Touch Football

Every Saturday, year-round, rain, slush, snow, or shine, for about three years now, I've been playing a pickup game of touch football with a core group of guys at a park in Northeast Minneapolis. We play one to three, sometimes four games, for two to sometimes four hours, depending on the weather and the number of people who show up.

I was first invited to play by The Veteran and I've been coming ever since. I was extraordinarily out of shape and I smoked at the time and so I definitely felt it the first few times out. But since then, I've gotten into shape, stopped smoking, and now I can hang with the kids.

Considering how much I love football, it should come as little surprise that I rarely miss a Saturday. The great thing about it is that the guys we play with all come from different walks of life, different backgrounds, levels of education, race, color, creed, et cetera, and all that matters is for those few hours is our game of football.

It's the great leveller.