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The wavering career of a zealous flag football organization

Let me introduce you to the Robotrons.They're not a group of science fiction doomsday androids, but an intramural flag football team. The season began this week, and more than 500 male and female college students, divided into more than 50 teams, began strutting their stuff on the gridiron.

And who could blame them? In college, there's no getting out of marketing class for 15 minutes so you can run around on the playground and play tetherball and grabass.

Intramural sports, specifically flag football, aren't so much about athletics as they are a throwback to third grade recess.

Nine of those 500 recess misers wear red shirts with "ROBOTRONS" monogrammed across the front. The 'trons are made up of buddies, mostly seniors, who met each other in the dorms years ago. They've got a Canadian center, four soccer players, a guy nicknamed "Squeak," and a Wildcat arts columnist whose greatest football achievement is returning a kickoff for seven yards in high school.

Sophomore year, they decided to call themselves the "Hard-Ons," and their performance on the field matched the name. They won one game and lost two - didn't even make the playoffs.

But last year was different.

They changed their name to "Robotrons," and signed themselves up for the Cactus division - the highest level of play, made up mostly of frat teams that actually hold practices, mostly as a joke.

Then something surprising happened - they won a game. After a 7-6 victory over Sig Ep, they were flying. The possibilities were endless, but then Delta Chi beat them 43-7 a week later.

That put a damper on the Robotrons' championship aspirations, but the team they were scheduled to play next forfeited because they only had three players. They were 2-1, on a winning streak once again, and playoff bound.

Through an obscure twist of fate, they earned a bye into the semifinals, where a team called "Last Minute" laid a 53-6 whipping on them.

But a new season brings new hope. Barring massive flunking, this will be their last run at the grandest of prizes - a tee-shirt that says "Intramural Flag Football Champions," so there is no holding back this year.

The Robotrons decided to ensure a noble performance for the '99 season, and to accomplish this, the proper gear is needed. Acquired immediately were nine red shirts from Factory 2-U and two black magic markers with which to plaster their last names and numbers on the back of their jerseys.

They vowed to be a better team this year. Ironically, the first game on the schedule was against Last Minute Wednesday. This time, they stepped out on the field and didn't come away with a loss.

Of course, they were the only team on the field. A thunderstorm forced the game to be postponed, but they went out to the field and threw the ball around in the rain anyway.