Are You Ready for Some Football?

About a month ago, as I sat in the teachers’ room, I heard the familiar sound of a football game. Across the office from my desk was Yasuda, another teacher. He was watching a BYU football game from 2006 on his computer. I watched the closing minutes with him. Yasuda is an official with the Japan’s League of American Football. The next day, he brought me two tickets to any football game along with a schedule. Dates were highlighted for games he would officiate. Yesterday, Chrissy and I made our trip to the game.

The game was held at Expo Flash Field. It is at an old 1970 Osaka Expo venue. It is halfway between Osaka and Kyoto in a mountainside community. It is an area we had not explored before. It is also an area with an extensive park, a nice place for a picnic and to view the autumn leaves or spring blossoms.

We arrived at the game just into the second quarter. The game was still a 0-0 tie. There were about 500 people at the stadium to watch a Division I match up. The stands had about 10 rows on each side, which ran the length of the field. There were no end-zone seats. We sat on the 20-yard line away from the press box. Yasuda was the downfield referee on our side.

Yasuda told me that this would be a competitive game. Our game was the second game of a triple-header at Flash Field. It seems that they play a majority of their Div-I games at one of two fields. The second quarter proved him to be right. Neither team was able to move the ball. Each team went through a series of three and outs all on our side of the field. Three downs and punt, was all that happened in the first half.

The third quarter was the same. Neither the Devils nor the Gangsters could move the ball. For most of the game though, the Devils had the upper hand. They played most of the second and third quarters on the Gangsters’ end of the field. Half way through the third, though I could feel the momentum began to change. Slowly, with each series of downs, the Gangsters were pushing the Devils back to the other side of the field yard by yard with each series of downs. At the end of the Third quarter they actually pushed the ball over mid-field. Shortly into the fourth quarter, they scored on a pass. Chrissy thought the receiver dropped the ball, but the announcer called “Touchdown-des!” A few minutes later, the Gangsters added a field goal. The Devils never recovered, nor did they ever score. The Gangsters improved their record to 3 wins and 1 loss, while the Devils fell to 1win with 3 losses. Gangsters 10-Devils 0.

Japanese football felt like a high school football game. It had the same size crowd and the teams and players were about the size of many high school teams and players. Football has been in Japan for the last 60 years or so. I am really glad that I didn’t have to go through a year without going to a game.

During the game we saw a photographer snapping pictures on the sideline. It took until the end of the game to confirm what we saw, but he was wearing a WSU hat. To think we traveled half way around the world, to see someone who had ties to our hometown.
“Go Cougs!” I actually yelled that when I saw his hat clearly.

When we first arrived at the game, I found Yasuda on the field. He looked younger to me than he usually does. While we watched him it occurred to me why. He wasn’t wearing his glasses. I found it a little ironic, that the official wouldn’t wear his glasses, but he is the only person I could cheer for. Well him and the photographer.