Fred Dawson joined several of his buddies to watch the debut of the Lingerie Football League Friday night in Kent and came away impressed.
“I liked it,” said Dawson, of Kent. “It was not like flag football. We watched an actual football game with nice-looking ladies in very skimpy outfits.”
The Seattle Mist defeated the San Diego Seduction 20-6 at the ShoWare Center. The 10-team league features scantily clad women playing seven-on-seven tackle football on a 50-yard field.
The women wore helmets with clear face shields, shoulder pads, sports bras, briefs, elbow pads and knee pads. The uniform numbers of each player were on the front of the sports bra and the back of the briefs.
Each offense featured a quarterback, center, two running backs and three receivers. The teams completed only a few passes as most of the big plays were running plays.
The Mist plays two road games before returning Jan. 1 to the ShoWare Center for its fourth-and-final game of the season.
Lingerie Football League officials said they do not release attendance figures for games.
But the arena seats 6,000 for football and was less than half full. Tickets were $107, $67, $37, $24, $18 and $14.
The crowd included Lorin “Big Lo” Sandretzky, of Burien, a celebrity of sorts known as Seattle’s Biggest Sports Fan. Big Lo regularly attends the games of the Seahawks, Mariners, Sounders, Storm and now the Mist.
“These girls hit and they hit hard,” said Sandretzky, dressed in a green Mist shirt and hat. “I was a little sad with the (crowd) turnout. But I think it will catch on. I hope it catches on. It is something different.”
Lindsey Blaine and Katie Ryckman were two of the Mist stars in the opener.
Blaine, a quarterback and linebacker, ran for two touchdowns, intercepted a pass and made several hard, one-on-one tackles.
“I love it, it was so fun,” Blaine said after the game. “I love playing and I couldn’t play as a girl. To hit someone, it’s great.”
Blaine said she learned how to tackle growing up with two brothers and a father who used to be a wrestler.
Ryckman, a running back and defensive back, had the hardest tackle of the game when she flattened a San Diego running back with about 5 minutes left in the second half.
“I saw two girls blocking and I saw one running in between and I knew she was mine,” Ryckman said on her hard tackle. “I dropped my shoulder and powered through. Damn, that was good.”
Ryckman heard the roar of the crowd after the hit.
“That makes it that much better,” Ryckman said. “As if the hit was not great enough, that made my night. That makes the game, how the crowd reacts.”
Jade Garrison lives only a few blocks from the arena and decided along with a few of her friends to check out the new league.
“I just came for a good time and thought it would be fun to see women playing football,” Garrison said. “I wanted to support the local team.”
Garrison expected more fans.
“I was a little disappointed because I thought there would be more people,” Garrison said. “But there was not a lot of advertising. I think the next game there will be more people because of word of mouth. If it’s not crowded, I’ll be shocked.”
Corey Eichler, of Anacortes, said he will come back.
“It’s a great game,” Eichler said. “There’s the beauty and they have talent. I’m coming back and I’m bringing a couple of friends down.”
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