“It’s the only IM sport in which you get to hit somebody,” said senior Eli Asch, describing the lure of IM football.

“I think it really kind of gets everybody started off for the new year,” said IM Committee Chairman Claudia Yeung, a senior.

IM football, the biggest IM sport of the year, started its season last weekend. The sport has become a way to reunite old sections or for first-year sections to get to know each other.
“It’s a good bonding experience for a lot of first-years,” said Asch.

With professional football growing in popularity, IM football capitalizes on a budding itch to at least try football. For some, it’s the perfect study break.

“It’s a good way for people to get out and blow off some steam. It gets you out of the library for a couple of hours on weekends,” said Asch.

This will be a special IM season for Asch, who will be a referee, serve on the IM committee and co-run a sports talk radio show with senior Brian Woods on KWCW at 9 a.m. every Wednesday. The show will devote five to 10 minutes to IM football coverage during every hour show. During the IM coverage, Asch and Woods will recap last week’s scores and preview any big games for the upcoming weekend.

Besides that, Asch will be updating an IM football Web site that can be reached through a link on the Whitman athletics Web site. Before the season began, Asch contacted the captain of each team, asking them a few questions about their team, and then used that to make predictions on the outcome of each division.

Asch denies any prognostic talent at the beginning of his article, but his picks are as follows: In D-I: Old E-section who won the D-2 championship in their sophomore year. In D-2: Bidnam’s World Tour Vol. 2, who as first-years went undefeated last season in D-2 until losing in the championship game. This year they are back with sophomore Andrew Spittle at quarterback whose Samson-like golden locks promise to offset his twig-like figure. Finally, in the Women’s Division, Asch picked the Hungry Hungry Hippos, the runners-up last year to What B?

However, with a new year comes new rules. First of all, the length of the flags has been standardized so that every set is 10 inches long rather than extending to the player’s fingertips. In addition, each team has to have a representative that is willing to referee some games.

Two things that the refs will be looking for this year especially are tackling and pass interference.

“I want people to enjoy the competition but not go overboard,” said Yeung, who is in her second year as IM committee co-chair.

This year Yeung’s co-chair is senior Luke Marshall. Together, they were responsible for scheduling, organizing committee meetings and letting captains know about any changes.
During this last week’s action, Asch’s three picks had mixed success. The Hungry Hungry Hippos won both their games, and Bidnam’s World Tour Vol. 2 won all three games in which they played, while Old-E section lost to the TKE team.