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Leonardite Field The above “Crude Microsoft Paint Drawing” is of our backyard gridiron. This field isn’t technically in any of our backyards, but is very close to RJ’s former residence. It was, I suppose, somewhere between thirty and forty yards long by fifteen to twenty yards wide, although I might be off in that assumption. Someday I’ll have to walk it off and give you an accurate readout of the field. Stay tuned. Legend: A) These two buildings, plus the five yard space between them, constitute one of our sidelines. The yellow building is a shed owned by the town, while the large white building was the former Legion Hall (now an art gallery). The southwest corner of the yellow building represents the touchback line when going south and it also is the line of scrimmage on two-point conversions going north. These buildings have occasionally resulted in some hard hits when pushed out of bounds. The most notorious incident was RJ getting whiplashed into the building by Aaron, knocking all the tools off the wall on the inside. B) This is some vent on the side of the Legion Hall. It is our de facto twenty-yard line. This was the line where you started from for touchbacks going north, or the line of scrimmage on two-point conversions when going south. C) This was some gutter extension that you had to be careful not to trip over. D) The black squiggly line is my weak attempt at depicting elevation. The ground slopes downward fairly significantly on the line. On top of the hall, the grass is thin and dirt is bountiful. At the bottom of the plateau, the grass is very lush and water is standing there at times. This makes fumbles and running in general interesting, when encountering a one-foot pitch on the field. E) This is a tractor bucket that was placed at the base of the North End Zone tree a few years ago. We hoped it would get moved, but it’s been there ever since. It’s amazing that no one has ever hurt themselves badly by falling on one of the corners of this large metal obstacle. F) This is the North End Zone tree. Most people detest going north because of the tree, but I actually prefer going this way. The black “halo” around the letter represents the canopy. As you can see, this is a big tree that gets in the way of deep and high passes. The key running play down there is to run to the right side of the end zone around the trunk. The best option when passing is to run a fade route to the left corner, in front of the small utility box there that actually is shaped like an end zone pylon. It should be noted that the back of the end zone is marked by a row of tall bushes, so you can imagine how many leaves are in this area in the fall. G) This is a small ditch that runs the length of the field and is the other sideline. It’s about a foot deep and makes a good boundary. H) This is the South End Zone, a gravel road. Tackles into the end zone are painful because of the terrain, but you get used to it. The other side of the road is the back of the end zone and I think this goal is a little longer than the north one. There is also a shed behind this end zone that had a window get broken on it after somebody kicked a football through it. The Rose Bowl has NOTHING on Leonardite Field. ***Update (5/19)*** Pictures of Leonardite Field are now available! Click any of the below to get a firsthand taste of this backyard football mecca. Note: The tractor bucket labeled "E" on the drawing is not present in any of these pictures, for the first time in a long time. I am keeping it included on the legend however because I expect it to come back. But as good of news as that would have been, THREE vehicles have made their way onto the southwest corner of the field. A snowblower is now sitting along the east sideline, angering many. (Well, all of us, anyway) Pic 1: Gutter extension. (Labeled "C" on the drawing) Pic 2: The old Legion Hall constitutes about 2/3 of the east sideline. (The white rectangle labeled "A" on the drawing) Pic 3: The view of Leonardite Field going north. (A and D from the drawing are visible in this picture) Pic 4: The view of the field going northwest. (A, D, and F from the drawing are visible in this picture) Pic 5: This is the west sideline. (Labeled "G" on the drawing. Note the three new vehicles that are now parked on sacred ground.) Pic 6: The view of the field going south. (Note the vehicles again.) Pic 7: Vent on the side of the Legion Hall. (Labeled "B" on the drawing) |
Dedicated to The Stick