for no gain, and generally lost their steam at the time they needed it most. Killer Bees stopped their drive and ran out the clock, taking home a well-deserved victory.

Killer Bees were not the most talented team on the field, nor were they the best organized or managed. But they believed in and supported each other, picked each other up when one of the aggressors from the other side knocked them down, and kept their eye on the prize while doing the best job that they could. The final score showed the winner of the game, and the philosophy.

Now let's go pass us a health care reform bill. What do you say?

Image by Uhuru1701 via flickr