Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We celebrated the traditional way in Princeton, New Jersey, by playing the 30th annual Princeton Gentlemen’s Society Turkey Bowl football game.
Thanks to gimpy knees, I was a non-combatant. I did prowl the sidelines taking photos. My main photo outings are shooting birds and other wildlife, but I also enjoy sports photography every chance I can get.
The somewhat tongue-in-cheek-named Gentlemen’s Society has regular Sunday morning games about nine months a year, taking summers off. Said gentlemen probably average 65 in age, but on Thanksgiving they bring along sons, sons-in-law, the occasional daughter and a stray boyfriend or two.
Some years there are enough players for two games of two-handed touch, but with steady rain falling overnight and through the morning, we settled for one game that reached 7-on-7 with a few relief players rotating in and out.
The game is always accompanied by liquid spirits, and the players chip in to put out a spread that this year included a propane-fired pot of chicken soup beyond the usual donuts, cookies and other assorted goodies.
I played regularly for two seasons and tell myself I’ve retired. But every time I go to Marquand Park to shoot the games, I feel the tractor beam of the thrill of the competition between good friends (and the occasional, laughable agony of the dropped pass).
Each year, we take up a collection to send funds to the maintenance crew at the park, and this year we also made a donation to the Princeton High School football team. Maybe we are gentlemen after all!   🧢
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