When 7-on-7 football tournaments go bad

Florida Class 4A state champion Miami Booker T. Washington and Class 2B champion Pahokee got into a brawl after their Nike South Florida 7-on-7 passing tournament game.

Booker T. Washington won on a late touchdown and two-point conversion, 22-21, but its coach, Earl Tillman suffered a dislocated knee in the donnybrook afterwards as he was trying to seperate players.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/sports/epaper/2008/07/12/0712pahokee.html

 

"Now, that's what I'm talking about. You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked. You don't come into the OB playing that stuff. You're across the ocean over there. You're across the city. You can't come over to our place talking noise like that. You'll get your butt beat. I was about to go down the elevator to get in that thing."

 

At my last stop, parents/boosters from the local rich kids' high school wanted us to cover 7-on-7 summer stuff as if it were something that mattered. The coaches thought that was insane. I had to convince them to convince my publisher that it was a bad idea. Worked, though.

 

We have a tournament going on right now. I e-mailed the AP story to our writer there when it came over the wire.

 

Things were "chippy" after adidas 7-on-7 passing camp on June 30. How many passing camps are there in Florida. And if there are more, is New Balance involved?

 

There are quite a few, I think while some have high-profile sponsorship, there are leagues and tournaments across a lot of the state. And it's not just Florida. Here's a USA Today feature on 7-on-7 from last year.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/football/2007-07-17-passing-leagues_N.htm

 

The use of "Seven-on-7" makes the baby Jesus cry. It might, MIGHT, be technically correct, but it looks like shit. Not sure why 5-on-5 or 4-on-4 is correct, given that AP style indicates that numbers under 10 are spelled out, but I guess it is. Still, seven-on-7 is tragically unfortunate.

 

"You only cover us when we get into a brawl!"

 

You only should spell out seven when it starts a sentence, i.e. "Seven-on-7 football has become more popular over the last decade." Otherwise it's 7-on-7.

 

I think there are a bunch of '09 college recruits on those teams. Not good.

 

Anyone who is (A) not a coach or (B) not a law enforcement officer has no business trying to intervene in a fight like this. Serves the Nike rep right, getting knocked on his butt.