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SEDALIA- Some athletes stop playing football after high school or college, and sometimes after the Pros.
Saturday's for some means mowing the yard, or watching the game, but for some 20 and 30 year olds in Mid-Missouri, they don't sit around and watch, they get in the game. A group of guys meet in Sedalia on saturdays and suit up. Their battlefield has a few weeds, but nobody's complaining. Quarterback Kyle Middleton plays for fun, "I always say I treat it like tuesday night basketball league. I just come out and have fun and just play. Obviously this isn't the NFL. This isn't the arena football league." It's the Central Plains Football League. It's like arena football, only outside. The Mid-Missouri Outlaws are the best team in the league. "It's all levels. We got guys that played high school or guys that never played because their high schools didn't have it. It kind of gives everybody a chance to play a great game," defensive back and kicker Chad Jackson said. Jackson and Travis Jobe are players, coaches, and the co-owners of the third year team. Offensive lineman Tommy Kindle embraces his age, "I am the oldest active starter in the history of the CPFL. Look good don't I." Thirty-nine year-old Kindle is a P.E. teacher at an elementary school, and he mans the offensive for the outlaws on weekends. Kindle's wife Cassie says he won't be stopping anytime soon, "He has been living and dying football since he was five years old. There's no stopping him. I think the wheelchair is what's going to have to stop him." But in this league, the wife's job ends with sideline support. "The wife's like i don't even want to hear about it. I'm like i can't move my neck or whatever," linebacker Travis Jobe said."You can't walk. My wife gets mad because she says if I'm going to do this don't be moaning about it," Jackson said. Multiple sponsors ease the pain. Nobody has to pay to play. The Outlaws favorite sponsor in downtown Sedalia is Janie's bail bonds. "We all get issued two get out of jail free cards," Jackson said. Jobe hasn't had to worry about bonds so far, "None yet, knock on wood. We got teachers out here, factory workers, farmers." Fittingly the Outlaws walk over a hill and down to the field. "30's yeah... I just hope I'm in that good a shape when I'm that old," Middleton said. Jobe has a his own rule, "I call it the 10 count rule. If you get hit you count to ten and then if everything's moving you get back up and go do it again." While the quarterback is a 23 year old student at Central Missouri State, the guys aren't holding out too much hope for a call to the Pros. "Got you guys coming down, So maybe somebody will hear bout us," Jerry Young said. Jobe likes the physical aspect of football, "It's that drive. I just like the contact. If I wasn't doing that I'd be a heavy guy bowling or playing golf or something." Jackson just wants to continue playing, "It's just a chance to play football after your glory days." The outlaws won the Central Plains League Championship last season, and this year the league doubled from 4 to 8 teams. The outlaws started their season winning their first seven games. The team is averaging more than 50 points per game.
Reported by: Eric Blumberg
Published: Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 9:14 PM
Last Updated: Monday, May 5, 2008 at 6:51 PM |
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