AIRING THEIR TALENTS : FLAG FOOTBALL FANS TEAM UP.Byline: Mary F. Pols POLS Political Science (course prefix) POLS Principle of Least Surprise (Ruby programming language) POLS Provisioning On-Line System Daily News Staff Writer Just in terms of sheer numbers of people on the playing field, NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga Air-It-Out flag football competition Saturday made the Super Bowl look downright shabby. There were 2,935 players, 587 teams and 160 referees at Saturday's game, all milling about on 55 mini-football fields at Encino's Balboa Park Balboa Park is the name of several municipal parks, including the following:
On the first day of the two-day tournament, scarcely a football-free patch of ground was to be found. Pigskins spun into the sky every few seconds. Whistles shrilled incessantly. Event manager Chuck Price looked a bit wiped out. ``It's been a long day,'' he said, using his walkie-talkie to dispense yet another referee to a field far, far away. The tournament, in its third year at the Balboa Park site, drew five-member teams from as far away as Texas and Ohio. When it wraps up today there will be 65 winning teams in divisions ranging from the 8-year-olds to the armchair quarterbacks. About 25 percent of the participants are on high school or college teams, Price explained. The rest range from pre-high schoolers to those past playing collegiate football. But that doesn't mean they are necessarily past their prime. Take Dean Cain, television's Superman Superman invincible scourge of crime. [Comics: Horn, 642–643] See : Crime Fighting Superman superhero under guise of Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter. and a former Princeton football player. There he was, sporting a black No. 11 shirt, throwing himself around a muddy field with the abandon of a professional in the playoffs. His presence drew a crowd, including quite a few women and some players who had already finished their games. ``I'm going to kick Superman's butt,'' joked Northridge resident Mark Gronlund, heading over with his sweaty sweat·y adj. sweat·i·er, sweat·i·est 1. Covered with or smelling of sweat. 2. Causing sweat: a sweaty job. teammates to watch the celebrity play. While Air-It-Out is definitely a male-dominated event, not all of the women attending were standing by the sidelines Sidelines Hypothetical position referring to noninvolvement in a stock; merely watching. with coolers and video cameras. ``We won both our games,'' said an elated e·lat·ed adj. Exultantly proud and joyful. e·lat  ed·ly adv.e·lat Jane Baker, a 35-year-old mom from Torrance who played in the coed division. ``We'll be back tomorrow.'' CAPTION(S): 3 Photos Photo: (1) Spectators bring their own seating for the Air-It-Out flag football tournament in Encino for almost 3,000 players. (2) Ryan Farrar, 8, of Duarte catches the ball in flag play. (3) Young players Tyler Thompson, left, J.J. Jackson, Ryan Farrar and Henry Ross Captain Henry Ross (1829 - 5 December, 1854) was a Canadian gold miner at Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, and was known on the goldfields as the 'bridegroom' of the miners flag, the Southern Cross, the Eureka Flag. pick up pointers during a clinic at a flag football tournament. Hans Gutknecht/Daily News |
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