Flag football: It’s getting serious

So far, the 2023 fall season has seen the resurrection of the sport to be a success. The embryonic effort, sanctioned by the California Interscholastic Federation, the state’s governing body for prep student-athletics, has been embraced by players, coaches, administrators and others.

“It’s been terrific so far,” declared John Philipopoulos, Burlingame High School’s athletic director. “It’s gotten off to a great start.”

There has even been media coverage.

Locally, the games (conducted on fields 80-yards-long and narrower than regulation football pitches) have many of the trappings of the boys’ more violent version of the sport with two obvious differences: Physical contact is minimized as much as possible and there are fewer players on the field at any one time, 14 (seven on each team) instead of 22. There are no punts or kickoffs.

At a triple-header held at Burlingame last week, games (20-minute halves with a running clock for the first 18) involving six local schools went off without a hitch.

The stadium and field were prepared. Referees were proficient. A snack shack was in full operation. The Burlingame band performed and the press box crew handled the scoreboard and announcing duties as they would boys’ football. No muss, no fuss.

The athletes themselves appeared to thoroughly relish the competition and the challenge. Enthusiasm was the order of the day. A good time seemed to be had by all. What’s not to like?

A WAREHOUSE OF GRISLY DEATH: The recent death of Anthony “Jack” Sully, one of San Mateo County’s most notorious serial killers, brought back some grim memories for those of us who well recall his shocking murder spree four decades ago.

A former Peninsula police officer, Sully steadily went off the rails in the wake of failed marriages, eventual drug use and other factors that led to his descent into stunning barbarity and a series of grisly murders of six people in 1983, several of them prostitutes.

Sully perpetrated his macabre acts of uncontrolled, sadistic violence at his nondescript warehouse, situated quietly in a light industrial area of Burlingame, located off Rollins Road on Whitehorn Way just north of Broadway.

The revelations of his monstrous acts of torture, rape and homicide shocked the entire region when they were eventually detailed for the public after his arrest.

Sully, finally, died on Death Row at San Quentin Prison at the age of 79. Few, if any, have mourned the depraved murderer’s passing.

MOLLOY’S IS A REUNION VENUE: It’s typical and traditional for a high school class reunion to be held at a hotel, a restaurant, a meeting hall or even the school itself. Watering holes are another story.

So let’s give some props to the El Camino High School Class of 1993. They should get full marks for their inventive decision to conduct their 30th reunion at Molloy’s Tavern. Great choice.

Molloy’s, now in its 96th year of operation on the Colma/South San Francisco border off Mission Road, is located virtually across the street from El Camino. Party on, Colts.  

SNEAKERS HAS BEEN SHUTTERED: On the subject of purveyors of strong beverages, a San Carlos pub has closed its doors after a long run.

Sneakers American Grill, a once-popular dining and drinking fixture for more than 30 years, quietly shuttered for good earlier this month. It did so without fanfare.

The establishment, with a large, spacious footprint, opened in 1992. It spent the last several decades downtown on Laurel Street. Its demise has left a hole in that business district

Email John Horgan at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com. His new book, “Cradle of Champions — A Selected History of San Mateo County Sports,” is available via historysmc.org/online-store. All proceeds benefit the San Mateo County Historical Association based in Redwood City.