North American-style Italian mud football

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Posted by Zonie on March 23, 2025 at 00:10:39

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Before my own story, I'll share an interesting and inspiring Youtube video:

Code: j8dydtNjWYM
Channel: RF Productions
Title: Mud Bowl

I had no idea Italians liked North American style football, but apparently Milan and Turin at least have teams of that sport. Best of all, they play outdoors where it's muddy. They seemed to do justice to the sport, playing very well.

Spring has come with intensity. It was expected to get up to 30°C today and 35°C by Tuesday. No more rain is in the forecast. I decided to head to my usual parcel of state trust land in northeastern Phoenix.

This first mile was disappointing. I expect all the vehicle traffic had splashed away the mud from the power line trail. I headed north at the fork in the trails and finally found a large enough mud puddle for wallowing. I played around in that for a while, which felt good as the day was getting hot, and after that I hiked the southeastern part of the powerline trail, but that had been re-graded, so it didn't have the deep ruts and holes it used to have, and I couldn't find any mud there.

I then headed towards Coyote Central. A man sitting in an off-road vehicle called out to me and asked me how I was. I said I was fine. He asked what I was doing. I said, "Playing it the mud."

He looked me over and said, "I can see that. What's up with that?"

I said, "A great way to cool off on a hot day."

He said, "It's only going to get hotter." I looked at the mud pits and remarked there was a lot of debris. He said the kids like to party there and that he had done so himself 35 years earlier. He asked if I was thirsty and offered a beer. I declined.

I headed down and slogged through the pits that were knee to thigh deep. I removed some debris. Of course some was too heavy to have hope of removal. I'm often amazed at what I find there. In the past I've found old boats. This time I found the shell of a pickup truck riddled with bullet holes. Eventually I found a deep watery spot and did a rudimentary clean-up.

I then waded out of the mud hole and headed back towards the ridge. A dune buggy stopped by me, and the driver asked if I was all right and had enough water. I said that I was, and he drove off. That's one thing I like about Southwestern culture. People tend to look out for one another.

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