Island Of Misfit Toys

For Players, The A7FL Keeps The Dream Alive.

Column by Matt Ryan

We all have heroes.

We all have the people we look up to and say, “Damn, I really wish I were them.” And sometimes you get that far, but the majority of us never get to reach those heights.

Hell, I know I wanted to be any number of people growing up… I’m not them, but then I look at the guys who will step onto the A7FL field starting on April 11th.

These guys get their chance to be sports heroes, for the people watching, for the people who saw them playing growing up, for their towns, their neighborhoods, their partners and their kids.

Take a Cory Hammond for one. This dude is the Ryan Fitzpatrick of the A7FL and I love him for it. The guy has played for nearly every New Jersey division team, played quarterback as long if not longer than the A7FL’s been the A7FL, and with a wife, four kids, one of them a NEWBORN (Congrats Cory and Jessica!), but he dedicates himself to this American 7s game.

He not only is going to be behind center for the New Jersey Renegades this season but will be my broadcast partner when we go live on April 11th alongside Jack Barteck and LJ Smith and balance being a dad, husband, leader, person with a real-life job.

That’s the spirit that runs throughout this league’s veins.

That is something I can barely fathom.

Hell, I’m living a life that has so far yielded little more than a loyal dog and a basement apartment. Yeah, that’s a bit morose, but if you and I are going to spend time together this season, you’ll have to deal with the fact perhaps my best skills are basically a decent voice and the ability to call a game pretty well. (Editor’s Note: Whether or not Matt is being self-deprecating for effect, we value his formidable talents).

We’re a league for “Grown Ass Utah Man” who turned down an offer with the Dallas Cowboys (I hate them but still they are THE Dallas Cowboys) in his prime because he HATED THEM. That takes a level of balls and self-confidence that most humans don’t have.

This is a league of fathers and sons playing together, ex-players turned coaches who want to prove that they can still get it done on the field, CITY COUNCILORS taking their abilities from the halls of government to the gridiron and guys with every kind of job – from baggage handler to sales to business owner – under the sun.

This is also a league with some amazingly talented individuals who just haven’t found their way or who haven’t been able to take advantage of their athletic abilities. No matter what, this is a league where if you work hard enough, and have the skill and drive to succeed, you get to play football. Real smash-mouth football.

And maybe, just maybe, become a legend.

The A7FL is a league for all of them and for everyone who is built differently. The A7FL is a league that shows a less polished but more glorious side of football than we all get fed during the 22-week NFL season: true underdogs fighting for their place in the sun and being willing to do whatever it takes to make their dreams a reality.

The A7FL is something special in that regard. We’re not just football, we’re the place that brings all of these misfit toys, even those that have been broken or discarded in the past, together and turns them into something beautiful.

See you at the game.