Baby Girl, you's a soulja

Flag football was definitely my favorite intramural in college. I don't really know why...I've always loved watching football, so I guess I enjoy the chance to play! I joined a Co-Ed team a few weeks ago. This guy who comes into the fitness center has a team that he always plays with and he asked me to join. Our name, which we voted on, is DMV Soldiers...I'm almost positive no one on the team works for the DMV. I'm not even entirely sure if its supposed to stand for the Dept. of Motor Vehicles or not. I don't ask questions. This name was voted on by all of us, so apparently everyone knows something I don't. I forget what I voted for...I think it was something like Highway Soldiers. My choices were limited. I wonder if I can make it through the whole season without understanding my team's obsession with driving and vehicles.

We had our first practice last Saturday. It was on the complete opposite side of DC from where I live, so it took me about 40 minutes to get there. It was called Suitland, MD. It didn't look like Maryland at all to me...it looked a lot more like Macon, GA. Anyway, we were meeting about an hour before we had a scrimmage with another team in our league. This was the first time I was meeting everyone from the team. When I pulled up, I see tons of people, all decked in their long shorts, cleats, armbands, underarmor. I looked down at what I was wearing...running shoes, running shorts, and a t-shirt. Another thing I noticed? I would be single-handedly supplying the cultural diversity. Yep...I was the only white girl. I was so mad at myself for looking like such the stereotypical white girl in my little shorts and running shoes to play flag football. I took the walk of shame from the parking lot to the field, wondering what they were thinking. I picked out Clark from the crowd, my friend from the fitness center, and he introduced me to some people on the team. We started doing some walk-throughs of plays and stuff before our scrimmage. When Clark was putting his cleats on I looked down at my shoes and said, "oh man! I forgot my cleats!" (as if I had intended on bringing them). Maybe if I acted like I forgot them, that would be better than me just showing up in running shoes intentionally.

Our scrimmage was about to start so we were all grabbing belts to put on. The flags we used in college looked a lot different than these. These...were a little more complicated to put on. As I was stepping out on the field I was examining my belt and how in the world someone would be able to pull one of these flags off. It looked like it was fused to the belt. After realizing this was a good thing for me, I left it alone. I was one of three girls out on the field for my team...there were four guys. Things started out slow on offense for us since this was the first time we'd all played together. On defense, they put me at cornerback. I was looking for any chance to prove I wasn't as un-athletic as I had appeared. On the next play, I was the only corner on my side so I was covering two receivers, essentially. When they hiked the ball and I saw their quarterback look my way, I got a rush of excitement...I knew he was throwing my way. He drew his arm back and released the ball towards one of the girls. I broke forward right inbetween the two receivers and took off with the ball. Now...don't get your hopes up for a returned touchdown. There was no way I was outrunning them. I felt like I was running in slow-motion for my little life! Someone that was chasing after me accidentally clipped my heel and sent me flying to the ground. I was kind of glad because it might make me look more hardcore when I popped back up. I stood up and was greeted by my team with high-fives and an "oh shit, baby girl's got hands!"

At halftime, we talked more about offensive plays. Trying to get everyone on the same page. We all brought it in for a chant before we got on the field again. One of the guys said, "soldiers on 3..." Now when I said it, it sounded like "soldiers!!" The rest of my team said it real cool, with the 'soul' part being loud and the 'diers' part real short, sounding like "souljas". Here I am, enunciating the stupid word and screaming it out loud. I embarrass myself.

You can bet your bottom dollar next week I'll be looking the part!