By Melody Hanatani
Daily Press Staff Writer

VENICE Along with baseball and hot dogs and polo and wine, football and beer have always been one of man’s favorite sport-food pairings.

One Los Angeles resident has found a new twist to the lovable pigskin and brew power coupling.

Each Sunday, approximately 80 men and women slap on their game faces for an hour of organized touch football, getting down and dirty on the fields at the Oakwood Recreation Center in Venice.

When the final whistle blows, the game faces are wiped off and adversaries become buddies, taking the short trip together to Brennan’s bar in Marina del Rey to bond over beer, fish tacos and turtle racing.

From the gridiron to the bar counter, the whole experience is the brainchild of Los Angeles resident Hazen Wilson, who in launching The Adults Sports League has found a way to unite men and women through the social aspects of sports and drinking.

“It’s the other side of sports,” Wilson said.

The Virginia native moved to the west coast more than a year ago only to find that meeting new people in Los Angeles is about as easy as finding a parking space in Los Angeles.

The life-long athlete decided to use his love for sports as a socialization tool, creating an avenue through which people could forge new friends.

It started with the co-ed touch football league in Venice, attracting about 70 men and women from the Los Angeles metropolitan area in the first season in the spring. About 200 men and women signed up for the second season of the Venice league, which kicked off on June 3 and will conclude on July 29. The league consists of about eight teams, each with at least eight members suiting up per game.

The Adult Sports League is expanding into other cities, kicking off the first Santa Monica League at the Penmar Recreation Center today. A similar league is also set to start in Pasadena on Sunday.

Wilson is now looking to diversify with other sports, such as softball, kickball, volleyball and soccer.

“The model seems to work really well and I have people asking me (about other sports),” Wilson said.

THE SOFTER SIDE OF FOOTBALL

The rules of the touch football league are fairly simple. Each team must have at least 12 people on its roster and, at minimum, eight people on the field at any time. At least three of the eight players on the field must be women.

The league tries to remain fair to the female players and requires that a woman must touch the ball at least once every three downs, and must be an operative player within three consecutive plays. If a male player is used as the operative player in the first play and scores on the second, a female player must be used in the point after touchdown.

Since it’s a touch-only style of football, there is no blocking or contact allowed. And, sorry Tom Brady and Chad Johnson, there are no professional football players allowed, current or retired.

Los Angeles resident Amanda Warren drives down from her home near Beverly Hills every Sunday to play with the Green Tang Clan. She’s one of five women on the team.

Warren comes from an athletic background, having played basketball and volleyball in high school and college and pick-up football on Thanksgiving Day with her family.

Because men tend to be more competitive and tough, Warren said she feels less conscious playing football when there are other women on the team, lessening the fears of dropping the ball.

“If I drop the ball, it’s OK,” Warren said. “I’m not going to get yelled at.”

Her teammate, Holly Hines, joined the league in the first season and occasionally plays quarterback.

“Apparently, I’ve got a strong arm. I didn’t know that before,” Hines said.

Like her teammate, Hines played organized sports her entire life, but the majority of the members of the Venice league didn’t play in college or high school,” Wilson said.

melodyh@smdp.com