One broken finger, a questionable hip-drop tackle, and proof that Tiger football may run in the family. There are some ideas that sound fun when they're first mentioned. Tiger Mom Football Camp was one of them. Get the moms together, put them through some football drills, let them experience a little of what their sons do every day, have some laughs and call it an evening. Simple enough. What nobody apparently accounted for was the competitive nature of a group of Glen Rose Tiger moms. Coach Pair and the Tiger coaching staff hosted the first annual Tiger Mom Football Camp, giving the moms an opportunity to trade their usual spots in the stands for a night on the field. They ran drills, learned plays, caught passes, kicked field goals, blocked, tackled and got a firsthand look at the work their boys put in every day. And by all accounts, they didn't exactly tiptoe through it. By the time the dust settled, the evening had produced a bleeding mom, a jammed toe, a broken finger, a questionable hip-drop tackle, some extremely sore muscles and at least one football that apparently made direct contact with Kim Bell's face. In other words, Mom Camp was a tremendous success. Autumn Anderson, mother of senior lineman Clark Anderson, was one of the moms who signed up for the experience. For those unfamiliar with Clark, he's a big ole monstrosity of a lineman, the type of young man who doesn't so much enter a room as reduce its available square footage. Autumn has spent years watching Clark and the Tigers put in the work, but getting on the field herself gave her an entirely different perspective. “The evening was SO much fun and way harder than I expected,” Autumn said. “It definitely gave us moms a whole new appreciation for what our boys do every single day.” That appreciation came quickly. The drills required strength, conditioning, coordination and mental focus, and the moms got to experience all of it while Coach Pair and his staff kept things fun and competitive. Autumn loved every minute of it. Her body apparently filed a separate review the following morning. She described herself as “VERY sore,” but given what happened to some of the other participants, Autumn considers herself fortunate. “Considering one mom ended up bleeding, another jammed her toe, and yet another walked away with a BROKEN FINGER, I consider the fact that my most cringe-worthy aftermath is that I can barely sit down on the potty a BLESSING!” That quote really doesn't need our help. But journalistic integrity requires us to report her official status: Autumn Anderson — Day-to-Day — Lower Body Soreness — Questionable for Toilet. Team officials remain optimistic. Kim Bell also walked away from camp with some valuable football knowledge, including a lesson she generously shared with future generations of Tiger receivers: “It’s better to catch the ball with your hands, not your face!” That is correct. We checked. Kim's technique may have been unconventional, but nobody can accuse the woman of not keeping her eye on the football. Possibly all the way through impact. She also developed some newfound respect for the kicking game. “Field goals are a lot harder than they look,” Kim admitted. Her official report from the field: It's harder than it looks. Fair enough. The next time a Tiger kicker misses one, there may still be some groaning from the stands, but somewhere in that crowd will be a group of Tiger moms thinking, Yeah...okay. I get it now. Then there was Faith Littlejohn. Faith apparently misunderstood Tiger Mom Football Camp as an invitation to begin preparing for the NFL Combine. Her husband, Jeremy Littlejohn, watched the performance and later released an official scouting report: Agility: A Hands: B+ Quickness: A- Blocking: B+ Kicking: C Passing: B Ball Handling: B Jeremy included one coaching note on the ball-handling grade: “Tuck that ball, babe.” Overall, that's a strong report. The C in kicking doesn't look nearly as bad after Kim Bell's independent investigation into the difficulty of field goals, so we're willing to give Faith some grace there. But the scouting report didn't tell the whole story. Faith's signature play of the evening came against her own son, Cross. At some point during camp, Momma Littlejohn got an opportunity to make a tackle. Cross had the football. Faith had an angle. And apparently that's all she needed. Momma Littlejohn lowered the boom. Jeremy immediately went to the replay booth and determined there may have been a slight rules issue. “Flag on the play for a hip drop tackle,” he reported. Then, exercising the impartial judgment expected of a husband and father, Jeremy reviewed the evidence and issued his final ruling: “But we will allow it.” Kim Bell was also there and confirmed that watching Momma Littlejohn tackle Cross was one of her favorite moments of the entire night. So now we have witnesses. Cross got tackled by his mother. And everybody loved it. There are very few situations in life where a teenage football player has fewer options than Cross had at that moment. What exactly are you supposed to do after your mom sticks you? You can't complain. You can't retaliate. You can't demand a flag. You definitely don't want your teammates reviewing the film Monday morning. You just get up, hand the ball to the official and pretend this entire situation isn't going to follow you around for the rest of the year. Jeremy, meanwhile, couldn't have been prouder. “She killed it. Looked pretty dang good doing it too,” he wrote. He finished his scouting report with the kind of romantic statement that can only come from years of marriage and Texas high school football: “Proud of you babe. Love you. Hit the showers.” That may need to go on a Valentine's Day card. What made Tiger Mom Football Camp so much fun wasn't that the moms struggled through football drills. It was almost the opposite. They got after it. Nobody wanted to just stand around and watch. They competed. They encouraged each other. They laughed at themselves. They got dirty. They got sore. Somebody literally broke a finger and, based on the overall tone of the evening, we're reasonably certain the response was something along the lines of, “Well, that ain't good.” For Autumn, the experience also provided something beyond the laughs. “We spend so much time in the stands cheering them on, but actually stepping onto the field and going through drills gave me an entirely different perspective,” she said. That's what made the evening special. Football consumes an enormous amount of our families' lives. The practices, workouts, games, laundry, travel, meals, injuries, celebrations, tough losses and Friday nights become part of the rhythm of a football family. The moms are there for all of it, usually watching from the other side of the fence. For one night, they got invited inside. They got to experience a small piece of their sons' world and understand a little better what goes into those Friday nights under the lights. They also got to remind their sons of something the boys probably should have known already: Momma ain't scared of you. You can put on 40 pounds. You can bench 300. You can earn a starting position for the Glen Rose Tigers. You can even become a big ole behemoth of a lineman. You're still somebody's baby. And apparently, if you're Cross Littlejohn, your baby pictures and your mother's ability to hip-drop tackle you can coexist in the same family. Autumn said she hopes Tiger Mom Football Camp becomes a tradition for years to come. After the first one, it's hard to argue otherwise. Coach Pair and his staff created something that was funny, competitive and memorable, but more importantly, gave the moms a chance to share the field with the boys they spend so much time supporting. Next year's camp should be even bigger. Although, in the interest of responsible amateur corny-dad journalism, I do have a few recommendations. Bring an athletic trainer. Bring extra ice. Maybe review proper tackling technique with Faith. Keep an eye on Kim when footballs are airborne. And somebody please check on Autumn before asking her to sit down. Other than that, change absolutely nothing. The first Tiger Mom Football Camp gave us competition, camaraderie, a new appreciation for the game, an impressive scouting report, a little blood, one confirmed fracture and a mother absolutely laying out her own son. That's a pretty successful first year. And Cross, if you're reading this: Tuck your chin, son. Momma's coming downhill.