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Location:

Brody Junior High School

Tryout date set for January 15. 2011

Camp starts March 22nd

Still time to get in shape!!!

May 6 Season Opener. If you know anybody interested in still playing competitive tackle football send them to

http://blazefootball.net/

The Des Moines Blaze are coming off of a 9-2 record losing only to the Iowa Sharks and the 4 time defending champion Oklahoma Thunder.

Also:

Looking for a running back coach

Sales Associates – Commission based

Community outreach members.

Game day volunteers duties including hospitality/promotions, dance/cheer team and other assistant positions, chain gain, clock keeper, ball boys/girls, water boys/girls and concession helpers.

Email info@desmoinesblaze.com for more information

Yes, I am all for making the game safe but the game being dangerous, the game being risky is part of what makes football players play football.  YES, I will repeat, the game being dangerous is part of what makes the game attractive.  Just like people like jumping off planes, people like to go rock climbing and why there are so many dangerous hobbies and sports out there.

And no I am not saying the violence and risk of the game are the only reasons people play.  The game is fun, it is mentally and physically challenging and the comradeship you build with team mates is unique.

On defense you live for the big hit, the hit where the offensive player lays on the ground and your whole body is tingling.   That is one of the things that makes you want to play defense.  Yes I will grant that there are dirty hits that need to be policed, those occur both from offensive and defensive players.  But hard legal hits as scary as they might look are part of the game and we as players accept that risk.

I think it is hypocritical and an overreaction by the NFL what they are doing right now.  As a kid I own a “Greatest Hits” video made, distributed and profitable for and by the NFL.  Those hits, that control violence amongst other things is what drew me to play football.  Now all the sudden they are against it.  If I wanted to play flag football, which I have, I would instead of playing the real thing.

Football is not for everyone, not everyone can handle the physicality and violence of it and that is alright.  Football is dangerous and risky, and players embrace that risk.  Football is meant to be violent where a person not only test their physical limits but their mental ones.

Look at these fingers

Ronnie Lott's missing pinkie tip

Torry Holt

Marcellus Wiley

Most people see their fingers like that and they run to the hospital crying.  Football players snap them back in place or as in the case of Ronnie Lott, has the partially severed tip cut off, so that they can go back in the game.  Those are just fingers, the rest of your body including your neck and head take as much abuse.   These are badges of pride, wounds of battle that are carried with pride and at the same time saying “oh that is nothing”.  Football is violent and should be violent, we play because it is violent and we can endure and thrive where most people shy away.

Let’s keep developing better helmets, lets fine and punish those with illegal hits, let’s make sure we don’t make players so tentative that they end up getting themselves hurt.  But let football be what it really is, what it was and what it should be for those playing.

I have purposely stirred away from everything football for a while, after getting our asses handed to us in the Championship and the way my body felt, I just needed to decompress.  The trip back home really helped, the beach, the food, the family I literally got to get away to a tropical paradise.

But yesterday that came to an end.  The whole family was driving west to a park we have never been to.  It was dark and cloudy and rain beat down on the windshield.  I was very quiet, I had a busy day working on the house so I was a little tired.  The rain seemed ominous but a little rain never scared me indoors.  The wind was strong and held the feel of the north.  By the time we arrived at the park the quick storm had passed through, but the smell of moisture lingered and the wind kept hinting of fall.  It felt, smelled and even tasted like football.  We didn’t go to the park for my football, we went there for my Six year old’s first flag football practice.

He was a late addition to the team, but my wife sold adding him to a team on my credentials and willingness to coach.  When we got there I was ready to coach, after a few chats with the Head Coach I became the defensive coach for the kids, that is what I have coached before and where I feel the most comfortable.  I must say it was wonderful being out there.  The kids are just starting to learn how to play football and their energy and joy is contagious.  They are young and have to be reeled in sometimes but they are at an age where they can follow direction and somewhat execute what you tell them.   It was incredible fun and it was nice to be back doing something related to football.

I must confess that I still don’t know what the future holds for me with my football career.  Standing on the sidelines that last game everything hurt.  I could not even find how to stand to give my legs some reprieve from the pain.  Ankles, quads, hamstrings, knees, hips back, everything felt shot.  It took a few weeks to start feeling normal again and I don’t, I can’t put my body through that again.  I need to heal, to properly rehab and to be in good shape if I am going to give it a go one more season.  My mind is really going back and forth, there are other things I want to do and other things I have to do.  But I tell you that cold wet air, that breeze, the grass under my feet yesterday fanned the flames of my football passion.

We shall see, I need to rehab and get in shape first and foremost.  I guess I will play it by ear and see how things go.

This by far has been the hardest season I ever played of any sport in my athletic career.  I knew coming back from surgery this quickly was going to be hard, but I didn’t quite realize how hard it would be on the rest of my body.  There is a sense of relief of this being the last game of the season.  No more worrying about if I will survive another game or practice.  No worrying if this is or that is going to tear, pull or break.  This is it, I can let it all hang out and if something does tear, break or pull so be it, no reason to save anything at this point.

It has been a while since I’ve been in a real Championship game.  It is very exciting and I want that title.  I’ve played 3 years of semi-pro now, and the guys that I am going with to this championship deserve it.  We’ve had some heartbreaking losses in past years and we pick ourselves up try harder and do it again.  I want to win this as much if not more for them, than for myself.

My one sad point to the season is to know that so many people in Des Moines have missed out on seeing such an amazing team.  I don’t know how other minor league teams in the area are doing or have done this year, but the Blaze is a championship caliber team, with amazing athletes and very good people in it.  When we travel we are the Des Moines Blaze and other teams always refer to us as Des Moines.  It is just disappointing that Des Moines does not know of the football jewel it has hidden in it’s city.  Sunday I believe we will be driving back from Oklahoma to Des Moines with a championship at hand  maybe then the city, the media and the people here will go, “wait a minute, who are these guys?”.

This has also driven us closer together.  It is really us against the world.  The league was “surprised” that we beat the St. Louis team and I think they have another surprise in store.  Today we leave for Tulsa and tomorrow is the big game.  If we do as my good friend #18 Randy Blackford says, “Do what we do”, I have no doubt in my head we will be driving back to Des Moines, happy, proud and with a Championship in our hands.

It is time to let everyone know who the Des Moines Blaze are!