USFTL Nationals Tragedy

During the MLK weekend you can bet that the U. S. Flag & Touch league finals are held every year in Orlando. This is the 37th event gets bigger every year, from the midwest to the northeast and even into Canada, teams make their pilgrimage to the Nationals to compete for who is the best. This years event catered to 285 teams in different flag football formats and age divisions.

However lets take a step back and think what is flag football. In my opinion, it's a bunch of people or friends getting together and playing the game for passion. There is no need for tackle because we all did the physical thing in pop warner, high school or college. This is a game where the weekend warriors can come out, throw the pigskin around and relive those days by just pulling flags instead of tackling someone.

This weekend became a tragedy for one of those weekend warriors at the USFTL Nationals. One of the players on the New Orleans Hitmen team had taken a block or some people would consider, a cheap shot. The player laid there motionless, some say that there was CPR taking place to revive the man and some say not. However the severity of the injury there was no medical personnel on site to attend the injured player. It was approximately 20 minutes before the ambulance arrived to transport the injured player to the hospital. As teams would huddle together and say prayers for the injured warrior, the worst was yet to come. The injured player was taken to the local hospital and was rushed into the OR for spinal surgery. After a successful surgery was completed, family and friends came to learn that the injured player was on a ventilator and was suffering paralysis from the neck down.

News of the tragedy went rampant the next day during the tournament. Blame was being set on the event coordinator for not having medical personnel at such a large event and referees were getting the same attention because of not enforcing the rules that are cleary stated in the rule book concerning "contact." The finger pointing still continues today, however a player, father and husband still lays motionless in the hospital bed in Florida. Who will pay for his medical bills? His life style from here on out? Yeah, I know, we all sign the waiver form to play but then again McDonalds still continues to get sued for hot coffee with the warning labels. With such a large event, medical personnel should have been coordinated. There were several other minor injuries at the tournament in which medical personnel could have treated on site as well. One of the emergency room doctors at the local hospital was completely appalled to the fact that no medical personnel was on site. Alot of money was made at this event, 285 teams time a minimum of $250 a team.....you figure the math, a good portion of that money should have been weighed in this event.

Now, could this be the down fall of the USFTL? Some say yes, with a pending lawsuit. This lawsuit could border along the line of criminal negligence. I just know that there is a meltdown on the USFTL message boards discussing flag football issues of "contact." One thing is for sure the the community of flag football players are stepping up with prayers and donations to help out the injured player.

Lastly, the champions:

"A" Flag - DOMINION from Upper Marlboro, MD
"B" Flag - TIME OUT from Cleveland, Oh
"C" Flag - DOGS from Chicago, Ill
9-man Ineligible "A" Flag - HAWKS from Tampa, Fl
8-man Ineligible "B" Flag - ISP BULLS from Long Island, NY
7-man Screen Flag - PALMETTO BUGS from Greenville, SC
8-woman Contact Flag - DAWKSPORTS LADIES from Toronto, Canada
7-woman Screen Flag - VIKINGS from Montreal, Canada
CO-ED Flag - BUZZ KILL/MEAN MACHINE from Nashville, TN
35&Over 8-man Flag - LEGENDS IN ACTION from Cleveland,Oh
5on5 Flag - ROCKY TOP from Jax, Fl
4on4 "A" Flag - GOOSE CREW from Miami, Fl
4on4 "B" Flag - ESS from Miami, Fl
4on4 35&older Flag - GET A GRIP from Jax, Fl
Youth U15 Flag - MO STEEL from Miami, Fl
Youth U13 Flag - LONGHORNS from Houston, Tx