Now that you understand some of the basic rules and differences of Arena Football, there are some intangibles that are equally as important. During our trip to Boise to attend the afl2 football game and see the city of Boise, we had an opportunity to spend the weekend with some of the Arena Football players for the Burn. In the time that we spent with them, as well as the experiences we had interacting with the people of Boise, we began to see the importance that this team had in the community of Boise.

The city of Boise is a football city. The campus of Boise State is within the city limits and the NCAA Division 1 players have celebrity status. But the overhype of college football and celebrity status can often skew these players image of themselves. Not so in our experience with the players of the Boise Burn. Each individual we met were kind, humble, good men. They were enjoying every moment of playing Arena football, were polite to local businesses and were representing Boise Burn with class and character.

Furthermore, the city of Boise loves having the Burn in town. During the week, the players are literally fed by the city. The team goes to a different local restaurant each night for a free meal, as well as various other meals during the week. The players themselves spend time doing various charity events with the local communities and kids. As I mentioned before, they spend an hour after every home game signing autographs for kids and fans and each person I spoke to about the Burn could not stop talking about what a ‘fine group of young men’ they were.

The point is this: Amid the elevated status that these players receive, call it fame, popularity, etc. they are continuing to act in a manner that is honorable and noteworthy. These men were not taking advantage of others because they somehow thought they were superior, instead, they are graciously enjoying the privilege of playing arena football in the great town of Boise, ID. The community of Boise is exceptional in supporting these young men, and the Burn are representing the core values of integrity and honor in a world where it can be hard to find.

The game of Arena Football is a great invention. Two weekends ago, the EverydayQB travelled to Boise for a weekend getaway and had an opportunity to watch the afl2 Boise Burn play in a shootout agains the Tri-Cities Fever. Of course, every Arena Football game is a shootout. The indoor, fast-paced football is backyard football meets roller derby which makes for an exciting and entertainig atmosphere. Here are some of the basic rules of Arena Football that differ from standard football:

THE FIELD

• An indoor padded surface 85 feet wide and 50 yards long with eight-yard end zones.
• Goal posts are nine feet wide with a crossbar height of 15 feet (NFL goal posts are 18-1/2 feet wide with the crossbar at 10 feet).
• The goal-side rebound nets are 30 feet wide by 32 feet high. The bottoms of the nets are eight feet above the ground.
• Sideline barriers are 48 inches high and made of high-density foam rubber.

THE PLAYERS AND FORMATIONS

• Eight players on the field; 20-man active roster; four-man inactive roster.
• Players play offense and defense with the exception of the kicker, quarterback, offensive specialist (the kick returner on defense) and two defensive specialists.
• Substitution: All non-specialists may substitute only once during each quarter.
• Four (4) offensive players must line up on the line of scrimmage.
• Three (3) defensive players must be down linemen (in a three of four-point stance). One linebacker may blitz on either side of the center. Alignment is two (2) or more yards off the line of scrimmage. No stunting or twisting.
• Offensive motion: Once receiver may go in forward motion before the snap.

TIMING

• Four 15-minute quarters with a 15-minute halftime.
• The clock stops for out-of-bounds plays or incomplete passes only in the last minute of each half or when the referee deems it necessary for penalties, injuries or timeouts.
• Each team is allowed three (3) time-outs per half

THE KICKING

• Kickoffs are from the goal line. Kickers may use a one-inch tee.
• Punting is illegal. On fourth down, a team may go for a first down, touchdown or field goal.
• The receiving team may field any kickoff or missed field goal that rebounds off the net.
• Any kickoff untouched which is out of bounds will be placed at the 20-yard line or the place where it went out of bounds, whichever is more advantageous to the receiving team.

PASSING

• Passing rules in Arena Football are the same as outdoor NCAA Football in which receivers must have one foot inbounds. A unique exception involves the rebound nets. A forward pass that rebounds off of the end zone net is a live ball and is in play until it touches the playing surface.

The game itself is a fast-paced, high scoring montage of great hits and great catches. The atmosphere is also exciting. Players fall over the boards into the stands, then get up and high five everyone in the crowd. Head coaches are on the field, calling plays and chatting with the stands in the front row, and every player on the team signs autographs after the game. The Arena Football Game is giving fans and players alike the chance to enjoy the game of football, making it competitive and entertaining to watch, as well as providing opportunities for young men to grow and improve their skill.

Check back tomorrow for an inside look at how the community supports afl2 teams.

From all of us here at HackALife, we want to wish you a Happy Memorial Day. We hope that each of you are enjoying the day off with family and friends, whether its a day at home doing nothing or a weekend full of travel and excitement at the lake or the beach. We hope you will also each take a moment to reflect on and remember those who have given their lives in service to our country. They deserve our respect and remembrance.

These are men and women who have made the greatest sacrifice and given everything they have for a cause they believed in. Their families have also paid for that sacrifice and they too deserve honor and appreciation. So often we take for granted the privileges that we so freely enjoy in this country, we forget that much of the world is war-torn and desperate for the peace that we have within our borders. It is because of the men and women that we remember today that we have that peace.

So whether its a barbecue or boating, family or friends, enjoy the day off and join us in welcoming the Summer of 2009!

Now that I’ve begun the EverydayQB challenge I’m getting back into lifting weights. This is really the first time since my post-football years that I have been lifting more for muscle tone and health rather than for bulk and strength. The workouts are a little bit different, more reps and lower weight. I haven’t really minded working out on my own, but it has been different.

All through my high school and college years, I always worked out with someone. Usually it was my dad or brother, but there was always someone else with me that was going through the same program. I am not realizing until now just how valuable having the second work out partner was for my overall success.

There are a couple reasons why having a workout partner is advantageous.

First, there is someone else there to get you to the gym when you don’t feel like going (which for me happens quite often). Knowing that you have to meet someone there and, hopefully its someone you enjoy, you are looking forward to meeting them and don’t want to call and cancel.

Secondly, they keep you working at a good and solid pace. Because you both need to get lifting in with only a certain amount of time, you must work effectively. While the chance to chat is more of a temptation, you’re also there on a mission and your workout partner keeps you on point.

Third, you have a ‘spotter’ there to encourage you to work just a little bit harder when things get hard. A lot of machines now are controlled weights, on pulleys, etc. and provide greater safety to those using them. However, things like bench press, squats and other free weight exercises still require a spotter if you are lifting heavy weights. The value of having a spotter is that they enable you to ‘max out’ and gain muscle mass by exhausting your muscles. When you’re exhausted and can’t lift the next rep, your spotter is there to help you with the final rep.

Hopefully you have a spotter, not only in the gym, but in life. Someone who pushes you to grow and to be stretched, while at the same time supports and encourages you when you need it. We all need a spotter in our life.

Something’s not working. I’ve actually gained back two lbs, so I’ve returned to the 270 benchmark. I’m not sure if it was the news of my wife’s pregnancy that automatically jumped my weight (and probably blood pressure). At any rate, a concentrated effort is needed.

The nice thing about starting this challenge near the beginning of summer is that the opportunities for exercise become more and more numerous. We have located a great park not too far from our house with lots of walking and biking trails and have spent some time there. Its also about time to pull the bikes out and we still have the constant of our athletic club. Perhaps the key to my exercising consistently could be to vary the activities that I am doing and making exercising less of a challenge and more of a pleasure.

Then of course, there’s the eating habits. It seems to get more difficult near the end of the month when food runs out in our house and we catch ourselves eating out more often. Thankfully, many restaurants offer healthy options while eating out. The problem is, I’m one of those guys who likes to order the same thing depending on what restaurant we got to, so I need to change my ‘favorite’ at each restaurant, because my previous ‘favorite’ has not been very kind to me figure.

Any other cross-training advice any of you have would be appreciated. Thanks for you support!

For almost five years now the EverydayQB family team has been two people. Soon, there will be another addition to our team. We’ll be signing a rookie to our team sometime early next January. The rookie will be young and inexperienced and need lots of extra training and support. But they will also be the most important member of our team, the one we will put the majority of our energy and effort into. Because while the rookie will be young, they will also be our franchise player, the cornerstone and focus of all our efforts, and one day, God willing, they’ll be a star in the game of life!

So join us in celebrating the adventure of a new arrival in the EverydayQB family. My wife and I are both excited about ‘the rookie’ that’s on the way and would welcome and appreciate any and all advice you have to give to help us prepare for this exciting new ‘team member’.

Here at EverydayQB, we enjoy finding connections between sports and real life. Football is a microcosm and reflection of things that we face in the arenas of family, business and other important aspects of our existence. We enjoy watching football because we see in its workings the struggles, triumphs and drama of our lives unfolding and we’re caught up in it.

Football can even be compared to weddings! That’s right, its wedding season and a few of my friends are getting married and I gave them the advice passed down to me that weddings are like a football team.

The father of the bride is the owner of the team, he provides all the funds and is the background supporter during the weddings festivities.

The mother of the bride is the coach. She is the one that leads and guides the bride to and through the wedding day. Ultimately, she often times is the one who calls the shots, though it depends on her coaching style. She brings her experience to the table to prepare her players for success. Some coaches (I mean mothers of the bride) allow their best player to take the ball and make a play.

The bride is the quarterback. She is the one on the field, in the trenches, leading her team to victory. She has to make the on-the-field audibles, when her bouquet loses a flower or the ring bearer loses the ring. It is her job to remain cool and collected and focus on the win of a successful wedding.

The groom, well, he’s the special teams, he’s lucky that he gets to play.

So even in a wedding we see how the great game of football can provide insight and analogy to help any wedding become successful.

Where do you see football analogies in your life? Let us know in the comments section.

The Bret Favre saga continues. After retiring from Pro Football (Again), Bret Favre has entertained and spread rumors of a possible return (Again), this time with long time Green Bay rivals the Minnesota Vikings. Just this week, Favre was ‘Working out’ with high school team in his home state, sparking new interest in the possibility of his return. A Minnesota Vikings executive was very elusive and vague about the possibility of Bret joining their team. He neither ‘denied nor confirmed’ anything in the works, and said that things like these take proper channels and time to work through.

Favre said back in February that he would, “stay retired, even if I get the urge”. So how did these new rumors get started?

I’ll be honest, I’m getting a little tired of it all. As much as I love and admire Favre and his abilities as a quarterback and leader, this on-going drama is merely prolonging the inevitable. It is almost as if Favre loves the attention of being in the media and rumormill even if he has not intention of coming back. I personally think he ought to stay retired and enjoy the fruits of his hard work. But I can also understand the that once that juice is in you, its hard to get it out if you think you can still play.

Still another angle might be in play. The age old addage that people want what they can’t have. By retiring, perhaps Favre raises his stock and has a chance to sit back and let the suitors come knocking on his door. He then gets the joy of watching ESPN analysts and die-hard Packer’s fans cringe in their chairs at the thought of him playing in purple.

Whatever the case may be, these last years of Favre’s career will hopefully be forgotten. They have been plagued with injuries and struggles, moments that pale in comparison to what he used to be. We all get old, Bret, move on and enjoy retirement.

This week in the EverydayQB Challenge was pretty good. Unfortunately, I’m still hovering at 268lbs. Which is currently on 3lbs below where I should be at this stage in the game, but its getting harder to lose weight. The workout regimen picked up the last few days and that got me back down to where I’ve been.

The issue has been my eating. I’m eating great during the day, eating about every three hours while I’m out and about getting things done. But at the end of the day, when I’m tired and relaxing, the seduction of smell takes over my will power.

Smell is one of the most powerful triggers for desire, yet it lays often just below our conscious awareness. But I became full aware of just how powerful smell is to my desire to eat last night at a friend’s house. We were watching the season finale of Lost and, like most of the other days this week, I had eaten very well. But then, it came, the smell of double fudge, peanut butter, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate brownies baking in the oven. They smelled fantastic.
The next thing I knew, I had a plate of brownies in my hand and I was eating, eating a lot. They tasted even better then they smelled and my mouth and heart melted at the creation of this delicious dessert. The problem was, I couldn’t stop, and I didn’t care.

It all started with smelling those brownies, a latent desire that produced a disastrous (yet oh so tasty) end to my day of healthy eating. I can almost hear the brownies taunting me from inside my stomach.

Hopefully, now that I’m aware of the power of smelling food and the negative effects it can have on my goals, I’ll eat better this week. We are heading to Boise to visit my brother and see his afl2 team, the Boise Burn, play a game. He’s excited to show us all of his favorite restaurants, so it’ll be a good test of will power. Here’s hoping I can stay strong. Maybe I’ll bring nose plugs.

Is it just me or does it seem like there have been more technical fouls, flagrant fouls and ejections/suspensions this year in the NBA playoffs than any other time in the history of all of sports? Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a little bit, but the plethora of physicality in the NBA playoffs between the Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets AND the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets, especially, has seemed particularly violent.

In a game that is supposed to be a ‘non-contact’ sport (yeah right) tempers and emotions are flaring and players are out of control. Are the referees being overly cautious or did they let the players get too out of control?

Its not only the players that are involved in all of the misconduct, Mark Cuban was apparently involved in an altercation with the family of Kenyan Martin during a recent Mavericks/Nuggets game. Fortunately, Cuban apologized to KMart and his family on his weblog yesterday. Its a little concerning that professional athletes who are at the top of their game in the playoff season, when every point and moment can change the game, are allowing their tempers to get the best of them, fouling and reacting in ways that are hurting their team. Not to mention the fact that tons of young athletes across the world are watching these players throw temper tantrums and elbows and looking up to these players as role models.

While I’ve never been in the moment and intensity of an NBA playoff game, I’ve experienced my share of intense moments, we all have. And we are all taught to react with ration and reserve, to not let the emotions of the moment overtake us. So is this outburst of fouls and ejections merely the expression of a repressed country that can’t take out its anger on anyone so it subconsciously asks its sports stars to do it?

I’ve seen a lot of news that’s been covering all of these fouls and ejections, but none of them have stopped to offer their opinion on why its happening, they merely dramatize and reshow every elbow and reaction, making the players that commit these plays seem more popular and gain more exposure, instead of commenting on how much those plays are hurting their teams in these important games.

The commissioner of the NBA ought to take a hard look at what’s happening in his NBA playoffs and find a better solution that ejecting players left and right for conduct that, while we in America pretend to be appalled it, we really love every minute of it. Something must be wrong.