Working off the turkey

They call it the Class of ’84 Turkey Bowl.

Every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, a group of friends from Oceanside High School (and earlier) get together to play a game of football and go to lunch afterwards. This year marks the group’s 30th game.

“I guess it started as friends playing pick-up football,” said Joe Cuomo, who, along with his friend Mike Tricarico, organizes the game each year. “We were in junior high at Merle. It was Thanksgiving break, and friends who were just sort of crazy about sports wanting to play a pick-up game. And every year we just sort of kept it going and no one has ever really had the heart to stop it.”

The friends gather every year on the field at Merle Avenue (which is no longer the junior high school) to play. The numbers have fluctuated — sometimes there would be eight or 10 people, sometimes 20. In recent years, the numbers have trended on the higher side.

“It’s gotten much more popular and we’ve had a lot more people in the Facebook age and in the years when we’ve had high school reunions and reconnected with people,” Tricarico said. “Eight or nine years ago, we were maybe getting eight to 10 people showing up, and it was a much smaller event than it is now.”

The game has changed over the years, too. Last year, about 20 people showed up to play, but they weren’t all OHS grads. Most of them were, but some family members came out to play, too — mostly the sons of the original players.

“I’d say, for the most part, everyone who plays either went to Oceanside High School — about 90 percent are the class of 84 or their sons,” said Cuomo. “Very few people who have played over the years haven’t had any kind of Oceanside connection.”

Some of the rules have changed over the years as well. About 10 years ago, when the guys were hitting their mid-30s, they realized it would take about a week for them to recover from the games. “I think around that time, we decided no more kickoffs, because everyone was getting hurt on the kickoffs,” said Cuomo. “So the rules have definitely been modified over the years to keep everyone from getting hurt.”

The game has become easier for Cuomo and Tricarico to organize as Facebook gained popularity. Cuomo used to send the same email to his friends every year (and make phone calls before that), but Facebook as made it easier to stay connected to people and invite them to the game.

But what’s become even more well-attended than the game is the lunch afterwards. “I think last year, we had over 50 people from our class come to the lunch,” said Cuomo. “It’s become almost a mini reunion.”

The lunch started innocuously, though.

“The lunch, way back when, started out as maybe us going to 7-Eleven and getting microwave burritos,” said Tricarico. “Then when we started driving, maybe going to McDonald’s or Taco Bell. And now it’s kind of progressed to the point where the lunch may be more important than the actual game.”

And even though they’ve debated just throwing a pass in the parking lot of Casey’s and then breaking for lunch, the group has always played the game. Rain, wind and cold weather haven’t stopped them. And even if people were injured, they still managed to make it onto the field for a play or two, or even just to catch a pass.

It’s also turned into a networking event. Being that most of the guys playing are in their mid-40s and in the middle of their careers, they realized they could help each other professionally, as well.

Though the rules have changed and their sons have been added to the rosters, the class of ’84 plans to keep playing every year, although the game may change some more.

“It started out as a tackle football game, but now it’s gone to two-hand touch,” Tricarico said. “Maybe we’ll go to one-hand touch and then just sit around and talk about football at some point.”