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Outlaws take on their first opponent
“Alix, get in there for Monica! Right now!”
This was Coach Bobbie Narlen yelling at me to join the kickoff team in the first game of the season. Earlier, he had told a few of us rookies to be ready, but I didn’t think she meant, you know: ready. I ran onto the field, my mind blank; less in a Zen master way, and more in an unsettling, what-am-I-doing way. After the play, the action of which took place primarily far afield of me, a teammate advised that I ought to have my mouth guard in.
Whoops.
For those of you who read this blog, you’ll have to forgive the abundance of wide-eyed enthusiasm I convey in writing about the Austin Outlaws. I do realize many of you have played football before, or at least watch it, and that even the most rabid fan of the sport and/or the Austin Outlaws might tire of the rookie zeal that I occasionally dribble all over the front of my shirt.
As a spectator of football, I get caught up in what must seem to observers to be unexpected passion. Sitting in a bar, for instance, I appear to be a quiet writerly type, watchful but aloof. Put a Patriots game in front of me, and I’ll be screaming at the television and making empathetic guttural noises when players are hit. I say this to underscore the fact that watching my teammates play is an even more visceral experience. On one Outlaw run down the field that resulted in a touchdown, I realized that I had been unconsciously whooping and leaping through the air.
Houston scored twice in the first quarter. Austin scored late in the second, valiantly overcoming the effects of several penalties. It was an uplifting moment that changed the momentum of the game for a time — so much so that the team had to be reminded at halftime that we were still behind.
The third quarter would see that remedied: Austin scored to tie the game and then again to take the lead 20-14. It certainly seemed that the Austin Outlaws were getting into a rhythm and would be able to hold the Cyclones at bay. But late in the fourth, with fewer than two minutes left to play, the Cyclones made a labored drive that resulted in a touchdown. The score was now 27-20, Cyclones; and only a handful of seconds remained for the Austin Outlaws to do anything about it.
The Outlaws advanced, but it was too little, too late. The game clock ran out and we had lost. The disappointment-mixed-with-disbelief that the loss generated was tempered by how incredibly the Austin Outlaws had played against a formidable opponent.
The Austin Outlaws have another chance to beat the Houston team, at the Austin home field at the Texas School for the Deaf, on May 24. If you are (understandably!) eager to support your team, The Outlaws’ first home game is May 10, against New Orleans. Visit www.austinoutlaws.com or call 512.796.0108 for more details.
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By Lily Messina
June 11, 2008 9:00 AM | Link to this
Go OUTLAWS!!!!