Flag Football

Strip away the helmet, the jockstrap, the shoulder and knee pads, and what do you have? No, not a naked football player, but the pigskin sport in arguably its most graceful form. In this world, the end comes not with a thud, but a whoosh. It's women's flag football, and it's running amok in the Northeast. The Northeast Woman's Football League has grown from its original incarnation of four teams in 1973 to its present 34. At an average of 15 to 20 players a team, that's a lot of interest.

When John Madden's tour bus arrived at Eagles training camp Tuesday, the retired broadcaster went directly to a little-known Eagles staffer standing on the sideline. The two engaged in a long discussion, leading many to wonder what connection Madden could have to Eagles scout Ahmad Russell. Team spokesman Derek Boyko had the story. Years ago, when Madden was still hosting Sunday Night Football , his staff would compete in flag football games against staffers from the home teams.

Suspended San Diego Chargers quarterback Ryan Leaf played flag football at a local park during the weekend, disappointing team officials and raising questions about whether he violated his contract. Coach Mike Riley said he spoke with Leaf yesterday, and the second-year pro admitted that he had played flag football on Saturday. According to reports, Leaf sprained an ankle and had to be helped off the field. "I asked him if he played and he did play," Riley said. "I asked him if he was hurt and he was not hurt.

Ask these women a simple question, like: "Why do you play football?" And you will get a simple answer, like: "Why not?" After all, they're football fans. Every Sunday afternoon and Monday night they're cheering on their favorite pro teams. So why shouldn't they spend every Saturday and Sunday morning for the next five weeks cheering one another? For the record, Lindenwold's Cherrywood Lounge crushed the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Cumberland County, 33-6, in the season-opener for the South Jersey Women's Flag Football League on Sunday at Cumberland County College.

South Jersey's best youth flag football team, the Runnemede Eagles, boarded a plane yesterday for Orlando, Fla., where it will compete this weekend in the NFL's first national flag football tournament. The Runnemede team is one of six flag football teams that qualified for the national tournament in the 12-to-14-year-old boys' division. The team qualified by winning a regional tournament in Washington. "Then we went back last weekend and played another tournament in Maryland," Eagles coach Jim Barel said.

All that was left was to beat the world, joked the boys on the Runnemede Eagles flag football team after they won the NFL National Flag Championship in Orlando, Fla., in December. They never thought they would really have a chance to do it. But this week, they will be in Berlin, Germany, to represent the United States in the second NFL Flag Football World Championship. The team from Camden County had not practiced together since December, and several players were practicing with their high school football team when coach Jim Barel received a call from the NFL. The team reassembled quickly, finding two new players to replace two boys who were too old by July to compete in Berlin.

Spending two days at Walt Disney World was fun. Being on TV was a thrill. Visiting Disney's Wide World of Sports complex was awesome. But for the six-member flag football team from Runnemede, the best part of traveling to the NFL's first national flag football tournament last weekend in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., was winning the championship. "We just kept talking about beating people deep and scoring and good defensive plays," said Mario Barel, 13, the team's quarterback. It was a key defensive play that catapulted Runnemede into the final.

They have no home field. They have to practice at a local park. They have only two coaches. Those aren't exactly ideal conditions for launching a football program. But at the Faith Christian School in Glassboro, it's a start. And to the players, it's better than the two years spent playing nine-man flag football in New York. Despite the obstacles, the team that represents a student body of 90 actually won its first 11-man football game in school history last month, a 6-0 decision over Archbishop Curley of Baltimore, an all-boys school with an enrollment of 500. The Defenders haven't won since that game - losing to the Princeton School, Wardlaw School and Germantown Academy - and they've had to drop games from their schedule because of personnel problems.

If football is an art, then flag football is a trained artist's nightmare and a Bohemian's delight. To some, the sight of a hulking, 6-foot, 4-inch, 270-pound former major- college football player straining not to do what comes instinctively after years of practice - tackle a ballcarrier - might be agonizing. And the running backs, after years of fending off defenders with a stern stiff arm that's taboo in flag football, become Venus de Milo-esque, able to dodge defenders using only a belly-dancer's wiggle of their hips.

The Ardmore Avenue Community Center will sponsor its annual Unity Day Celebration tomorrow beginning at 10 a.m. at the Ardmore Avenue Playground. The morning's programs will be geared toward children and feature Barney the Dinosaur, flag football, races, face painting, a magician, storytellers and other activities. A parade will begin at noon, beginning at Simpson Road, and will wind down Spring Avenue to the playground. The afternoon will be open for children and adults to attend several information booths set up at the playground, to listen to music or to eat at the food booths.

IN BRIAN DAWKINS' prime, the most rare part of his hybrid game might have been that amazing, shark-on-the-hunt deep-coverage skill, the way Dawk could adjust, arriving just in time to help a teammate, even if he'd been in another quadrant of the field when the ball left the quarterback's hands. But that isn't what Eagles fans will remember when they tell tales of No. 20 to their grandchildren on some far-off day, when Lincoln Financial Field is awaiting the wrecking ball and all the images from the Andy Reid era look impossibly dated and quaint.

SEVEN-TIME TOUR de France Lance Armstrong took a shot at Cowboys owner Jerry Jones after the Eagles routed Dallas, 34-7, on Sunday night. Armstrong, a Dallas native named after Lance Rentzel, a former receiver for the Cowboy, doesn't seem to like the direction Jones is taking the team. In a tweet on his Twitter account, Armstrong wrote: "If I had a few hundred million bucks I'd buy the Dallas Cowboys then get the hell outta the way. " It's not the first time Lance has tweeted about the team.

AFTER SPENDING his usual nonstop, six-day week as Philadelphia's unofficial Mayor of Recovery, Derrick Ford stretches out on a sofa in his Roxborough apartment, turns on the Eagles game and says, "Sunday is made for football - and rest. No phones ringing. No BlackBerries going off. I watch football all day. And the Phillies, of course. " But although he spends the afternoon cheering for breathtaking running back LeSean McCoy ("Way to keep your feet, baby boy!"), nakedly emotional defensive coordinator Juan Castillo ("This guy!

Brandon Kirsch has been living the dream of a professional athlete, but he hasn't had to quit his day job to achieve his goal. Kirsch signed with the Soul on May 20. He will earn his first start when the Soul (5-8) play host to the Tulsa Talons (5-7) in Friday's 7:05 p.m. Arena Football League game at the Wells Fargo Center. Kirsch takes over for fourth-year veteran quarterback Ryan Vena. In a league where the average salary is $400 a game, it is not unusual for players to be employed elsewhere during the week.

One of the first things any athlete learns is that he has to listen to what his body tells him. Nigerian-born Hakeem Olajuwon's favorite sport as a child was soccer, but as he continued to sprout, topping out at 7 feet, it became evident that maybe basketball was a better way to go. "The Dream" won two NBA championships with the Houston Rockets and in 2008 was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, so the switch was more...

When John Madden's tour bus arrived at Eagles training camp Tuesday, the retired broadcaster went directly to a little-known Eagles staffer standing on the sideline. The two engaged in a long discussion, leading many to wonder what connection Madden could have to Eagles scout Ahmad Russell. Team spokesman Derek Boyko had the story. Years ago, when Madden was still hosting Sunday Night Football , his staff would compete in flag football games against staffers from the home teams.

Former Flyers coach Craig Ramsay was named Thursday to coach the Atlanta Thrashers. Ramsay, who spent the last three years as an assistant with Boston, was the Flyers' coach from early in the 1999-2000 season (when he replaced Roger Neilson) until after the 2000-01 season. Stanley Cup champion Chicago sent center Colin Fraser to Edmonton for a sixth-round draft pick. The move comes one day after the Blackhawks sent playoff star Dustin Byfuglien, defenseman Brent Sopel , and forward Ben Eager to Atlanta.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO understand French to know that being called an imbécile by your coach is not a good thing. Raymond Domenech, the coach of France's World Cup team, called his players that, and more, yesterday after they conducted a 1-day strike to protest the expulsion of teammate Nicolas Anelka from the team. The French Football Federation sent Anelka home after the player got into an argument with the coach at halftime of France's loss to Mexico last Thursday. The rest of the team responded by refusing to practice Sunday, a real mature move considering France plays a Group A game today against South Africa - a game the French must win to have any chance of advancing.

During an interview last month after coaching his son in a flag football game, former Eagles right tackle Jon Runyan made it clear he still wanted to play, and he knew what had to happen to make that possible. "There is going to be a point where somebody is making a push for the playoffs and they get the wrong person hurt," Runyan said. "There is your opportunity. " It turns out the San Diego Chargers are the team and Jeromey Clary is the player providing the opportunity Runyan has waited for this season.

It's probably hard for some to comprehend how Xavier Oliver is able to smile. The 9-year-old's mother, Tamara Oliver, has been hospitalized since August due to a bout with diabetes. Her left leg was amputated below the knee. His father, Darrell Oliver, was killed in a single-car accident while pulling out of a gas station, three days after his mother was rushed to the hospital. But on Saturday afternoons, Xavier escaped his sad reality and donned a huge smile while patrolling the Lincoln University football team's sideline.