[08.27.04]
Written by: Bob Pinter

For the Love of the Game, Part 10
Green With Envy

[08.27.04] (Somewhere in Hawaii) -- Brett Favre. Kurt Warner. Peyton Manning. Michael Vick.

The matchups were set for the final four of the PWFFL's informal summer tournament. Four teams. Four star quarterbacks.

No owners. No coaches. No contracts. No media. Just football.

And with Favre squaring off against Manning in the first semifinal, many of the players who had lost long ago that day began to look for other things to do.

"I swear," Kalamazoo Vikings runningback Edgerrin James said in between bites of barbequed chicken, "if I have to see Rhode Island on the field one more time, I'm going to kill someone."

"I heard that," teammate Shaun Alexander agreed. "Can we please finish this game so we can go home?"

The Ridicule's Manning had been ridiculed himself for most of the day, for slowing down the pace of every game he played in and keeping opposing offenses off the field. But so far, it had been working, and Rhode Island was in the semis.

Favre, meanwhile, was playing like the Green Bay Fudgepackers' Golden Boy, slinging passes all over Hawaii.

"There, THERE!" yelled Green Bay runningback Ahman Green, as he snared in a bullet over the middle for an early touchdown.

"My boy's making this look easy," he admired.

But then again, so was the man with the Number 30 on his back. After the Ridicule failed to convert on 3rd down, Green got the ball again on three straight carries to get back into Rhode Island territory. But while a 4-yard pass from Favre to Donald Driver was just short of a first down, a Ryan Longwell field goal put the Fudgepackers up 10-0 early on.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up," an exhausted Manning said at halftime. "I need you guys on defense to shut them down out there."

Wide receiver Terrell Owens sat beside his teammate. "You just get me the ball, man," he said. "I'll take care of the rest."

But with Green Bay receiving to start the second half, it would be awhile before Owens could make good on that promise. And the two stars watched as Favre continued to work like a surgeon, threading needles most quarterbacks--or surgeons--couldn't do.

Driver caught a 17-yard pass in traffic.

Az-Zahir Hakim ran a screen for an extra 15 yards.

Shannon Sharpe cut in front of two Ridicule defenders to catch another touchdown pass.

"You had enough time to think over there?" Owens asked Manning from the sideline.

"You just do your thing, I'll do mine," Manning said quietly.

The Ridicule returned the kickoff to their own 20. Manning came out of the huddle and eyed his mouthy teammate.

"Set..." he said slowly as he put his hand on the ball. "HUT!"

Owens broke out, and seemed to be open. Manning threw him a pass just ahead of the line of scrimmage, but watched as Green Bay safety Antuaan Edwards came sprinting toward him.

"Oh...." Manning started to whisper.

He didn't have time to utter the next word, as Edwards laid a monster hit on Owens, knocking him back at least five yards.

"He's still on his feet!" someone shouted from the sideline.

And in fact, he was. Owens reversed himself, caught his balance, and then began to run past Edwards, past Darren Sharper, past the rest of the Green Bay defense for an 80-yard score.

"YEEEAH!!!" Owens shouted.

"YEEEEEAAAAHHHH!!!" Manning called back.

But Owens's touchdown meant that the Ridicule were still trailing by 10. And with the offense watching again, Green began to find holes in the Rhode Island secondary for short gains and first downs.

"Damn, he's running out the clock," Manning said under his breath.

"Look familiar?" asked a cocky James, who had happened to be walking by.

But it was true. Favre and Green were milking their 10-point lead. And when Driver caught another Favre pass at the Rhode Island 1, Green smiled and thought he had enough. He carried the ball in for a touchdown on the next play.

And that would be it.

"Do you believe this?" Favre asked Green. "What are they gonna say about us now?"

"How about, 'wait till the regular season'?" Green joked back.

Favre laughed. The Fudgepackers were in the final pairing. And no one could take that away from them. Not today.

Detroit and Timbuktu Semi-Finals