The Omnibus

Issue date: 10/21/09 Section: In the Spotlight

On a few cold, cloudy days last week several hoodie-wearing spectators came out to the intramural field to cheer on teams playing in the flag football playoffs.
As whistles blared and mud puddles grew more mucky, teams of 7- on- 7 battled neck-in-neck hoping to walk away from the games successfully so they could get the chance to advance.
This year 211 students, alumni, and faculty/staff participated-- a 22% increase from last year. The 13 guys teams and five girls teams each team played 10 regular season games.
After winning a playoff game, members of the team "Dragon Slayers" (a name inspired the former Coach Wade) reflected on their memories of playing flag football together.
"It's a tradition. We've played all throughout our years at college," said Senior Zach Layer
Intramurals give some a reason to get together.
"We're just a bunch of friends playing some football," said Layer.
The sport allows teams to prove that they are better than their competitors.
"It's a lot of fun. It's the pride we look forward to," said graduate student Drew Wallace.
"The competition is definitely up from last year," said senior Zack Pemberton.
This year's winning men's team "Back That Pass Up" rose victorious over their competition on Monday afternoon.
The referees also agree the teams are better this year. Better teams tend to get more vocal about a referees decision.
"It's annoying when teams mouth off a lot," said referee Matt Neubrand.
Playing on an intramural team costs five dollars per undergraduate and ten dollars per graduate student or faculty. This is a small price to pay for some. For others like Pemberton, the chance to play intramurals at Southwest Baptist University, "it is $20,000 well spent."
Coming out victorious on the SBU field, winning teams may have the opportunity to travel and compete against other Universities' teams.
"We went to the regional tournament not last year but the year before that and took fourth place at SEMO in Cape Girardeau," said Pemberton.
Fans know their presence means a lot to the players.
"We know people from both teams and it's playoff week," said freshman Shelbey Wilkening as she explained her reason for getting out and cheering on team "Flaggots."
This is not the first time she has watched and supported the guys.
"I've been to almost all of them (games) because they tell me to come" and "I play too," said Wilkening, member of "Girls in Black."
Divulging the difficulties her team faces against the "PT team," "they're a pretty good team but we're optimistic," said sophomore Amanda Gilmore. "It's one of our last games and we just want to have fun."
Joining in the fun is crucial to intramural sports.
The memories students create will remain with teams and their fans for years to come.

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