Start Time: Usually 1 o'clock
Location: Mondauk Park, Fort Washington PA
Attendees
4 Teams - Named for each of the 4 remaining NFL playoff teams (I don't remember which set of guys went with which team so I kind of made it up)
First Felix Bowl with 4 Teams
Ravens
Gilad Gabbay*
Steelers
Eric Lau*
Cardinals
Jarrett Felix*
Dave Lerman
Brett Tannenbaum
Mitch Silver
Justinas Paskevicius (?)
Eagles
Mark Pyfer*
Matt Sidell/Ian McGrath
Charlie Smugar
Connor McCann (?)
Max Massey
Miscellaneous Players I believe were in attendance
Todd Warszawski, Matt Gordon, Seung Ho Choi, Terry Park, Ed Brown, Bryan Brown, Jake Rondinaro and Jack Mao apparently, for whatever reason I feel like this is the one Felix Bowl that Mitch Sacks didn't make it to, I'm speculating some others involved were Ben Razon, Tim Robinson and Joe Lauman, maybe one or two more as well
What I Wrote in 2011's Felix Bowl, A History
What I RememberThe first Felixbowl ever featuring more than 2 teams, the 4 team set up was held around the end of the NFL schedule on a snowy day towards the end of Winter Break. In classic Felixbowl fashion the ground started off covered in snow, but as the day turned sunny, the ice was broken up into a slush, and the fields were playable enough to hold the tournament. The original 4 teams were drafted and then the tournament started, however, after the first round of games the unexpected arrival of Max Massey and Matt Gordon slowed the tournament to a dramatic halt, that included a frustrated bit of yelling from the league commissioner. Ultimately, Felix chose to keep his team, and not enter the redraft. Felix’s team went on to maintain a perfect record for the rest of the regular season (each team played each other team once), while the newly revamped Mark Pyfer team (who played Felix’s team before the redraft and lost), also won their remaining two regular season games. After the first round of the playoffs the finals was as expected: Pyfer vs. Felix for the championship for the third straight year. Pyfer’s team lost key wide receiver Matt Sidell in the opening round of the playoffs after a rough slipping injury on the slushy fields, but the arrival of Ian McGrath, fresh off an intramural basketball game, gave Pyfer a new wide receiver to replace Sidell. Quarterback Max Massey had made a splash in the tournament as well, his aggressive blitz style rattled Felix from the beginning of the game. Things were definitely a bit chippy between Massey and Felix, especially after Massey threaded the needle to Ian McGrath and sacked Felix, grabbing a bit of his shirt in the process to frustrate the captain. Ultimately McGrath’s opening drive touchdown ended up being the only score of the game, as a smaller field and shut down defense on Dave Lerman stifled the opposing offense. On the last play of the game, Dave Lerman, replacing Felix as QB, threw up a potential game tying bomb down field: Mitch Silver dived into a puddle to try and catch it, but ultimately his effort was for naught, and Pyfer and company held on to win the title. It was Pyfer’s record 3rd title as captain.
This wasn't one of my proudest moments, but I remember we originally drafted teams and my team was excellent. We rolled through our first game and I was feeling really good about my chances for victory. Then, in their Felix Bowl debuts Max Massey and Matt Gordon showed up. Now I don't think I had invited them personally, but I didn't mind that they came. The problem was that they came late and we had already picked teams. So now we had to re-pick teams and I got very angry. This also spawned the alleged Massey vs. Felix rivalry of this era of Felix Bowls.
I think I maybe gave up one member of my original team, but kept the rest and left everyone else redraft (can't remember the exact details). My team made it to the finals where we were playing against a familiar foe in Mark's team. Now Mark's team lost a significant player in Matt Sidell (reigning Offensive MVP of the Birthday Bowl) after he wiped out in a pile of melted snow (oh yeah, I forgot to mention the field was half covered in melting snow). Fortunately, Ian McGrath showed up from his intramural basketball game and he was able to sub in and take Sidell's place for the championship game. We also had to switch fields because we had absolutely destroyed the two previously used fields.
McGrath scored the only TD in the championship game on the first possession. The rest of the game was scoreless. The game included memorable moments such as me calling a timeout to take off my sweatpants and, even though nobody was being strict about it but me, not being able to get my shoes back on before the timeout was over so I played a snap or two barefoot in really cold, muddy, melted snow. Then later I mistook my sweatpants for the endzone marker and we missed out on a touchdown because of it. On the games final play, we launched a Hail Mary to Mitch Silver who tried to make a diving catch into a pile of mud. He didn't make the catch, but his heroic attempt inspired future generations of Felix Bowl players.
Results
Winning Team: Mark Pyfer, Matt Sidell*, Ian McGrath*, Max Massey, Charlie Smugar, Connor McCann
Runners Up: Jarrett Felix, Dave Lerman, Brett Tannenbaum, Mitch Silver, Justinas Paskevicius
Championship Score: 1-0
Co-Offensive MVP: Ian McGrath, Dave Lerman, Defensive MVP: Max Massey
