Florida Agenda

By DAVID DONAHUE

The South Florida Category 5 Flag Football Team just returned from participating in the 10th annual National Gay Flag Football Championships, Gay Bowl X, hosted by the Phoenix Hellraisers in Phoenix, Arizona. This was their 5th year competing in the tournament, against teams from all over the country. This year, 26 teams from 21 cities including New York City, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Denver, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago competed in this tenth anniversary of the tournament. Cat 5 finished with a 3-3 record having played eventual 5th place finishers, the Phoenix Hellraisers and the 3rd place San Deigo Toros as well as second-year participants, San Antonio in opening round-robin play. They finished 19th over all, beating San Antonio, Phoenix’s 3rd team, the 7th ranked Michigan Panthers and losing to eventual consolation bracket champions, Salt Lake City.

The tenth anniversary of the Gay Bowl featured plenty of firsts, including the inaugural Spirit Cup given to the team that showed the most spirit during the tournament. The award “embodies what every Gay Bowl should be about: sportsmanship, camaraderie, building friendships, developing sister teams, participating in all Gay Bowl events and displaying pride in your team.” Cat 5 won the award and their quarterback, Gary Schrader, dressed in drag, accepted the award on the team’s behalf. The tournament also welcomed the induction of the first-class of the National Gay Flag Football League Hall of Fame. Cyd Zeigler, who cofounded the Gay Bowl and the New York Gay Football League and Jim Buzinski, cofounder of the Gay Bowl and Los Angeles Flag Football became the first inductees. The next Gay Bowl will be held in Houston, Texas, Oct. 7-9, 2011. For more information on the National Gay Flag Football League and the Gay Bowl, visit www.ngffl.com

Cat 5 practices 11 a.m. Saturday mornings at Mills Pond Park on the first field when you enter the part on the right. For more information please check contact David Donohue at Donohue76@hotmail.com. You may also email Cat5Football@yahoo.com to added to the team email and receive updates about practices and team events.

By RYAN DIXON

I wish I could say I wrote this prior to the NFL games played during week one, but alas, I didn’t. Call me a cheater but there were way too many important games in week one for me to just throw these predictions out there. Allow me to apologize ahead of time to all the Dolphin and Bucs fans out there now.

Let’s start off in the NFC with the East division. The Super Bowl is being held in Dallas and the Cowboys are going to play like it. No doubt they take the division. I wish my Eagles could do it but not with Kolb at the helm. In the North it’ll be one last shot for Brett Farve. All he needs is for Adrian Peterson to hold on to the ball this year. The Saints take the South hands down, but it’s going to take more than a Gulf oil spill to excite this team back to the Super Bowl. If Alex Smith doesn’t completely suck this year, then the 49ers will take the West. Sorry Pete Carrol. The Packers and the Redskins, behind two great quarterbacks, take the two wild card slots for the playoffs. In the Wild Card round, the Redskins upset the Cowboys in Dallas. I’m taking the Packers over the 49ers in the second game. The Saints handle the Redskins easily to reach the NFC Championship game. In a battle of Division rivals, Brett Farve makes one last push and reaches his second consecutive NFC Championship game by defeating the Packers. Farve continues the miracle run by shaking off the monkey on his back and defeating the Saints to reach Super Bowl XLV.

The AFC will feature some very lopsided games this year due to the high scoring offenses. The Jets take the East again this year thanks to another stellar year from their defense. The Ravens take the North. Many are pegging the Bengals, but with the signing of Owens, they took catches away from Ochocinco. The South goes to the Colts for the millionth year in a row. The Texans will give them a run, though. Even without Tomlinson, the Chargers win the West. My wild card picks for the AFC are the Texans and the Patriots. The Texans fall to their division rivals, Colts and the Patriots upset the Ravens in the Wild Card round. In the second round, the Colts will easily dispatch the Chargers and the Jets somehow manage to beat the Patriots. The AFC Championship game will be won by the Jets on the road in Indianapolis to set up Farve to face one of his former teams in the Super Bowl.

My picks may be a little out there, but how “feel-good” would it be when Brett Farve throws a game winning touchdown as time expires to win Super Bowl LXV 23-20 over the Jets?

And this time, Farve does retire for good.