Football season is here

Marx is on the left walking.

Marx is busy with football. Lengthy practices, learning new plays and new positions. Because of his growth spurt, he weighs 123 with gear. Last year, he weighed 126 without gear! He is taller than me and primarily legs now! They lost, but Marx had a spectacular game. He ran quite a bit and earned 4 first downs. Several of his running plays were over 10 yards each. He also threw some great blocks--which is why he plays powerback or fullback. He isn't the fastest runner, but he is hard to stop as he can take hits. Since he plays safety on defense, he doesn't see as much action as he did as a lineman, but I think once he gets the hang of the position, that will change a bit. He also had an interception.

Here is a picture of what happens when you take a hard hit to the leg.

I have been trying to upload little video shots from each game. I am not having much success. It gets almost done and then I get an error so if anyone else has had an success, please let me know your trick. I have many videos from the first game where I was still working on keeping the play on the screen. Marx made an excellent interception, which caught on film, but there was nothing but sky as he ran 30+ yards. While I am yelling like a crazy woman, I realize that I am not filming, so I zero in right when he is pushed out of bounds. Marx was very excited about his interception and knew I was filming the game, but his excitment quickly waned during viewing. It was a beautifully cloudy day! I tried my tri-pod during the next game without much more success. There aren't any more grass or sky shots, but I forgot to "move" the camera as the play went up and down the field. Marx had a great second game with 4 fantastic tackles. One would have made his wrestling coach proud as he spun the kid to his back--a little muscle memory???

But, we finally had a game to top all others. Now, I am sure you are all wondering what that could be...

Let me give you a little history. When Marx first started football, he was over the ball carrying weight limit. This limited Marx to being on the line playing center and tackle and then guard and tackle during 5th and 6th grade years. While Marx had great success at these positions (his sacks cost me a lot of money), he really wanted to try running back, especially full back because those are the guys who power through the line. Well, during 7th grade Marx "made weight" thanks to a growth spurt. So Marx was able to play running back and LOVED IT. The only thing missing was scoring a touchdown. Marx always managed to squeek yards in, but when they would get close enough to score, Marx would help the quarterback fake a handoff and the quarterback would run it in. Marx did his job, but never scoring kind of nagged at him. Well, Marx finally had the game of a lifetime for Little Griz. Marx scored 2, yes 2 touchdowns. Both were power plays up the middle bouncing off tackles and all. He also had two interceptions, one of which turned the game around to allow him to score. He also had two great punt returns and some hard tackles. The game cost me $$$$!!! I also got all of it on video!!!

The "contract" stems from 5th grade. Keep in mind that boys play "tackle" football during recess from Kindergarden and up but I think they lovingly called it King of the Mountain or whatever. I mended plenty of pants, washed many muddy clothes and kissed a few bruises too. I never thought that real tackle football would be any different. In fact, I was greatful for the pads and helmet. So, it was quite the surprise for Michelle and I to watch our boys not tackling. I finally yelled that I would pay Marx $5 for a sack and wouldn't you know it, I got my sack and on the next play too. That was how it all started. Because he has always done so well with defense, we backed out of paying for tackles because he did so many. He averaged 2 sacks per game during 5th & 6th grade years. Now, after an outstanding play he signs the "amount" I owe from the sidelines. I can honestly say that I think that Marx really isn't doing it for the money any more. Once he figured out what he was doing, the pleasure of doing a job well was payment enough--the rest is just gravy. I hope when he plays football in high school, he'll sign "Love You" rather than "get your checkbook, this one's gonna cost you"!