FIRST AND GOAL : Flag-Football Tournaments Are Catching On Big-Time

It’s drawing close: Super Bowl Sunday, that holiest of days for American sports fans, the January afternoon when the faithful approach a state of oneness with their sofas. It is a feast day, of beer and pizza and chips consumed before the flickering altar of the television set.

Among televised sports, pro football might be considered the unrepentant couch potato’s last sanctuary. Basketball fans can head to the court for a pickup game, tennis fans make court appearances of their own, bowling fans bowl while baseball fans can join softball leagues. Meanwhile, fans of the Mighty Ducks can take to the rink for the fast-rising sport of roller hockey.

Football fans have fewer outlets. Other than tossing a Nerf ball around the living room, or hitting the street for a quick game of catch during the halftime show, most adults who watch football rarely get the chance to play. In no other U.S. sport are there so many spectators and so few participants (a fact borne out by statistics from the National Sporting Goods Assn. in Mt. Prospect, Ill.).

It’s a situation that the National Football League is trying to remedy--with some success, judging by the early results. As part of the build-up to last year’s Super Bowl, the league launched Draw Play, two weekend flag football tournaments (in Woodland Hills and Mission Viejo) leading to a one-day playoff--called NFL Experience--in Pasadena, site of the Big Game.

The tournament is back this year, rechristened Air-It-Out and expanded from an exclusively Southern California event to nine NFL markets across the country. The tournaments started in Green Bay, Wis., in August and wind up this weekend at UC Irvine, after having returned to Pierce College last week.

This year, the number of teams competing in the tournament in Southern California has gone from about 215 teams per site to about 350. New cities have caught on quickly as well: Air-It-Out tournaments in Miami and Dallas drew about 500 teams each.

The response has “been beyond our expectations,” said Don Garber, who oversees Air-It-Out as vice president for development of NFL Properties in New York. He says the tournament is a grass-roots attempt to increase interest in the game of football.

“It allows fans to get a little closer to the game,” Garber said. “The idea is to get these armchair quarterbacks out and give them the opportunity to play.”

Chuck Price (who promotes the regional finals of the annual Hoop-It-Up three-on-three basketball tournament in Huntington Beach) oversees the Southern California Air-It-Out tournaments, and was the man in charge of coming up with the rules for the game.

In flag football, the players wear long fabric ribbons on each hip. The ball carrier is downed when an opposing player pulls off one of the flags. Because it is safer than tackle football and can be played without expensive pads, flag football is popular as an intramural college sport and with some city recreation departments.

Most adult flag football teams use seven-person teams and employ blocking. Price wanted smaller teams and no contact. The game he devised is played on a field 60 yards long and 25 yards wide, with four people on the field for each team (each team is allowed one substitute). The 30-minute game (rules are printed on Page 13) emphasizes passing and plenty of scoring.

“It’s a real fun time more than anything,” Price said. “The idea is to feel like John Elway, feel like Michael Irvin. We let your typical football fan get a touchdown, do a dance in the end zone and go back to work on Monday.”

Go back to work, it is hoped, without bumps and bruises or more serious injuries.

“You can extend (to catch a pass) and not worry about getting hit,” Price said. “We have a lot of guys playing who are over 40 years old.”

The deadline for entering this year’s Air-It-Out tournament at UCI has passed, but the fast-paced event is open to spectators. Former football stars who want to relive past glories have another opportunity, however: a new flag football league that has adopted the Air-It-Out format.

San Clemente-based Fast Action Sports has held two seasons so far since the last Super Bowl, in Costa Mesa, Cerritos and Woodland Hills. Deadline for entering next season’s play is Feb. 1.

Dan Anderson is head of Fast Action Sports, which also sponsors a popular adult basketball league program in Orange County. He got involved in the flag football league after seeing the success of last year’s Draw Play tournament. Football, he said, “is not a big participation sport, when you consider it’s such a huge spectator sport. . . . Our idea is, get out and play. Participate.”

Chris Valois quarterbacks the team that won the Mission Viejo Draw Play tournament last year. His team--the Chicoutimi Cucumbers (nickname of former Montreal Canadiens goalie Georges Vezina)--will be back at UC Irvine this week, and has played in both seasons of the Fast Action Sports league so far.

“It’s great. It’s like playing out in the streets when we were kids. ‘Everybody get open and I’ll hit you at the curb, I’ll hit you at the mailbox,’ ” Valois said. “It’s competitive, but it’s under control.”

The 32-year-old Irvine resident guesses that the mean age for the league is 28 to 30, with a few players in their 40s (the minimum age is 21). One team has a 48-year-old quarterback and a 56-year-old receiver, Anderson said. He can only remember two women who have played in his leagues so far, but added that because the game emphasizes speed and strategy over size, more women might give it a try.

Said Garber: “It’s a throwing game, that’s why we call it Air-It-Out. The nature of the rules and the format stress fun and safety.”

Joshua Charles, a player from Hawthorne, agreed: “Basically, it’s a lot of passing. You’ve got to have at least average speed to compete, because you’re running constantly.”

Charles, who plays in the Cerritos league (his team is the Dawg Pound), played football in high school, but hasn’t had much of an opportunity to compete since then.

“I didn’t play it in college, so I guess (the league) is a way for me to go out there and play out that dream,” he said.

League seasons last eight games, followed by a playoff in which every team participates.

“There’s a definite atmosphere when you get to the playoffs, an extra intensity,” said Gerry Janecko of Torrance, who played in the Costa Mesa league last season. “There’s a little bit of trash talking going on. It’s a little like old times.”

Janecko played football in high school, but hasn’t played much since.

“It’s tough to find a flag football league out here,” he said.

Janecko likes the four-on-four format, although he said defenders are at a slight disadvantage (because they can’t bump the receiver at the line of scrimmage) and he’s not fond of the rule that forbids runbacks of interceptions.

“Other than that, everybody’s pretty happy with it,” he said. “We’re liking it. It’s pretty addictive.”

Jason Maciel of Buena Park, who plays in Cerritos, plays on a team (the Bomb Squad) with two of his brothers. Because a quarterback is allowed only seven seconds to throw, the pace is always fast, he said.

“It’s kind of like a run and shoot sort of thing,” he said. “It’s hard to go deep all the time.

Jeff Zielinski of Bellflower, who plays in the Costa Mesa league (on a team with three of his brothers), played intramural flag football in college and had a little trouble getting used to the no-contact rules of the new format.

But, he discovered, “it turns out to make the game a little cleaner.”

Zielinski said each team usually scores four or five touchdowns in the 30-minute game. It’s a format that prizes strategy and playing experience as much as size or even speed, he believes.

“It’s a lot of fun. It’s set up really well for the recreational players. The fastest players and the biggest players aren’t necessarily going to win.”

Heads Up! Air-It-Out Coming to O.C.

The NFL-sponsored Air-It-Out tournament comes to the athletic fields at UC Irvine this weekend, Jan. 15 and 16, beginning each day at 9 a.m. and lasting until dusk. The team registration deadline has passed, but spectators can attend for free. Information: (310) 829-5226.

Fast Action Sports adult four-on-four flag football leagues hold games on Saturdays (game times vary). Leagues are held at sites in Costa Mesa, Cerritos and Woodland Hills. Team registration deadline for the next season is Feb. 1, with games beginning Feb. 12. Team fee is $250 for the season, plus $20 per game. Up to 10 players are allowed on team rosters. Information: (714) 361-5000.

Air-It-Out Rules

This NFL-sponsored no-contact flag football tournament was called Draw Play when it was first held last year in Southern California. Now, it has spread to nine NFL markets, including an Air-It-Out tournament this weekend at UC Irvine, and has spawned a local league with similar (although not identical) rules.

1. Games are played to 28 points or 30 minutes.

2. Teams are composed of five players, four on field and one substitute.

3. Touchdown is 6 points, extra point is 1 point (5 yards out) or 2 points (15 yards out).

4. Running is allowed except in no-run zones (see diagram).

5. All players are eligible to receive passes.

6. All players starting at least 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage can rush the opponent.

7. Quarterbacks have 7 seconds to attempt a pass or the play is ruled dead.

8. All drives and changes of possessions (except interceptions) start at the 5-yard-line.

9. Offense has three plays to cross the midfield line or score a touchdown.

10. All offensive penalties result in loss of down and yardage.

11. All defensive penalties result in an automatic first down.

12. Any ball that hits the ground will be ruled dead. No fumble recoveries allowed.

13. Tie games are decided by yardage gained on two plays.

14. Ball must be snapped between legs, not off to one side, to start a play.

15. All players must wear a protective mouthpiece, available on-site for a small fee.

16. Cleats are allowed, but must be rubber. No metal baseball spikes are allowed. Inspection will be made on field.

17. Flagrant contact or fouls will not be tolerated. Offending player(s) will immediately be ejected from that game.