It’s exciting to see a sport and national league that Jim and I have put so much effort into be featured in what promises to be a pretty fantastic film. You can check out the trailer below; And be sure to “like” their Facebook page. You can also get involved and donate to the project at their Web site.

Share on Facebook

Salina Sychla (left) controls the ball in Denver.

Gay Bowl XI in Houston had several firsts. The Toronto Mounties made the tournament “international;” The final day of competition was canceled due to a rare, freak storm. But the source of deepest pride for the members of the Denver Summit 2 was their claim to fame: They were the first team to win a game in the tournament with a female quarterback, beating the Philadelphia Revolution in round-robin play.

It wasn’t any surprise to Salina Sychla. She’s been playing quarterback since her junior high school days in Eagle Point, Oregon. Playing tackle football, she felt some of the guys would take cheap shots at her during the game: Losing to a female QB, as some of them did, often didn’t go over well.

“Football’s always been a man’s game,” she says. “To have women come in and compete with them is possibly humbling and possibly a shock.”

When she hit ninth grade, her high school was opposed to having a woman on the football team, let alone play quarterback. At the time it wasn’t a fight she wanted to have, so she stopped playing football. It was years later in college when she found intramural flag football at the College of the Siskiyous, and then the University of Wyoming.
Now she’s a star in the Denver Gay & Lesbian Flag Football League, having already led her team to a league championship.

The biggest advantage of being a female quarterback seems to be the lack of respect her competition shows for her ability. Defensive backs will play shallow, assuming she can’t throw very far.

“I get a couple deep ones off and they learn,” Sychla says.

That was the case at Gay Bowl XI, as teams who weren’t aware of her skills lined up against her. Sychla says she had an “absolute blast” at the tournament. “Every team was very nice and had a lot of very nice things to say.”

Still, Sychla laments the lack of women in the tournament. Denver brought a couple female players; Molly Lenore is a longtime fixture on the New York Warriors roster. But the number of different women who’ve played in the Gay Bowl in its 11 years of existence number only around a dozen.

“There are a lot of women who could compete, and it would be interesting to see more of them get involved in future years,” Sychla says.

Denver hosts the Gay Bowl next year and has mandated the first-ever women’s division for the event. Sychla hasn’t decided whether she’ll play in the women’s division or the men’s division. If she opts for the latter, she’ll be aiming for the quarterback position of Denver’s first team, a position she says she can win.

You can find Sychla on Facebook.

Share on Facebook

The two-time defending champion Los Angeles Motion (the team Jim and I play on) are the tournament’s top seed; Last year’s runners-up and winners of three in a row from 2006-2008, the New York Warriors, are the tournament’s second seed. The San Diego Bolts, Phoenix Hellraisers and San Diego Toros round out the top five. All told, 26 teams will participate, the same number as last year.

This is the first Gay Bowl to feature a team from outside the United States, as the Toronto Mounties make the trip for the first time. The Dallas Stallions also make their debut; Dallas (then the Bullcats) have not participated in the tournament since 2009.

Each team plays three games in the round robin on Friday and Saturday morning. Teams are then seeded based on record and point differential with the top 16 teams advancing to the Championship round; The other 10 teams vye for the consolation title.

Some interesting matchups await in the round robin. Last year’s champion No. 1 Los Angeles Motion open the tournament Friday morning against last year’s consolation-bracket winners, the No. 14 Salt Lake City Avalanche. The two teams last met in the 2008 semifinals with the hometown Avalanche winning. The No. 10 Washington Generals play the No. 17 Denver Summit Saturday morning; National Gay Flag Football League commissioner Shane Kinkennon won two titles with Washington before moving to Denver. The best matchup of the round robin may pit the No. 6 Chicago Freeze against the No. 7 Boston Hancocks. The host No. 12 Houston Hurricanes drew a very tough draw with No. 2 New York Warriors and No. 15 San Francisco Bay Crash.

All games are held at Cullen Park. The championship will be decided Sunday with a 3pm kickoff.

Share on Facebook

Plus, you can see video of the final game after the jump!

Hat tip to Total Sports Mag for the great video report!

Share on Facebook

Games take place Friday-Sunday, and you can follow scores each day on the NGFFL Twitter page. You can also look up the schedule of games at the NGFFL site; and the Gay Bowl X site is also live. For what it’s worth, our team plays San Francisco, Chicago and Jacksonville in the round robin.

Share on Facebook

Share on Facebook

Share on Facebook

The guys of the gay Mountain West Flag Football League have joined up with Hunk du Jour to generate some buzz for the tournament with pictures of a couple of their hottest players. And we thank them!!! Full pic and links after the jump.

You can find lots more pics like this of gay footballers in Salt Lake City at Hunk du Jour.

Share on Facebook