MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- American Football is just one of the many traditions of American culture associated with Thanksgiving Day. Food is another.
While many Marines were sleeping in or getting ready for a Thanksgiving feast, other Marines were up at 9 a.m. on turkey day tossing around the old pig skin during a motivated game of flag football.
Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron Air Traffic Control split into two sections and drafted additional personnel to compete against each other in the annual ATC Turkey Bowl at Penny Lake here Nov. 25.
Crew 2 defeated crew 1 with a score of 52 – 22.
“Crew 2 has completely slaughtered crew 1,” said Roman Riddle, crew 2 receiver. “At first, we were kind of scared about it because crew 1 always won in the past.”
According to Joshua R. Hooten, crew 1 receiver, the Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl is an event ATC looks forward to every year.
“The airfield is closed today, so it’s a time when we can actually get out and play,” said Hooten.
According to Hooten, crew 1 has held a four-year winning streak.
This year, however, crew 2 wasn’t about to let crew 1 walk away with another win under their belt and another year of bragging rights.
Paul Torres, crew 2 quarterback, made sure to bring out the best in all of the players on his team by providing good throws and tactical rushes as opportunities arose.
Almost everyone on his team scored a touchdown, which allowed crew 2 to accumulate a high score and gain distance from crew 1.
“Our quarterback, (Paul) Torres, is awesome,” said Riddle. “He plays in the intramural flag football games, so he is an amazing quarterback and an amazing receiver.”
It was a fun-filled day, full of trash talk and encouragement from fellow teammates on the sideline.
“(Crew 2) is by far the inferior crew at work so we have to let them win at something,” said Hooten jokingly. “We can’t be good at everything.”
Even though trash talk is a common tradition carried on by ATC during annual Turkey Bowls, at the end of the day, these annual flag football games are all about friendly competition and camaraderie.
“It brings everybody together and lets us relax a little bit,” said Riddle. “We’re just out here to have some fun.”
When the game was called in favor of crew 2, everyone congratulated the winning team.
“As far as I know, everybody has a place to go and we’re all ready to eat,” said Torres.
After the game, both crews of ATC were ready to carry out one of the most common Thanksgiving traditions … the feast.