Another good flag football game took place in IBM Rec Leagues last night. A regular season matchup between #2 (us) and #3 (them). We took a 14-6 lead into halftime after I pulled in a 20 yard touchdown on an audible from Rob. (It's not often I run past somebody! I usually catch balls in front of the defense.) Things were going swimmingly until we gave up a touchdown with two minutes to go that put us down 21-20.

Rob executed a nearly flawless two minute drill. With about thirty seconds left, he hit Andre on the sidelines for a tip-toeing grab that looked like six. After some deliberation, the referees declared him out at the four yard line - first and goal. First down was an incomplete pass left, second was incomplete right. Third down was a broken play that resulted in a long sack. Fourth and goal from the 17 with 17 seconds left. The pass rush was fierce again. Rob rolled, rolled, for an impossibly long time, finally pulling back for the throw. A bullet to the cone marking the edge of the endzone -- touchdown! Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

We defended their last two Hail Mary plays without problem. Put another in the 'W' column.

Last night our men's soccer team had a chance to avenge a 6-0 regular season loss to #1 and defending champion Lions. Those who follow our team might know that Lions knocked us out of the playoffs last year in the semifinals by approximately 2-1.

The game started with a fierce offensive onslaught by the Lions, capped off with a lucky bounce off a defensive miscue, for a 1-0 Lions lead. The remaining fifteen first-half minutes were hard-fought, with both teams getting scoring opportunities, although the Lions had several more than us. The halftime whistle sounded before any more goals were scored.

The second half was even more intense than the first. Lions attacks, Yuengling counterattacks, Lions countering off of those. I had no time to daydream back in the net. Suddenly a Lions player shook his defender and uncorked a beautiful bending kick toward that upper corner of the net. I dove and watched as the ball seemed to move in slow motion, slowly rotating away from my outstretched hands. At the last instant I made a fist with my left hand and punched. The ball protested, barely altering course, and just barely cleared the top of the crossbar. Disaster averted, for now.

With new life, we renewed our push for the tying goal. Both teams were getting several good chances. Alas, it was not to be. Lions squeaked in another goal as the defense was caught pushing up.

Looking back, it was a great season. When we first started, I would have never guessed this seemingly rag-tag group would coalesce into a playoff force, especially after losing our first two games by a combined total of 10-1. (It turns out we played the top two teams in our first two games.) I'm looking forward to next season with the same group!

The Internet is a great enabler, even if you don't intend it to be...

I too am a terrible programmer. And I'm not even as good as this guy!

Both Yuengling soccer teams finished fourth in their respective league regular seasons. The co-ed team was tied for third up until the head-to-head tiebreaker relegated us to number four. The men's league has six teams compared to seven in the co-ed league. Co-ed playoffs start on Tuesday, men's semifinal playoff game (against #1 Lions) is tonight!

My new IBM developerWorks article, co-written with Albert Wong, Tian Wang, and the inimitable Yasodhar Patnaik is now online at IBM developerWorks. Go check it out: Enablement series: Step-by-step guide on how to integrate and manage your old and new Retail devices in IBM Remote Management Agent and IBM Tivoli Monitoring 6.1

This blog post title brought to you by Herm Edwards, of course. Ol' Herm might have been proud of the effort put forth by both teams last night. The upshot newcomers "The Longest Yard" vs defending champs and unbeaten "Dade". A defensive struggle ensued, with neither team reaching the endzone in regulation, and with Dade not even reaching midfield. We went to overtime tied 0-0. College football rules apply: each team gets the ball at the 20 yard line, and you keep repeating until one team outscores the other in a single drive.

Dade got the ball first and quickly drove to a touchdown, also adding the extra point. We got the ball next. On first, second, and fourth down we ran the exact same play, gaining yardage each time and punching through on fourth down. Now with the score at 7-6, the team decided (to a man) to go for two! Of course we ran the same exact play again. The first three times Rob threw to me, and on attempt #4 he threw to our TD machine Andre. The pass grazed the top of his fingertips, incomplete. We'll be ready to make up for this game when we see them in the playoffs!

I have got to get me one of these!

I woke up and the temperature was just barely above freezing. A good excuse to try out my new winter coat though!

Some much-needed rain has been dumping on us for about two days here, cancelling local sports and refilling local reservoirs.