"I felt I had to," she said. "To fit in."
Randall was one of nearly 80 women who showed up at the Tri-State Sports Center in Aston to vie for what league founder Mitchell S. Mortaza said was 12 to 14 available slots for the local entry in the league, the Philadelphia Passion. At least two women seemed to have made the team already as a quarterback and a receiver, even though, to the naked eye, there seemed to be at least a dozen athletes there - Randall was one - capable of running, catching and throwing better than either.
Ah, but there's the rub, if you'll excuse the expression.
The lingerie league does not put a premium on those skills.
Really, on any skills, unless makeup application is considered.
"We're not looking for the best athletes," said Mortaza, whose self-description as a "35-year-old backup quarterback" seemed one of many enhancements evident during the 4-hour session.
Foremost, Mitchell wants babes who are willing to wear skimpy lacy underwear while they tackle other babes in skimpy lacy underwear. As for the athletic part, well, running with your palms turned sideways rather than straight down was enough to get you through the first couple of cuts yesterday.
After that? Again, to the naked eye, it looked a little rigged. During a drill to evaluate pass coverage abilities, for example, passes were repeatedly thrown waywardly into the hands of the most attractive and well-asseted defenders. Amanda Walsh, a healthy-sized 26-year-old project manager from Manayunk who plays football in a recreational league, was dismissed after she wrapped her hands around the male receiver following a catch.
"If this was real football," she said, choking back tears, "I would have slammed him into the ground."
Ah, but it's not real football, despite Mortaza's occasional references to a league of "aggression" and "intensity."
