Romney Family Football
From CBS News' Scott Conroy, on the trail with the Mitt Romney campaign:
Tom Brady he is not, but Mitt Romney can throw a pretty decent spiral.
Video: The former Massachusetts governor took a break from preparing for tonight's GOP presidential debate in St. Petersburg, Florida, to play a game of flag football this morning. The teams were composed of Romney's sons, campaign staffers, political supporters and media (I played on the governor's team).
This was not the kind of touch football game in which wide receivers casually jog out into the end zone to wait for the quarterback to lob a Hail Mary on every play. No, this was the kind of competitive battle one would expect from a family with five sons, featuring a real referee, freshly painted yard markers and a whole lot of rough and tumble play.
Over the years, the Romney brothers have taken to teasing their father for his lack of athletic prowess, but they showed the old man no mercy on the gridiron today. On one play, Governor Romney seemed to have a clear path to the end zone until his son Matt came from nowhere and yanked off a flag attached to his father's waist.
Although Romney briefly showed off his passing skills during warm-ups, he did not take any snaps at QB during the game. Instead, he rotated between the center and wide receiver positions on the offensive end.
But the governor proved to be more of a defensive specialist, and he was not afraid to engage in some mind games with the opposing team to get the job done.
"I'm going to rush the passer, but I'm not going to set up like I am," Romney whispered to his teammates before one play.
Governor Romney substituted himself out of the game before the end of the first half of the low scoring contest, sweat dripping from his face. It was time to hit the showers and run through the playbook for tonight.