THE CAPITOL BOWL

When Sammy ran into the basketball goal post, broke his glasses, adjusted them and still made the play was the year they decided to move the game to grass.  The Saturday after this Thanksgiving, the 7th Annual Capitol Bowl will be held - on grass - in Levelland, Texas.  The game has its origins on a blacktop basketball court at Capitol Elementary, but injuries (both real and imagined) prompted the move to grass several years ago. Today, the game has all the trimmings that accompany an annual family/friend football game in West Texas. Little sisters as cheerleaders, pickup trucks as make-shift emergency vehicles, as many as 10 wind changes during the 2-hour affair and spectators bundled up in blankets and earmuffs atop the playground slide to take action photos of their team. 
The Outlaws versus the Gigolos.  Team captains are my husband (age 33) and my brother (age 24).  They, together with my husband's best friend, comprise both the Founding Members List and Rules Committee.  These three have played in all six previous games - although not the entire game every year. Injuries are nothing new to these gladiators.  Last year, there was the ACL injury that required surgery.  Previous maladies to sideline players include one torn hamstring, one pulled groin, countless scrapes and lost or broken glasses.

Even steeped in tradition, the Capitol Bowl is quite hi-tech.  They have a website where pictures and scorecards from previous years are posted as well as any rule changes for the upcoming game.  Each player on the winning team receives a key ring with the game logo and the year.  The MVP receives one with the MVP designation.  Pretty fancy for something that had such humble beginnings.

Players in the Capitol Bowl over the years have included a bank president, one girl and a couple of ministers (which came in handy with the injuries). It's pitted family member against family member and man against the elements.  But, at the end of the game, when the score is final and the votes for MVP have been tallied, it's the post-game buffet at Mr. Gatti's pizza that really counts.  Each touchdown is re-enacted and every play is an "I almost." story ready to be told.  It's what the game is really about.
Creating memories and getting together once a year to catch up on the lives of those that you see only for the game. 

OK, so the field is more dirt than grass.  It's West Texas what did you expect?  It's still better than the blacktop.