It's 6:45 on a Monday evening, a time when the rest of campus is recovering from a long weekend and the outside world is preoccupied with Monday errands.

Listening to Disturbed's The Sickness through a set of headphones, I am in preparation for the task that is at hand, the only thing that matters.

An upcoming flag football game.

I have experienced quite a number of football games in my day -- I played tackle football for five years in middle and high school -- and the five-game flag football season is an opportunity to extend my career and a venue for me to exhibit my competitive nature.

Pancake blocks and bull-rushes are illegal. The field is just eighty yards long. Kickoffs, and the crowd, are nonexistent.

But when I step onto the playing surface with head coach Casey Coyle and the rest of the troops, wearing my Hamilton Playas #73 "He Hate Me" grass-stained T-shirt, I become Jevon Kearse and Bill Romanowski in flags.

I've been told that Christmas comes once a year, on Dec. 25. After playing intramural (IM) flag football, however, I have come to the realization that my Christmas occurs on five consecutive Mondays in September and October, when I can rush the passer at will on defense and roll out in the flat for a pass on offense.

For those of us who are not Penn State athletes, and for over half of all Penn State students, IM sports are an outlet to demonstrate our athletic talents. IM athletics serve as a means of escaping the everyday hustle and bustle for a couple of hours and confirming that we, too, are heroes and champions of sports.

Maybe it's the faint fog rising from the field, maybe it's the team camaraderie and maybe it's something totally separate that gives flag football its luster. But whatever the reason, there is a level of tradition and honor that coincides with the fastening of the flag-clad belt.

As the clock reaches 9:00 p.m., with Monday Night Football between the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs set to begin, I am in the middle of a much more meaningful game.

With a 4-0 record, the Playas will face the Atherton Atlas Monday to decide the residence hall league B division title. The winner will continue on to playoff competition, while the loser will surrender its championship dreams for one more season.

Each year the winning flag football teams receive a Penn State IM T-shirt and an IM wood block. I may never walk away with the prize, but my participation in flag football has filled me with an unwavering amount of gratification and pride.